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Title: Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo Volume 2

Author: Richard F. Burton

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                          Two Trips to

                          Gorilla Land

                              and
                  the Cataracts of the Congo.

                               By

                       Richard F. Burton.

                         In Two Volumes

                            Vol. II.

                          London: 1876




Contents of Vol. I.

Chapter I.     From Fernando Po to Loango Bay.--the German
               Expedition
Chapter II.    To São Paulo De Loanda
Chapter III.   The Festival.--a Trip to Calumbo--portuguese
               Hospitality
Chapter IV.    The Cruise along Shore--the Granite Pillar of
               Kinsembo
Chapter V.     Into the Congo River.--the Factories.--trip to
               Shark's Point.--the Padrao and Pinda
Chapter VI.    Up the Congo River.--the Slave Depot.--porto Da
               Lenha.-arrival at Boma
Chapter VII.   Boma.--our Outfit for the Interior
Chapter VIII.  A Visit to Banza Chisalla
Chapter IX.    Up the Congo to Banza Nokki
Chapter X.     Notes on the Nzadi or Congo River
Chapter XI.    Life at Banza Nokki
Chapter XII.   Preparations for the March
Chapter XIII.  The March to Banza Nkulu
Chapter XIV.   The Yellala of the Congo
Chapter XV.    Return to the Congo Mouth
Chapter XVI.   The Slaver and the Missionary in the Congo River
Chapter XVII.  Concluding Remarks
Appendix:--
I.   Meteorological
II.  Plants collected in the Congo, at Dahome, and the Island of
     Annabom, by Mr. Consul Burton
III. Heights of Stations, West Coast of Africa, computed from
     Observations made by Captain Burton
IV.  Immigration Africaine





                            PART II.

                  The Cataracts of the Congo.



"Allí o mui grande reino está de Congo,
     Por nós ja convertido à fé de Christo,
Por onde o Zaire passa claro e longo,
     Rio pelos antiguos nunca visto."

"Here lies the Congo kingdom, great and strong,
     Already led by us to Christian ways;
Where flows Zaïre, the river clear and long,
     A stream unseen by men of olden days."

The Lusiada, V. 13.





                            Part II.

                  The Cataracts of the Congo.

                           Chapter I.

    From Fernando Po to Loango Bay.--the German Expedition.



During the hot season of 1863, "Nanny Po," as the civilized
African calls this "lofty and beautiful island," had become a
charnel-house, a "dark and dismal tomb of Europeans." The yellow
fever of the last year, which wiped out in two months one-third
of the white colony--more exactly, 78 out of 250--had not
reappeared, but the conditions for its re-appearance were highly
favourable. The earth was all water, the vegetation all slime,
the air half steam, and the difference between wet and dry bulbs
almost nil. Thoroughly dispirited for the first time, I was
meditating how to escape, when H. M. Steamship "Torch" steamed
into Clarence Cove, and Commander Smith hospitably offered me a
passage down south. To hear was to accept. Two days afterwards
(July 29, 1863) I bade a temporary "adios" to the enemy.

The bitterness of death remained behind as we passed out of the
baneful Bights. Wind and wave were dead against us, yet I greatly
enjoyed the gradual emerging of the sun through his shroud of
"smokes;" the increasing consciousness that a moon and stars
really exist; the soft blue haze of the sky, and the coolness of
73° F. at 6 A.M. in the captain's cabin. I had also time to enjoy
these charms. The "Torch" was not provided with "despatch-
boilers:" she was profoundly worm-eaten, and a yard of copper,
occasionally clapped on, did not prevent her making some four
feet of water a day. So we rolled leisurely along the well-known
Gaboon shore, and faintly sighted from afar Capes Lopez and St.
Catherine, and the fringing ranges of Mayumba-land, a blue line
of heights based upon gently rising banks, ruddy and white,
probably of shaly clay. The seventh day (August 5) placed us off
the well-known "red hills" of Loango-land.

The country looks high and bold after the desperate flatness of
the Bights, and we note with pleasure that we have left behind us
the "impervious luxuriance of vegetation which crowns the
lowlands, covers the sides of the rises, and caps their summits."
During the rains after October the grass, now showing yellow
stubble upon the ruddy, rusty plain, becomes a cane fence, ten to
twelve feet tall; but instead of matted, felted jungle, knitted
together by creepers of cable size, we have scattered clumps of
dark, lofty, and broad-topped trees. A nearer view shows great
cliffs, weather-worked into ravines and basins, ribs and ridges,
towers and pinnacles. Above them is a joyful open land,
apparently disposed in two successive dorsa or steps, with bright
green tiers and terraces between, and these are pitted with the
crater-like sinks locally called "holes," so frequent in the
Gaboon country. Southwards the beauty of eternal verdure will
end, and the land will become drier, and therefore better fitted
for Europeans, the nearer it approaches Mossamedes Bay. South of
"Little Fish," again, a barren tract of white sand will show the
"Last Tree," an inhospitable region, waterless, and bulwarked by
a raging sea.

Loango is a "pool harbour," like the ancient Portus Lemanus
(Hythe), a spit of shingle, whose bay, north-east and south-west,
forms an inner lagoon, bounded landwards by conspicuous and
weather-tarnished red cliffs. This "lingula" rests upon a base of
terra firma whose westernmost projection is Indian Point. From
the latter runs northwards the "infamous" Indian Bar, compared by
old sailors with a lengthened Bill of Portland; a reef some three
miles long, which the waves assault with prodigious fury; a
terror to slavers, especially in our autumn, when the squalls and
storms begin. The light sandy soil of the mainland rests upon
compact clay, and malaria rises only where the little drains,
which should feed the lagoon, evaporate in swamps. Here and there
are clumps of tall cocoas, a capot, pullom or wild cotton-tree,
and a neat village upon prairie land, where stone is rare as on
the Pampas. Southwards the dry tract falls into low and wooded
ground.

The natural basin, entered by the north-east, is upwards of a
mile in length, and the narrow, ever-shifting mouth is garnished
with rocks, the sea breaking right across. Gunboats have floated
over during the rains, but at dead low water in the dry season we
would not risk the gig. Guided by a hut upon the beach fronting
French Factory and under lee of the breakers off Indian Bar, I
landed near a tree-motte, in a covelet smoothed by a succession
of sandpits. The land sharks flocked down to drag the boat over
the breakwater of shingle. They appeared small and effeminate
after the burly negroes of the Bights, and their black but not
comely persons were clad in red and white raiment. It is a tribe
of bumboat men, speaking a few words of English, French, and
Portuguese, and dealing in mats and pumpkins, parrots, and
poultry, cages, and Fetish dolls called "idols."

Half a mile of good sandy path led to the English Factory, built
upon a hill giving a charming view. To the south-east, and some
three miles inland from the centre of the bay, we were shown
"Looboo Wood," a thick motte conspicuously crowning a ridge, and
forming a first-rate landmark. Its shades once sheltered the
nyáre, locally called buffalo, the gorilla, and perhaps the more
monstrous "impungu" (mpongo). Eastward of the Factory appears
Chomfuku, the village of Jim Potter, with a tree-clad sink,
compared by old voyagers with "the large chalkpit on Portsdown
Hill," and still much affected by picnickers. At Loanghili, or
Loanguilli, south of Looboo Wood, and upon the right bank of a
streamlet which trickles to the sea, is the cemetery, where the
kings are buried in gun-boxes.

The Ma-Loango (for mwani, "lord" of Loango), the great despot who
ruled as far as the Congo River, who used to eat in one house,
drink in another, and put to death man or beast that saw him
feeding, is a thing of the past. Yet five miles to the eastward
(here held to be a day's march) King Monoyambi governs "big
Loango town," whose modern native name, I was told, is Mangamwár.
He shows his power chiefly by forbidding strangers to enter the
interior.

The Factory (Messrs. Hatton and Cookson) was a poor affair of
bamboos and mats, with partition-walls of the same material, and
made pestilent by swamps to landward. Little work was then doing
in palm oil, and the copper mines of the interior had ceased to
send supplies. We borrowed hammocks to cross the swamps, and we
found French Factory a contrast not very satisfactory to our
insular pride. M. Charles de Gourlet, of the Maison Régis, was
living, not in a native hut lacking all the necessaries of
civilized man, but in a double-storied stone house, with
barracoons, hospital, public room, orchestra, and so forth,
intended for the "emigrants." Instead of water, the employés had
excellent cognac and vermouth, and a succulent cuisine replaced
the poor Britishers' two barrels of flour and biscuit. No wonder
that in our half-starved fellow countrymen we saw little of the
"national failing, a love of extravagant adventure." The
Frenchmen shoot, or at least go out shooting, twice a week, they
walk to picnics, learn something of the language, and see
something of the country. They had heard a native tradition of
Mr. Gorilla's "big brother," but they could give no details.

I will conclude this chapter with a notice of what has taken
place on the Loango Coast a decade after my departure. Although
Africa has changed but little, Europe has, and we can hardly envy
the German nation its eminence and unexpected triumphs in war
when we see the energy and persistency with which they are
applying themselves to the arts of peace--especially of
exploration. And nowhere have they been more active than in this
part of the world, where their old rivals, the English, are
apparently contented to sit at home in ease, working their
factories and counting out their money.

To begin with the beginning. The year 1872 found the Berlin
Geographical Society intent upon "planting a lance in Africa,"
and upon extending and connecting the discoveries of Livingstone,
Du Chaillu, Schweinfurth, and other travellers. Delegates from
the various associations of Germany met in congress, and
organized (April 19, 1873) the Germanic "Afrikanische
Gesellschaft." Ex-President Dr. Adolf Bastian, a well-known
traveller in Siam, Cambodia, China, and the Indian Archipelago,
and who, moreover, had visited Ambassi or Salvador do Congo, the
old missionary capital, in 1857, was at once sent out as pioneer
and vanguard to prospect the coast for a suitable station and a
point de départ into the interior--a scientific step dictated by
trained and organized common sense. The choice of leader fell
upon Dr. Gussfeldt, Herr von Hattorf being his second in command,
and with them were associated Dr. Falkenstein as zoologist, and
Dr. Soyaux as botanist. A geologist, Dr. Lenz, of Hamburg, was
sent to connect the Ogobe and Okanda rivers with, the Loango
coast, unless he found a likely northeastern route. In this case,
the Society would take measures to supply him with the necessary
equipment.

The expedition began unfortunately, by the loss of outfit and
instruments in the "Nigritia," wrecked off Sierra Leone: it
persevered, however, and presently met Dr. Bastian and Professor
von Gorschen at Cabinda. The former had collected much
information about the coast. He had learned from slaves that the
old kingdoms of Loango, Mahango, and Angay are bounded eastwards,
or inland, by Mayombe, a belt of forest, the threshold of the
unknown interior. It begins the up-slope to the great Ghat ridge,
which, visible after a day's journey, separates the coast from
the central basin. A fortnight or three weeks' march leads to an
open country, a land of metalliferous hills, where the people
barter their goods against gunpowder and weapons, brought by
traders from the east. These "Orientals" are now heard of almost
all along the West African coast, and doubtless, in several
places, the report will prove true. The prospector had also
visited, in search of a depôt, Futila in Cabinda-land; the
Tschiluango (Chiloango), or Cacongo River, a fine navigable
stream, where the people float down their palm oil; Landana;
"Chinsonso" (Chinxoxo, pronounced Chinshosho), Chicambo, Loango,
and the Quillu (Kwillu) stream, the latter breaking through the
coast range, disemboguing near Loango Bay, and reported to be
connected with the great Congo. He found the old despotism of
Loango to be insignificant, reduced, in fact, to the strip of
coast between the Quillu and the Luema-Lukallo Rivers. The slave
trade, once a monopoly of kings, princes, and chiefs, is now no
more; legitimate commerce has levelled ranks, and the real power
is in the hands of the wealthiest merchants.

From the Abbé Durand, librarian of the Paris Geographical
Society, we learn: 1. That Loango is in the Province of Cacongo;
2. That Cacongo is considered a province of Loango; 3. That
Cacongo forms a kingdom of itself, with a capital, Ringwele. The
name of the late king was "Dom João, Capitão Mempolo," and,
though he had died some years ago, he was not buried, for the
usual reasons, in early 1874. Meanwhile his nephew and successor,
Mwátá Bona, was acting regent until the obsequies shall take
place.

The station finally chosen by the German explorers was Chinxoxo,
or, as Herr Kiepert uncompromisingly writes it,
"Tschinschonkscho." It is within easy distance of the Chiloango
or "Luiza Loango" River; and its port, Landana in Cabindaland,
has become a thoroughly Europeanized settlement, with five
trading stations up stream. An empty Dutch factory was repaired,
and the house, containing a parlour, three small bed rooms, and
the usual offices, was ready for habitation by the second week in
October.

On October 26th, Dr. Güssfeldt, after shaking off the "seasoning
fever" at Ponta Negra, proceeded to make a trial trip, and a
route survey with compass and chronometer, up the important
Quillu River. As usual, it has a bar; within the last few years
the right bank has been carried away by the floods, and some of
the old factories are under water. The average breadth is 400
paces, which diminishes to 25 at the rocky "gates" near Kama-
Chitoma, Manyamatal and Gotu. At 29 direct miles from the mouth
lies "Chimbak," a trading station, where Dr. Güssfeldt rested and
recruited strength for a month. Thence he went leisurely up
stream to the Bumina Rapids, and found the easterly rhumb of the
river bending to the N.E. and the N.N.E.; its channel did not
exceed 50 yards in width, and precipitous rock-walls rose on
either hand. At Bumina as at Gotu the Quillu breaks through the
parallel lines of Ghats, whose trend is from N.W. to S.E.; in
fact, these "Katarakten" are the Yellalas of the Congo. A march
of four hours brought him to the Mayombe country (circ. S. Lat.
4°), which must not be confounded with the Ma-yumba or
northernmost possession of the Congo kingdom; the latter word
properly means "King of Yumba," as Ma-Loango is Mwani-Loango. The
Mayombe chief proved friendly, and assisted Dr. Güssfeldt to hire
bearers (November 7) for Yangela, where his excursion ended. The
boundary-line is marked by a large gate, like the two openings in
the wooden wall denoting the Loango frontier between the Quillu
and Luema rivers. The character of the country changed to the
normal park-like aspect of Africa above the Ghats; the dense
forests waxed thin; picturesque views presented themselves,
reminding the wayfarer of Switzerland; and bare, dome-shaped
mountains formed the background. At Nsunsi, about 2,100 feet
above sea-level, the eye ranged over the Yangela country, as far
as the land of the Batetye, whose grassy plains are traversed by
ranges trending to the W.S.W., and apparently culminating to the
south. At the Tondo village the skull of a gorilla was remarked.
The upper Quillu, after its great bend, proved to be 350 to 400
paces broad; and the traveller ascertained that, instead of being
connected with the great artery, it rises in a lake nearly due
north of Nsundi (Sundi), near the country of the Babongo and the
Babum. Dr. Güssfeldt returned to the coast on December 2, and
prepared for the great march into the interior.

Dr. Falkenstein, the medicus and zoologist, in November 1873
reported favourably of Chinxoxo. The station is situated on a
hilly ridge commanding a view of the sea. "It looks imposing
enough, but it would produce more effect if we could hoist the
German flag, as the other establishments here do those of their
respective nations. German ships would then take home news of the
progress of our undertaking, and the natives would see at a
distance this token of the enterprising spirit of the German
nation, and come to us with provisions and other natural
products." He adds, "In Fernando Po, an island which I would
recommend as a sanatorium for wealthy hypochondriacs, we found an
extraordinary abundance of fruit, cocoa-nuts, bananas, mangoes,
delicious oranges, and pine-apples...The ivory trade on the
Gaboon is very flourishing. A German firm which I visited
exports, £10,000 worth per annum, the value of total exports
being, £26,000. The tusks are very large; one weighed about 80
lbs., and some have ranged to 120 lbs. The other articles
exported are gum and ebony, which are brought by the natives,
especially the Fans and Mpangwes (sic) from the interior. The
slave trade is said still to be carried on by Europeans, though
it is not known where the slaves go to " (of course to São Thomé
and Prince's Island). "In the immediate vicinity of our station
the chief trade is in palm oil and ground nuts..... Rings,
chains, crosses, watches, &c., are readily taken by the savages
in exchange for native goods, and I obtained a valuable fetish
for a chain and a cross worth a silbergroschen."

After three months spent upon the coast, and much suffering from
fever, the energetic Dr. Bastian was welcomed home on December
13, 1873. His present book[FN#1] makes only one instalment of the
work, the other being the "Correspondenzblätter der Afrikanischen
Gesellschaft." Briefly, everything has been done to lay the
foundation for success and to advertise the undertaking. Finally,
not satisfied with these steps, the German Society for the
Exploration of equatorial Africa organized in September, 1874, a
second expedition. Captain Alexander von Homeyer, a well-known
ornithologist, will lead it viâ S. Paulo de Loanda and Cassange
(Kasanji) to the mysterious lands of the Mwata ya Nvo, and thus
supplement the labours of Portuguese travellers. This fine
undertaking set out early in 1875.





                          Chapter II.

                    To São Paulo De Loanda.



At Loango, by invitation of Commander Hoskins, R.N., I
transferred myself on board H.M. Steamship "Zebra," one of the
nymphs of the British navy, and began the 240 miles southwards.
There was no wind except a slant at sunset, and the current often
carried us as far backwards as the sails drove us onwards. The
philosophic landlubber often wonders at the eternal restlessness
of his naval brother-man, who ever sighs for a strong wind to
make the port, and who in port is ever anxious to get out of it.
I amused myself in the intervals of study with watching the huge
gulls, which are skinned and found good food at Fernando Po, and
in collecting the paper-nautilus. The Ocythoë Cranchii was often
found inside the shell, and the sea was streaked as with cotton-
flecks by lines of eggs several inches long, a mass of mucus with
fine membraneous structure adhering to the rocks, and coagulating
in spirits or salt water. The drum-fish was not heard except when
we were at anchor; its sound somewhat suggests a distant frog-
concert, and I soon learned to enjoy what M. Dufosse has
learnedly named "ichthyopsophosis," the song of the fish. Passing
Cabinda, 57 miles from Loanda, but barely in sight, we fell in
with H.M. Steamship "Espoir," Commander Douglas, who had just
made his second capture of a slave-schooner carrying some 500
head of Congos. In these advanced days, the representative man
walks up to you as you come on board; touches his cap or his
wool, and expresses his best thanks in West Coast English; when
you offer him a dram he compares it with the trade article which
"only ‘ting, he no burn." The characteristic sights are the
captured Moleques or negrokins, who, habited in sacks to the
knees, choose an M.C. to beat time, whilst they sing in chorus,
extending the right arm, and foully abusing their late masters,
who skulk about the forecastle.

Ten days sped by before we sighted the beginning of the end, Cape
Spilemberta and Dande Point, two bluffs in distinct serrations;
the aspect of the land was pleasant, a vista of tall cliffs,
white or red, rising wall-like from a purple sea, jagged with
sharp, black reef and "diabolito," and bearing on the summit a
plateau well grown with grass and tree. We then opened a deep
bight, which has the honour of being entitled the longest
indentation from Cape Lopez to Great Fish Bay, some 17° or a
thousand miles of coast. A gap in the cliff line and darker
vegetation showed the Zenza River, generally called Bengo from
the district (Icolo e Bengo) which it traverses. Here was once a
busy settlement much frequented by shipping, which thus escaped
harbour dues. The mosquito-haunted stream, clear in the dries,
and, as usual, muddy during the rains, supports wild duck, and,
carried some ten miles in "dongos" or flat-bottomed boats,
supplies the capital of Angola with drinking water and dysentery.

As we glide towards the anchorage two features attract my
attention: the Morro or hill-ridge on the mainland, and the
narrow strip which forms the harbour. The escarpment, sweeping
from a meridian to a parallel, juts westward in the bluff Cape
Lagostas (Lobsters), a many-coloured face, in places not unlike
the white cliffs of Dover; it then trends from north-east to
south-west, bending at last in a picturesque bow, with a shallow
sag. The material is the tauá or blood-red marl of the Brazil,
banded with white and brown, green, chocolate, and yellow; huge
heaps of "rotten earth," washed down by the rains, cumber the
base of the ruined sea-wall north of the town; in front is a
pellucid sea with the usual trimmings, while behind roll the
upland stubbles of autumn, here mottled black with fire, there
scattered with the wild ficus and the cashew, a traveller from
the opposite hemisphere.

The Ilha de Loanda, which gave its name to the city, according to
Mr. W. Winwood Reade ("Savage Africa," chapter xxv.), is "derived
from a native word meaning bald:" I believe it to be the Angolan
Luánda, or tribute. Forming the best harbour of the South African
coast, it is made by the missionaries of the seventeenth century
to extend some ten leagues long. James Barbot's plan (A.D. 1700)
shows seven leagues by one in breadth, disposed from north-east
to south-west, and, in the latter direction, fitting into the
"Mar Aparcelado" or shoaly sea, a curious hook-shaped bight with
a southern entrance, the "Barra de Curinba" (Corimba). But the
influences which formed the island, or rather islands (for there
are two) have increased the growth, reducing the harbour to three
and a half miles by two in breadth, and they are still
contracting it; even in the early nineteenth century large ships
floated off the custom house, and it is dry land where boats once
rode. Dr. Livingstone ("First Expedition," chapter xx.) believes
the causa causans to be the sand swept over the southern part of
the island: Douville more justly concludes that it is the gift of
the Cuanza River, whose mud and ooze, silt and débris are swept
north by the great Atlantic current. Others suppose that it
results from the meeting of the Cuanza and the Bengo streams; but
the latter outfall would be carried up coast. The people add the
washings of the Morro, and the sand and dust of the sea-shore
south of the city.

This excellent natural breakwater perfectly shelters the shipping
from the "calemas," or perilous breakers on the seaward side, and
the surface is dotted with huts and groves, gardens and palm
orchards. At the Ponta do Norte once stood a fort appropriately
called Na. Sa. Flór de Rosa; it has wholly disappeared, but
lately, when digging near the sea, heaps of building stone were
found. Barbot here shows a "toll-house to collect the customs,"
and at the southern extremity a star-shaped "Fort Fernand."

This island was the earliest of Portuguese conquests on this part
of the coast. The Conquistador Paulo Dias de Novaes, a grandson
of Bartholomeo Dias, was sent a second time, in A.D. 1575, to
treat with the king of "Dongo," who caused trouble to trade.
Accompanied by 700 Portuguese, he reached the Cuanza River,
coasted north, and entered by the Barra de Corimba, then
accessible to caravels. He landed without opposition amongst a
population already Christianized, and, after occupying for a few
months the island, which then belonged to Congo, he founded,
during the next year, the Villa de São Paulo de Loanda on the
mainland.

The importance of the island arose from its being the great money
bank of the natives, who here collected the zimbo, buzio, cowrie,
or cypræa moneta. Ample details concerning this industry are
given by the old writers. The shell was considered superior to
the "impure or Braziles," brought from the opposite Bahia (de
Todos os Santos), though much coarser than the small Indian, and
not better than the large blue Zanzibar. M. Du Chaillu ("Second
Expedition," chap, iv.) owns to having been puzzled whence to
derive the four sacred cowries: "They are unknown on the Fernand
Vaz, and I believe them to have come across the continent from
eastern Africa." There are, indeed, few things which have
travelled so far and have lasted so long as cowries--they have
been found even amongst "Anglo-Saxon" remains.

The modern Muxi-Loandas hold aloof from the shore-folk, who
return the compliment in kind. They dress comparatively well, and
they spend considerable sums in their half-heathen lembamentos
(marriages) and mutambé (funerals).

As might be expected, after three centuries of occupation, the
Portuguese, both in East and West Africa, have naturalized a
multitude of native words, supplying them with a Lusitanian
termination. The practice is very useful to the traveller, and
the despair of the lexicographer. During the matumbé the
relations "wake" the toasted, swaddled, and aromatized corpse
with a singular vigour of drink and general debauchery.

I arrived with curiosity at the capital of Angola, the first
Portuguese colony visited by me in West Africa. The site is
pleasing and picturesque, contrasting favourably with all our
English settlements and with the French Gaboon; for the first
time after leaving Teneriffe, I saw something like a city. The
escarpment and the sea-bordering shelf, allowing a double town
like Athenæ or Thebæ, a Cidade Alta and a Cidade Baixa, are
favourites with the Lusitanians from Lisbon to the China seas,
and African São Paulo is reflected in the Brazilian Bahia. So
Greece affected the Acropolis, and Rome everywhere sought to
build a Capitol. The two lines follow the shore from north-east
to south-west, and they form a graceful amphitheatre by bending
westward at the jutting headland, Morro de São Miguel, of old de
São Paulo. Three hundred years of possession have built forts and
batteries, churches and chapels, public buildings and large
private houses,white or yellow, withample green verandahs--each
an ugly cube, but massing well together. The general decline of
trade since 1825, and especially the loss of the lucrative slave
export, leave many large tenements unfinished or uninhabited,
while the aspect is as if a bombardment had lately

026--- taken place. Africa shows herself in heaps of filthy
hovels, wattle and daub and dingy thatch; in "umbrella-trees"
(ficus), acacias and calabashes, palms and cotton-trees, all
wilted, stunted, and dusty as at Cairo. We are in the latitude of
East African Kilwa and of Brazilian Pernambuco; but this is a
lee-land, and the suffering is from drought. Yet, curious to say,
the flora, as will appear, is here richer than in the well-
watered eastern regions.

Steaming onwards, at one mile off shore, we turned from south-
east to south-west, and presently rounded the north-east point of
Loanda Island, where a moored boat and a lantern showed the way.
We passed the first fort, São Pedro do Morro (da Cassandama),
which reminded me of the Aguada at the mouth of Goa Harbour. The
two bastions and their batteries date from A.D. 1700, and have
been useful in administering a strongish hint--in A.D. 1826 they
fired into Captain Owen. The next work is the little four-gun
work, Na. Sa. da Conceição. We anchored in five fathoms about
1,200 yards off shore, in company with some fifteen craft, large
and small, including a neat despatch cruizer, built after the
"Nimrod" model. Fort São Francisco, called "do Penedo," because
founded upon and let into a rock, with the double-tiered
batteries à la Vauban, carefully whitewashed and subtended by any
amount of dead ground, commands the anchorage and the northern
road, where strings of carregadores, like driver-ants, fetch and
carry provisions to town. A narrow causeway connects with the
gate, where blacks on guard lounge in fantastic uniform, and
below the works are the coal-sheds. Here the first turf was
lately turned by an English commodore--this tramway was intended
to connect with the water edge, and eventually to reach the
Cuanza at Calumbo. So Portugal began the rail system in West
Africa.

The city was preparing for her ecclesiastical festival, and I
went ashore at once to see her at her best. The landing-place is
poor and mean, and the dusty and sandy walk is garnished with a
single row of that funereal shrub, the milky euphorbia. The first
sensation came from the pillars of an unfinished house--

          "Care colonne, che fate quà?
           --Non sappiamo in verità!"

The Ponta de Isabel showed the passeio, or promenade, with two
brick ruins: its "five hundred fruit-trees of various
descriptions" have gone the way of the camphor, the tea-shrub,
and the incense-tree, said to have been introduced by the
Jesuits. "The five pleasant walks, of which the central one has
nine terraces, with a pyramid at each extremity, and leads to the
Casa de Recreio, or pleasure-house of the governor-general,
erected in 1817 by Governor Vice-Admiral Luiz da Motta Feio,"
have insensibly faded away; the land is a waste, poor grazing
ground for cattle landed from the south coast, whilst negrokins
scream and splash in the adjoining sea.

Beyond the Government gardens appears the old Ermida (chapel), Na
Sa. da Nazareth, which English writers have dubbed, after
Madeiran fashion, the Convent. The frontage is mean as that of
colonial ecclesiastical buildings in general, and even the
epauletted façades of old São Paulo do not deserve a description.
Here, according to local tradition, was buried the head of the
"intrepid and arrogant king of Congo," Dom Antonio, whose 100,000
warriors were defeated at Ambuilla (Jan. ist, 1666) by Captain
Luiz Lopes de Sequeira, the good soldier who lost his life, by a
Portuguese hand, at the battle of Matamba (Sept. 4th, 1681). A
picture in Dutch tiles (azulejos) was placed on the right side of
the altar to commemorate the feat.

After the Ermida are more ruined houses and ragged plantations
upon the narrow shelf between the sea-cliff and the sea: they
lead to the hot and unhealthy low town skirting the harbour, a
single street with small offsets. A sandy strip spotted with
cocoa-nuts, represents the Praia do Bungo (Bungo Beach), perhaps
corrupted from Bunghi, a praça, or square; it debouches upon the
Quitanda Pequena, a succursale market-place, where, on working-
days, cloth and beads, dried peppers, and watered rum are sold.
Then come a single large building containing the Trem, or
arsenal, the cavalry barracks, the "central post-office," and the
alfandega, or custom-house, which has a poor platform, but no
pier. The stables lodge some half-a-dozen horses used by mounted
orderlies--they thrive, and, to judge from their high spirits,
the climate suits them. In Captain Owen's time (A.D. 1826) there
was "a respectable corps of cavalry."

Passing the acting cathedral for the See of Angola and Congo,
which deserves no notice, you reach the Quitanda Grande, where
business is brisker. There is a sufficiency of beef and mutton,
the latter being thin-tailed, and not "five-quartered." Fish is
wisely preferred to meat by the white man, "affirming that it is
much easier digested;" and a kind of herring, and the sparus
known upon the Brazilian coast as the "tainha," the West African
"vela," and the French "mulet," at times superabound. All the
tropical fruits flourish, especially the orange; the exotic
vegetables are large and sightly, but tasteless and insipid,
especially peas and radishes: the indigenous, as tomatoes, are
excellent, but the list is small. Gardens are rare where the soil
is so thin, and the indispensable irrigation costs money. The
people still "choke for want of water," which must be bought:
there is only one good well sunk in the upper town, about 1840,
when the Conde de Bomfim was Minister of Marine and the
Colonies,--it is a preserve for government officials. Living in
the native style is cheap; but cooks are hardly procurable, and a
decent table is more expensive than in an English country town. A
single store (M. Schutz) supplies "Europe" articles, of course at
fancy prices, and here a travelling outfit may be bought. It has
been remarked that Loanda has no shop that sells "food for the
mind;" this is applicable, not only to all East and West Africa,
but to places far more progressive. A kind of cafe-billard
supplies a lounge and tepid beer. The attendants in Portuguese
houses are slaves; the few English prefer Cabindas, a rude form
of the rude Kru-boy, and the lowest pay of the lowest labourer is
5d. per diem.

The "Calçada Nova," a fine old paved "ramp"--to speak Gibraltar-
English--connects Basse Ville and Hauteville. The latter was once
a scatter of huge if not magnificent buildings, now in ruins; we
shall pass through it en route to Calumbo. Here are the remains
of the three chief convents, the Jesuit, the Carmelite, and the
Third Order of St. Francis. The citadel de São Miguel, lately
blown up, has been restored; the extensive works of dressed
freestone, carefully whitewashed, stand out conspicuously from
the dark bush dotting the escarpment top. Here also is the Alto
das Cruzes, the great cemetery, and the view from the sheer and
far-jutting headland is admirable. A stroll over this cool and
comparatively healthy escarpment ended by leaving a card at the
Paço do Governo.

Lopes de Lima (vol. iii. part ii.) gives São Paulo in 1846 a
total of 5,065 whites, mulattoes, and blacks, distributed into
1,176 hearths; the census of 1850-51 raised the number to 12,000,
including 7,000 negroes, of whom 5,000 were serviles; in 1863 the
figure was understood to have diminished rather than to have
increased. Old authors divided the population into five orders.
The first was of ecclesiastics, the second contained those who
were settled for command or trade, and the third were convicts,
especially new Christians of Jewish blood, who were prevented
from attending the sacred functions for a scandalous reason. Then
ranked the Pomberos, or Pombeiros, mostly mulattoes, free men,
and buyers of slaves; their morals seem to have been abominable.
Last and least were the natives, that is, the "chattels." Amongst
the latter the men changed wives for a time, "alleging, in case
of reproof, that they are not able to eat always of the same
dish;" and the women were rarely allowed by their mistresses to
marry--with the usual results. The missionaries are very severe
upon the higher ranks of colonists. Father Carli (A.D. 1666)
found the whites the most deceitful and the wickedest of men,--an
effect caused by the penal settlement. Father Merolla (A.D. 1682)
declares that "the women, being bred among blacks, suffer
themselves to be much perverted--they scarcely retain anything
white about them except their skins." J. C. Fêo Cardoso (Memoir
published in Paris in 1825) attributes the decadence of Angola
and Benguela to three reasons; rare marriages amongst the higher
orders; poverty amongst the lower; and the immorality and
incontinence of both. Lopes de Lima (p. 149 loc. cit.) traces the
decline and fall of Christianity in the eighteenth century to the
want of priests, to the corruption of the regular clergy
(Carmelites and Franciscans), for whom West Africa, like Syria
and Palestine, was made a kind of convict station, and to the
inhuman slave-export, as opposed to domestic slavery. All has now
changed for the better; society in Angola is not a whit inferior
to that of any English colony in West Africa, and, as a convict
establishment, Loanda is a great success.

The theoretical garrison is one regiment of the line, a squadron
of cavalry, and two companies of artillery with three-pounders;
the real force is of some 800 men, mostly convicts. No difference
is made between white and black, nor is the corps force, which
was once very cruelly used, severely treated as the Légion
Etrangère of Algeria. Most of the men have been found guilty of
capital crimes, yet they are allowed to carry arms, and they are
intrusted with charge of the forts. Violence is almost unheard of
amongst them: if an English sailor be stabbed, it is generally by
the free mulattoes and blacks, who hate the uniform for
destroying their pet trade of man-selling. It is true that these
convicts have hopes of pardon, but I prefer to attribute their
remarkable gentleness and good behaviour to the effects of the
first fever, which, to quote from the Latin grammar,

          "Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros."

The negroes of Loanda struck me as unusually ill-favoured; short,
"stumpy," and very dark, or tinged with unclean yellow. Lepers
and hideous cripples thrust their sores and stumps in the face of
charity. There was no local colouring compared with the
carregadores, or coolies, from the northeast, whose thrum-mop
heads and single monkey skins for fig-leaves, spoke of the wold
and the wild. The body-dress of both sexes is the tángá, pagne,
or waist-cloth, unless the men can afford trousers and ragged
shirts, and the women a "veo preto," or dingy black sheet,
ungracefully worn, like the graceful sárí of Hindostan, over the
bright foulard which confines the wool. "It is mighty ridiculous
to observe," says the old missionary, "that the women, contrary
to the custom of all other nations, buy and sell, and do all
things which the men ought to do, whilst their husbands stay at
home and spin or weave cotton, or busy themselves in such other
effeminate actions." This is not wholly true in ‘63. The
"munengana,"or machila-man, is active in offering his light cane
palanquin, and he chaffs the "mean white" who is compelled to
walk, bitterly as did the sedan-chairmen of Bath before the days
of Beau Nash. Of course the Quitandeira, or market-woman, holds
her own. The rest of the street population seems to consist of
negro "infantry" and black Portuguese pigs, gaunt and long-
legged. The favourite passe-temps is to lie prone in sun or
shade, chattering and smoking the cachimbo, a heavy clay pipe,
with peculiar stem--"to sleep supine," say the Arabs, "is the
position of saints; on the dexter side, of kings; on the
sinister, of learned men; and on the belly, of devils."





                          Chapter III.

    The Festival--a Trip to Calumbo--portuguese Hospitality.



My first step after reaching S. Paolo de Loanda was to call upon
Mr. Commissioner Vredenburg, who had lately taken up the
undesirable appointment, and who, moreover, had brought a pretty
French wife from Pará. I had warned him that he was risking her
life and that of her child; he bravely made the attempt and
nearly lost them both. I have reason to be grateful to him and to
Mr. Vice-consul E. H. Hewett for hospitality during my stay at
the Angolan capital. There is a place called an hotel, but it is
in the Seven Dials of the African city, and--nothing more need be
said.

Fortunately for me, as for herself, Loanda had got rid of Mr.
Vredenburg's predecessor, who soon followed the lamented Richard
Brand, first British Consul, appointed in 1844. The "real whole-
hearted Englishman" was after that modern type, of which La
Grundy so highly approves. An honest man, who does not hold to
the British idea that "getting on in the world" is Nature's first
law, would be sorely puzzled by such a career.

The day after my arrival was the festival which gives to São
Paulo de Loanda its ecclesiastical name "da Assumpção." The
ceremonies of the day were duly set forth in the Boletim Official
do Governo Geral da Provincia de Angola. A military salute and
peals of bells aroused us at dawn; followed a review of the
troops, white and black; and a devout procession, flags flying
and bands playing, paced through the chief streets to the
Cathedral. A visit of ceremony in uniform to the Governor-
General, Captain José Baptista de Andrade, a historic name in
Angola, led to an invitation for the evening, a pleasant soirée
of both sexes. The reception was cordial: whatever be the
grievances of statesmen and historians, lawyers and slave-
mongers, Portuguese officers are always most friendly to their
English brethren. The large and airy rooms were hung with
portraits of the several dignitaries, and there was an Old World
look about Government House, like the Paço at Pangim (Goa). Fifty
years ago colonial society was almost entirely masculine; if you
ever met a white woman it was in a well-curtained manchila
surrounded by "mucambas" or "mucacamas, negro waiting maids:" as
the old missioner tells us, "when they go abroad, which is
seldom, they are carried in a covered net with attendance of
captives." All this is changed, except as regards leaving the
house, which is never done during the day: constitutionals are
not wanted in the tropics, and the negroes everywhere make the
streets unfit, except for any but the very strongest-minded of
the weaker sex. The evenings at Government House are passed with
music and dancing, and petits jeux innocents for the juniors,
whilst the seniors talk and play voltarete till midnight. I well
remember one charming face, but I fear to talk about it--ten
years in Africa cannot pass without the saddest changes.

With an eye to future exploration, I was anxious to see something
of the style of travel in Angola, and to prospect the proposed
line of railway intended to checkmate the bar of the river
Cuanza. The Cassange (Kasanjí) war on the eastern frontier had
just ended honourably to Portuguese arms, but it proved costly;
the rich traffic of the interior had fallen off, and the well-
known Feira was sending down its fairings to independent
Kinsembo. Moreover, in order to raise funds for the rail, the
local Government talked of granting the land to an English
company for growing the highly prized gossypium arboreum.

Sr. João Soares Caldeira, C.E., kindly asked me to join his
party, which started early on August 19. All rode the tipoia, a
mere maca or hammock sadly heating to the back, but handier than
the manchila: the bearers wore loose waistbelts, with a dozen
small sheep's bells on the crupper, intended to proclaim our
importance, and supposed to frighten away wild beasts. These
gentry often require the stimulus of "ndokwe" (go on), but seldom
the sedative of "malemba" (gently) or "quinga" (stop). The "boi-
cavallo," the riding bull (not ox) of the interior, which costs
about £4, is never used in these fashionable localities. I failed
to remark the line of trenches supposed to defend the land-side,
but I did remark the "maiangas," said to be indigo vats made by
the Jesuits. After a hot depression we ascended a rough zigzag,
and halting we enjoyed a charming view of St. Paul. The domed
Morro concealing the squalid lower town was crowned with once
lordly buildings--cathedral, palace, treasury, and fort; the
colours of the ground-swell were red and white, with here and
there a dot of green; and the blue sea rose in its loveliness
beyond the hill horizon. For a whole league we were in the region
of "arimos," or outside farms, where villages, villas, and
plantations, threaded by hot and sandy lanes with hedges of green
euphorbia, showed the former prosperity of the country. Beyond it
the land forms, as in Yoruba, lines of crescents bulging west or
seaward, quartz and pebbles showing here and there an old true
coast.

After a five hours' ride we reached Cavúa, the half-way house,
where breakfast had been sent on; the habitations are wretched
thatches, crowded with pigs and mosquitoes. Clearings had all
ended, and the red land formed broken waves of poor soil, almost
nude of vegetation at this mid-winter of the tropics, except
thickets of "milk plant" and forests of quadrangular cactus; the
latter are quaint as the dragon-tree, some twenty feet tall and
mostly sun-scorched to touchwood. The baobab (adansonia) is
apparently of two kinds, the "Imbundeiro," hung with long-
stringed calabashes, which forms swarming-places for bees; and
the "Aliconda" (Nkondo), whose gourd is almost sessile, and whose
bark supplies fibre for cloth and ropes. The haskúl or big-aloe
of Somali-land was not absent, and, amongst other wild fruits, I
saw scattered over the ground the husks of a strychnine, like the
east African species. Deer, hares, and partridges are spoken of
in these solitudes, but they must be uncommonly hard to find at
such a season.

About three hours after leaving Cavúa were spent upon this high,
dry, and healthy desert, when suddenly we sighted the long
reaches of the Cuanza River, sharply contrasting, like the Nile,
with the tawny yellow grounds about its valley. A steep descent
over water-rolled pebbles showed the old bank; the other side,
far and blue, gave a goodly breadth of five miles; then we
plunged into the green selvage of the modern stream, following
muddy paths where the inundation had extended last June. Here
tobacco, orchilla, and indigo in the higher, and sugar-cane,
rice, and ricinus on the lower lands flourish to perfection. The
Angolan orchilla was first sent to Lisbon by Sr. F. R. Batalha:
it is a moss, like the tillandsia of the Southern United States,
and I afterwards recognized it in the island of Annobom. Passing
Pembe and other outlying hamlets, after nine hours of burning
sun, we entered Calumbo Town, and were hospitably lodged by the
Portuguese Commandant. We had followed the highway, as a line for
the intended railway had not yet been marked out, and the
distance measured 33,393 metres (= 20.75 English miles).

Calumbo is now a poor place, with a few dilapidated stone houses
in a mass of wattle and daub huts, surrounded by large "arimos."
The whole "Districto da Barra do Calumbo" contains only 444
hearths. A little stone pier, which Loanda wants, projects into
the stream; the lime was formerly procured from shells, but in
1761 calcareous stone was found near the Dande stream. The
sightliest part is the vegetation, glorious ceibas (bombax) used
for dug-outs; baobabs, tamarinds which supply cooling fruit and
distilled waters; limes and bitter oranges. The most remarkable
growth is the kaju or cashew nut: an old traveller quaintly
describes it "as like St. John's apple with a chestnut at the end
of it." M. Valdez ("Six Years of a Traveller's Life," vol. ii.
267), calls it "a strange kind of fruit," though it was very
familiar to his cousins in the Brazil, of which it is an
aborigine. Here it is not made into wine as at Goa: "Kaju-brandy"
is unknown, and the gum, almost equal to that of the acacia, is
utterly neglected. A dense and shady avenue of these trees, ten
paces apart, leads from the river to the parish church of S.
José, mentioned by Carli in 1666: an inscription informs us that
it was rebuilt in 1850, but the patron is stored away in a
lumber-room, and the bats have taken the place of the priest.
Portugal has perhaps gone too far in abolishing these church
establishments, but it is a reaction which will lead to the
golden mean.

The site of Calumbo is well chosen, commanding a fine view, and
raised above the damps of the cold Cuanza, whose stagnant lagoon,
the Lagôa do Muge on the other side, is divided from the main
branch by a low islet with palms and some cultivation. At the
base of Church Hill are huts of the Mubiri or blacksmiths, who
gipsy-like wander away when a tax is feared; they are not
despised, but they are considered a separate caste. I was shown a
little north of the town a place where the Dutch, true to their
national instincts, began a canal to supply Loanda with sweet and
wholesome drinking material and water communication; others place
it with more probability near the confluence of the Cuanza and
the Lucala, the first great northern fork, where Massangano was
built by the Conquistadores. This "leat" was left incomplete, the
terminus being three miles from St. Paul's; the Governor-General
José de Oliveira Barbosa, attempted to restore it, but was
prevented by considerations of cost.

Calumbo must be a gruesome place to all except its natives.
Whilst Loanda has improved in climate since Captain Owen's day
(1826), this has become deadly as Rome in 1873. The raw mists in
early morning and the hot suns, combined with the miasmas of the
retreating waters, sometimes produce a "carneirado" (bilious
remittent) which carries off half the inhabitants. Dysenteries
are everywhere dangerous between the Guinea Coast and Mossamedes,
the cause being vile water. All the people looked very sickly;
many wore milongos, Fetish medicines in red stripes, and not a
few had whitewashed faces in token of mourning. I observed that
my Portuguese companions took quinine as a precaution. Formerly a
few foreign merchants were settled here, but they found the hot
seasons fatal, and no wonder, with 130° (F.) in the shade! The
trade from the upper river, especially from the Presidio das
Pedras Negras de Pungo Andongo,[FN#2] consists of hides, cattle
tame and wild (cefos); saltpetre washed from earth in sieves,
mucocote or gum anime (copal), said by Lopes de Lima to be found
in all the forests of Pungo Andongo; wax, white and yellow; oil
of the dendêm (Elaïs Guineënsis) and mandobim, here called
ginguba (arachis); mats, manioc-flour, and sometimes an ivory.

Calumbo was built as early as 1577 by the Conquistador Porcador
and first Capitão Mór Paulo Dias II., a gallant soldier, who died
in 1589 at Massangano, the "Presidium," which he had founded
between 1580-83, and who was buried in the Church of Na. Sa. da
Vittoria; he is said also to have built the Church of Santa Cruz.
Equidistant from Loanda and the sea, the settlement soon had a
wealthy trade with the fortified stations of the interior, and
large Government stores filled with merchandize. In 1820 a number
of schooners, pinnaces, and small crafts plied up and down to
Muchimo, Massangano, Cambembe, and other inland settlements; now
we find out only a few canoes. The Cuanza at "Sleepers' Bay" has
one of the worst shifting bars on the whole coast. At this
distance, five leagues from the mouth, its width is one hundred
fathoms, and the depth varies from eight to nine. It breeds good
fish; the manatus is common, people talk of fresh-water sharks,
and the jacare (crocodile) is fatal to many a pig even in the
village. It is navigable for schooners, they say, six days, or
150 miles, to the large "Presidio de Cambembe," where Andrew
Battel (1589-1600) visited a "perpendicular water-fall, which
made such a noise as to be heard thirty miles' distance." This
and another water-fall higher up are laid down in the map of Dr.
Livingstone's admirable first journey. Above Cambembe the river-
bed is broken by archipelagoes, and the shoals render it fit only
for boats. The Cuanza head has been explored only lately,
although a royal order to that effect was issued on March 14,
1800.

After receiving and returning the visits of the principal whites,
all habited in frocks and continuations of the blackest and
heaviest broadcloth, we feasted with the excellent commandant,
who was hospitality itself. The mosquitoes soon roused us from
any attempt at sleep, and we passed the night after a fashion
which sometimes leads to red eyes and "hot coppers" in the
morning. I left early, for my companions had business at Calumbo;
as they were no longer present to control the bearers, a race
soft as putty, and I was not used to manage them, the gang became
unbearable. The soldier sent to keep them in order did his best
with his "supple-jack," and the consequence was that all bolted
into the bush. At Cavúa two men were forcibly enlisted, but I
preferred walking in. When at home in the Red House (Mr.
Hewett's) the hammock men came complaining of my deserting them,
and begging bakhshish.

It was another lesson to me--the Gaboon had lately administered
one--that, however well you may know the negro generally, each
tribe requires a specific study. This, however, would not take
long, and with a little knowledge of the language there would be
no difficulty in following the footsteps of Joaquim Rodrigues
Graça; letters would be required to the several commandants, the
season of setting out should be in early Cacimbo (April), and the
up march would take six months, with about four to return. But,
unless active measures are adopted, only the seaboard will remain
to the Portuguese. This is an exploration which I had kept "dark"
for myself; but Captain von Homeyer has gained the day, and
nothing remains for me but to give the gallant officer God speed.
After a short but exceedingly pleasant visit, I left the capital
of Angola with regret. All seemed anxious to further my views of
travel; the authorities gave me the very best advice, and offered
me introductions to all the district commandants, Sr. Moses
Abecasis, and Sr. Francisco A. Flores, Sir Henry Huntley's host,
obliged me with recommendations to the most influential agents at
Porto da Lenha on the Congo River. Mr. Essex of St. Helena placed
me in the hands of his compatriot, Mr. Scott, and Captain
Hoskins, R.N., ended his kindness with ordering for me a passage
on board H.M. Steamship "Griffon," an old acquaintance in the
Gaboon River. Briefly, I quitted São Paulo with the best wishes
for one and all who had befriended me.





                          Chapter IV.

    The Cruise along Shore--the Granite Pillar of Kinsembo.



On August 22nd we left Loanda, and attacked the 180 miles
separating it from the Congo mouth. Steaming along shore we
enjoyed the vanishing perspective of the escarpment disappearing
in the misty distance. The rivers Bengo, Dande, and Onze are
denoted by densely wooded fissures breaking the natural sea-wall,
and, as usual in West Africa, these lines are the favourite sites
for settlements. The Onze or the Lifune of Mazula Bay--which the
Hydrographic Chart (republished March 18, 1869) changes into
"River Mazulo," and makes the mouth of the "River Onzo"--is
chosen by Bowdich and writers of his day as the northern boundary
of Angola, greatly to the disgust of the Portuguese, whose
pretensions extend much farther north. Volumes of daily smoke and

048--- nightly flame suggest the fires of St. John lighted by the
goatherds of Tenerife. They greatly excite the gallant
"Griffons," who everywhere see slaver-signals, and the system is
old upon this coast as the days of Hanno and Herodotus. At this
season they are an infallible sign that the dries are ending; the
women burn the capim (tall grass) for future forage, and to
manure the land for manioc, maize, and beans. The men seek
present "bush-beef:" as the flames blow inland, they keep to
seaward, knowing that game will instinctively and infallibly
break cover in that direction, and they have learned the
"wrinkle" of the prairie traveller to make a "little Zoar" in
case of accidental conflagration.

At 2 P.M. on the 24th we were abreast of Ambriz, an important
settlement, where a tall red and white cliff, with a background
of broken blue hill, showed a distinct "barra," or river mouth,
not to be confounded with the English "bar." The north point of
the Rio dos Ambres, of the "green" or "raw copal," is low and
mangrove-grown, throwing into high relief its sister formation,
Ambriz Head or Strong-Tide Corner, which stands up gaunt and
bluff.

A little to the south-east lies the fort, flying the argent and
azure flag, and garrisoned by some 200 men; five large
whitewashed houses and the usual bunch of brown huts compose the
settlement. This nest of slavers was temporarily occupied in May
15, 1855. The Governor-General, Senor Coelho de Amaral,
reinforced by 1,000 soldiers from home, and levying 2,500
"Empacasseiros,"[FN#3] embarked from Loanda in the "Dorn
Fernando" frigate, landed here, once more burnt the barracoons,
and built the fort. In 1856 a force was sent under Colonel
Francisco Salles Ferreira, to re-open a communication with the
Bembe mines of copper and malachite. That energetic officer
marched on São Salvador, the old capital of Congo, and crowned
Dom Pedro V., whose predecessor died the year before. He there
fell a victim to fever, and his second in command, Major Andrade,
was nearly cut off on his return. Shortly afterwards the natives
blockaded, but were driven from, Bembe, and they attempted in
vain to carry Ambriz.

The far-famed copper mines were granted to the Portuguese in the
sixteenth century by the King of Congo. They were the property of
his feudatory, the (black) "Marquess of Pemba" (Bembe): Barbot
mentions their being mistaken for gold, and feels himself bound
to warn his readers that the metal was brought "from Sondy, not
from Abyssinia or the empire of Prester John." They lost all
their mystery about A.D. 1855, when they were undertaken by an
English company, Messrs. John Taylor & Co. of London, after
agreement with the concessionists, Messrs. Francisco A. Flores
and Pinto Perez of Loanda. Between Ambriz and Bembe, on the
Lunguila (Lufula?) River, and 770 feet above sea-level, the
Angolan government built four presidios, Matuta, Quidilla,
Quileala, and Quimalenco. But the garrison was not strong enough
to keep the country quiet, and the climate proved deadly to white
men. The 24 sappers and 60 linesmen extracted nearly 4,000 lbs.
of gangue per diem, when the English manager and his assistant,
with four of the ten miners died, and the plant was destroyed by
fire. I was assured that this line (Ambriz-Bembe) was an easy
adit to the interior, and so far the information is confirmed by
the late Livingstone-Congo Expedition under Lieutenant Grandy.

In 1863 the coast was still in confusion. The Portuguese claimed
too much seaboard according to the British: the British
government ignored the just claims of Portugal, and the political
bickerings were duly embittered by a demoralized race of English
traders, who perpetually applied for cruisers, complaining that
the troops interfered with their trade. Even in the seventeenth
century the Portuguese had asserted their rights to the Reino do
Congo, extending between the great stream of that name and the
Ambriz, also called the Loge and Doce River. In the older maps--
for instance, Lopes de Lima--the Loge is an independent stream
placed north of the Ambriz River; in fact, it represents the Rue
or Lue River of Kinsembo, which is unknown to our charts. Within
the Doce and the Cuanza lies the Reino de Angola, of which, they
say, the Congo was a dependency, and south of the Cuanza begins
the Reino de Benguela. The Government-General of Loanda thus
contained four provinces-Congo (now reduced to Ambriz), Angola,
Benguela, and Mossamedes. The English government has now agreed
to recognize the left or southern bank of the Ambriz as the
northern frontier of Angola and of Portuguese rule.

Passing the river mouth, we were alongside of independent lands,
and new to us. Boobies (Pelecanus sula), gulls, petrels, and men-
of-war birds (P. aquila), flew about the ship; according to the
experts, they were bound for fetid marshes which outlie the Loge
River. Before nightfall we were off the Lue or Rue River of
Kinsembo, which disputes with Landána (not "Landano"[FN#4]) the
palm of bad landing. At this season boats are

052--- sometimes kept waiting fourteen days, and the "barreiras"
(cliffs) are everywhere at unbounded war with the waters. I
determined to land and to inspect the "remarkable lofty granite
pillar," which was dimly visible from our deck; but we rowed in
vain along the tall and rusty sea-walls. No whaler could attack
the huge rollers that raised their monstrous backs, plunged over
with a furious roar, and bespread the beach with a swirl of foam.
At last, seeing a fine surf-boat, artistically raised at stern
and bow, and manned by Cabindas, the Kruboys of the coast, made
fast to a ship belonging to Messrs. Tobin of Liverpool, we
boarded it, and obtained a passage.

The negroes showed their usual art. Paddling westward they
rounded the high red and white South Point, where a projecting
reef broke the rollers. We waited for some twenty minutes for a
lull; at the auspicious moment every throat was strained by a
screaming shout, and the black backs bent doughtily to their
work. We were raised like infants in the nurse's arms; the good
craft was flung forward with the seething mass, and as she
touched shore we sprang out, whilst our conveyance was beached by
a crowd of stragglers. The dreaded bar is as usual double: in the
heaviest weather boats make for a solitary palm-tree at the
bottom of the sandy bay. Some of the dug-outs are in pairs like
the Brazilian Ajoujo; the sides are lashed together or fastened
by thwarts, and both are made to bend a little too much inwards.

It was dark when we climbed up the stiff Jacob's ladder along the
landward side of the white Kinsembo bluff. There are three ramps:
the outermost is fit only for unshod feet; the central is better
for those who can squeeze through the rocky crevices, and the
furthest is tolerably easy; but it can be reached only by
canoeing across the stream. Mr. Hunter of Messrs. Tobin's house
received us in the usual factory of the South Coast, a ground-
floor of wicker-work, windowless, and thatched after native
fashion. The chief agent, who shall be nameless, was drunk arid
disorderly: it is astonishing that men of business can trust
their money to such irresponsible beings; he had come out to
Blackland a teetotaller, and presently his condition became a
living lecture upon geographical morality.

The night gave us a fine study of the Kinsembo mosquito, a large
brown dipter, celebrated even upon this coast. A barrel of water
will act as nursery; at times the plagues are said to extinguish
a lantern, and to lie an inch deep at the bottom. I would back
them against a man's life after two nights of full exposure: the
Brazilian "Marimbondo" is not worse. At 7 A.M. on the next day we
descended the easiest of the ramps, which are common upon this
coast, and were paddled over the Kinsembo River. Eleven miles
off, it issues from masses of high ground, and at this season it
spreads out like the Ambriz in broad stagnant sheets, bordered
with reeds and grass supplying fish and crabs, wild ducks and
mosquitoes. Presently, when the Cacimbo ends in stormy rains and
horrid rollers, its increased volume and impetus will burst the
sand-strip which confines it, and the washed-away material will
recruit the terrible bar.

Leaving the ferry, wre mounted the "tipoias," which Englishmen
call "hammocks" after the Caribs of Jamaica, and I found a
strange contrast between the men of Kinsembo and of São Paulo.
The former are admirable bearers, like their brethren of
Ambrizette, famed as the cream of the coast: four of them carried
us at the rate of at least six miles an hour; apparently they
cannot go slowly, and they are untireable as black ants. Like the
Bahian cadeira-men, they use shoulder-pads, and forked sticks to
act as levers when shifting; the bamboo-pole has ivory pegs, to
prevent the hammock-clews slipping, and the sensation is somewhat
that of being tossed in a blanket.

Quitting the creeper-bound sand, we crossed a black and fetid
mire, and struck inland to a higher and drier level. The
vegetation was that of the Calumbo road, but not so utterly
sunburnt: there were dwarf fields of Manioc and Thur (Cajanus
indicus), and the large wild cotton shrubs showed balls of
shortish fibre. As we passed a euphorbia-hedged settlement,
Kizúlí yá Mú, "Seabeach Village," a troop of women and girls,
noisy as those of Ugogo, charged us at full gallop: a few silver
bits caused prodigious excitement in the liberal display of
charms agitated by hard exercise. The men were far less
intrusive, they are said not to be jealous of European rivals,
but madly so amongst themselves: even on suspicion of injury, the
husband may kill his wife and her lover.

At Kilwanika, the next hamlet, there was a "king;" and it would
not have been decent to pass the palace unvisited. Outside the
huts stood a bamboo-girt "compound," which we visited whilst H.M.
was making his toilette, and where, contrary to Congo usage, the
women entered with us. Twenty-two boys aged nine or ten showed,
by faces whitened with ashes, that they had undergone
circumcision, a ceremony which lasts three months: we shall find
these Jinkimba in a far wilder state up the Congo. The rival
house is the Casa das Tinta, where nubile girls are decorated by
the Nganga, or medicine-man, with a greasy crimson-purple pigment
and, preparatory to entering the holy state of matrimony, receive
an exhaustive lecture upon its physical phases. Father Merolla
tells us that the Congoese girls are locked up in pairs for two
or three months out of the sight of man, bathing several times a
day, and applying "taculla," the moistened dust of a red wood;
without this "casket of water" or "of fire," as they call it,
barrenness would be their lot. After betrothal the bride was
painted red by the "man-witch" for one month, to declare her
engagement, and the mask was washed off before nuptials. Hence
the "Paint House" was a very abomination to the good Fathers.
Amongst the Timni tribe, near Sierra Leone, the Semo, or
initiation for girls, begins with a great dance, called Colungee
(Kolangí), and the bride is "instructed formally in such
circumstances as most immediately concern women."

After halting for half an hour, ringed by a fence of blacks, we
were summoned to the presence, where we found a small boy backed
by a semi-circle of elders, and adorned with an old livery coat,
made for a full-grown "Jeames." With immense dignity, and without
deigning to look at us, he extended a small black paw like a
Chimpanzee's, and received in return a promise of rum--the sole
cause of our detention. And, as we departed through the euphorbia
avenue, we were followed by the fastest trotters, the Flora
Temples and the Ethan Allens, of the village.

Beyond Kilwanika the land became rougher and drier, whilst the
swamps between the ground-waves were deeper and stickier, the
higher ridges bearing natural Stonehenges, of African, not
English, proportions At last we dismounted, ascended a rise, the
most northerly of these "Aravat Hills," and stood at the base of
the "Lumba" The Pillar of Kmsembo is composed of two huge blocks,
not basaltic, but of coarse-grained reddish granite the base
measures twenty and the shaft forty feet high. With a little
trimming it might be converted into a superior Pompey's Pillar:
we shall see many of these monoliths in different parts of the
Congo country.

The heat of the day was passed in the shade of the Lumba,
enjoying the sea-breeze and the novel view. It was debated
whether we should return viâ Masera, a well-known slaving
village, whose barracoons were still standing. But the bearers
dissuaded us, declaring that they might be seized as "dash,"
unless the white men paid heavy "comey" like those who shipped
black cargoes: they cannot shake off this old practice of
claiming transit money. So we returned without a halt, covering
some twelve of the roughest miles in two hours and a quarter.

The morning of the 26th showed an ugly sight from the tall
Kinsembo cliff. As far as the eye could reach long green-black
lines, fronted and feathered with frosted foam, hurried up to the
war with loud merciless roars, and dashed themselves in white
destruction against the reefs and rock-walls. We did not escape
till the next day.

Kinsembo does not appear upon the old maps, and our earliest
hydrographic charts place it six miles wrong.[FN#5] The station
was created in 1857-61 by the mistaken policy of Loanda, which
determined to increase the customs three per cent, and talked of
exacting duties at Ambriz, not according to invoice prices, but
upon the value which imported goods represented amongst the
natives. It was at once spread abroad that the object was to
drive the wax and ivory trade to São Paulo, and to leave Ambriz
open to slavers. The irrepressible Briton transferred himself to
Kinsembo, and agreed to pay the king £9 in kind, after "country
fashion," for every ship. In 1857 the building of the new
factories was opposed by the Portuguese, and was supported by
English naval officers, till the two governments came to an
arrangement. In February, 1860, the Kinsembo people seized an
English factory, and foully murdered a Congo prince and
Portuguese subject, D. Nicoláo de Agua Rosada, employed in the
Treasury Department, Ambriz. Thereupon the Governor-General sent
up two vessels, with thirty guns and troops; crossed the Loge
River, now a casus belli; and, on March 3rd, burned down the
inland town of Kinsembo. On the return march the column debouched
upon the foreign factories. About one mile in front of the point,
Captain Brerit, U.S. Navy, and Commander A. G. Fitzroy, R.N., had
drawn up 120 of their men by way of guard. Leave was asked by the
Portuguese to refresh their troops, and to house six or seven
wounded men. The foreign agents, headed by a disreputable M--M--,
now dead, protested, and, after receiving this unsoldierlike
refusal, the Portuguese, harassed by the enemy, continued their
return march to Ambriz. The natives of this country have an
insane hate for their former conquerors, and can hardly explain
why: probably the cruelties of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, not peculiar to the Lusitanians, have rankled in the
national memory. A stray Portuguese would infallibly be put to
death, and it will, I fear, be long before M. Valdez sees
"spontaneous declarations of vassalage on the part of the King of
Molembo (Malemba) and others."

In 1860 the trade of Kinsembo amounted to some £50,000, divided
amongst four houses, two English, one American, and one Rotterdam
(Pencoff and Kerdyk). The Cassange war greatly benefited the new
station by diverting coffee and other produce of the interior
from Loanda. There are apochryphal tales of giant tusks brought
from a five months' journey, say 500 miles, inland. I was shown
two species of copal (gum anime) of which the best is said to
come from the Mosul country up the Ambriz River: one bore the
goose-skin of Zanzibar, and I was assured that it does not
viscidize in the potash-wash. The other was smooth as if it had
freshly fallen from the tree. It was impossible to obtain any
information; no one had been up country to see the diggings, and
yet all declared that the interior was open; that it would be
easy to strike the Coango (Quango) before it joins the Congo
River, and that 150 miles, which we may perhaps reduce by a
third, would lodge the traveller in the unknown lands of "Hnga."

Bidding kindly adieu to Mr. Hunter and wishing him speedy
deliverance from his dreadful companion, we resumed our travel
over the now tranquil main. Always to starboard remained the
narrow sea-wall, a length without breadth which we had seen after
the lowlands of Cape Lopez, coloured rosy, rusty-red, or white,
and sometimes backed by a second sierra of low blue rises, which
suggests the sanatorium. Forty miles showed us the tall trees of
Point Palmas on the northern side of the Conza River; on the
south of the gap-like mouth lies the Ambrizette settlement, with
large factories, Portuguese and American, gleaming against the
dark verdure, and with Conza Hill for a background. The Cabeça de
Cobra, or "Margate Head," led to Makula, alias Mangal, or Mangue
Grande, lately a clump of trees and a point; now the site of
English, American, and Dutch factories. Here the hydrographic
charts of 1827 and 1863 greatly vary, and one has countermarched
the coast-line some 75 miles: Beginning with the Congo River, it
lays down Mangue Pegueno (where Grande should be), Cobra, and
Mangue Grande (for Pequeno) close to Ambrizette. Then hard ahead
rose Cape Engano, whose "deceit" is a rufous tint, which causes
many to mistake it for Cape or Point Padrão. To-morrow, as the
dark-green waters tell us, we shall be in the Congo River.





                           Chapter V.

Into the Congo River.--the Factories.--trip to Shark's Point.--
                     the Padrão and Pinda.



The best preparation for a first glance at the Congo River is to
do as all do, to study the quaint description which old Purchas
borrowed from the "Chronica da Companhia de Jesus em Portugal."

"The Zaire is of such force that no ship can get in against the
current but near to the shore; yea, it prevails against the
ocean's saltness three-score, and as some say, four-score miles
within the sea, before his proud waves yield their full homage,
and receive that salt temper in token of subjection. Such is the
haughty spirit of that stream, overrunning the low countries as
it passeth, and swollen with conceit of daily conquests and daily
supplies, which, in armies of showers, are, by the clouds, sent
to his succour, runnes now in a furious rage, thinking even to
swallow the ocean, which before he never saw, with his mouth wide
gaping eight-and-twenty miles, as Lopez[FN#6] affirmeth, in the
opening; but meeting with a more giant-like enemie which lies
lurking under the cliffes to receive his assault, is presently
swallowed in that wider womb, yet so as, always being conquered,
he never gives over, but in an eternall quarrel, with deeper and
indented frownes in his angry face, foaming with disclaine, and
filling the aire with noise (with fresh helpe), supplies those
forces which the salt sea hath consumed."

I was disappointed after the Gambia and Gaboon rivers in the
approach to the Congo. About eight miles south of the mouth the
green sea changed to a clear brown which will be red during the
flood. Some three degrees (F. 79° to 82°) cooler than the salt
tide, the lighter water, which was fresh as rain, feathered out
like a fan; a rippling noise was faintly audible, and the clear
lines of white foam had not time to melt into the coloured
efflux. The flow was diverted into a regular curve northwards by
the South Atlantic current; voyagers from Ascension Island to the
north-west therefore feel the full throb of the great riverine
pulse, and it has been recognized, they say, at a distance of 300
miles. Lopez, Merolla, and Dapper[FN#7] agree that the Congo
freshens the water at thirty miles from the mouth, and that it
can be distinguished thirty leagues off. The Amazonas tinges the
sea along the Guiana coast 200 miles, and the effect of the
Ganges extends to about twenty leagues. At this season, of
course, we saw none of the floating islands which during the
rains sail out sixty to seventy leagues from land. "Tuckey's
Expedition" informs us, that the Hon. Captain Irby, H.M.S.
"Amelia," when anchored twelve miles from the South Point, in
fifteen fathoms, "observed on the ocean large floating islands
covered with trees and bushes, which had been torn from the banks
by the violent current." The Journal of Captain Scobell, H.M.S.
"Thais," remarks: "In crossing this stream I met several floating
islands or broken masses from the banks of that noble river." We
shall find them higher up the bed, only forming as the inundation
begins; I doubt, however, that at any time they equal the meadows
which stud the mouth of the Rio Formoso (Benin River).

Historic Point Padrao, the "Mouta Seca," or Dry Bush, of the
modern Portuguese, showed no signs of hospitality. The fierce
rollers of the spumous sea broke and recoiled, foaming upon the
sandy beach, which they veiled with a haze of water-dust, almost
concealing the smoke that curled from the mangrove-hedged "King
Antonio's Town." Then, steaming to the north-east, we ran five
miles to Turtle Cove, formerly Turtle Corner, a shallow bay,
whose nearest point is "Twitty Twa Bush," the baptismal effort of
some English trader. And now appeared the full gape of the Congo
mouth, yawning seven sea-miles wide; the further shore trending
to the north-west in a low blue line, where Moanda and Vista,
small "shipping-ports" for slaves, were hardly visible in the
hazy air. As we passed the projecting tooth of Shark Point, a
sandspit garnished with mangroves and dotted with palmyras, the
land-squali flocked from their dirty-brown thatches to the beach,
where flew the symbolic red flag. Unlike most other settlements,
which are so buried in almost impenetrable bush that the
traveller may pass by within a few yards without other sign but
the human voice, this den of thieves and wreckers, justly named
in more ways than one, flaunts itself in the face of day.

The Congo disclaims a bore, but it has a very distinct bar, the
angle pointing up stream, and the legs beginning about Bananal
Bank (N.) and Alligator River (S.). Here the great depth above
and below (145 and 112 fathoms) shallows to 6-9. Despite the
five-knot current we were "courteously received into the embraces
of the river;" H.M. Steamship "Griffon" wanted no "commanding
sea-breeze," she found none of the difficulties which kept poor
Tuckey's "brute of a transport" drifting and driving for nearly a
week before he could anchor off Fuma or Sherwood's Creek, the
"Medusa" of modern charts (?) and which made Shark Point, with
its three-mile current, a "more redoubtable promontory than that
of Good Hope was to early navigators." We stood boldly E.N.E.
towards the high blue clump known as Bulambemba, and, with the
dirty yellow breakers of Mwáná Mazia Bank far to port, we turned
north to French Point, and anchored in a safe bottom of seven
fathoms.

Here we at once saw the origin of the popular opinion that the
Congo has no delta. On both sides, the old river valley, 32 miles
broad, is marked out by grassy hills rolling about 200 feet high,
trending from E.N.E. to W.S.W., and forming on the right bank an
acute angle with the Ghats. But, whilst the northern line
approaches within five or six miles, the southern bank, which
diverges about the place where "King Plonly's town" appears in
charts, sweeps away some seventeen miles down coast, and leaves a
wide tract of mangrove swamps. These, according to the Portuguese
traders, who have their own plans of the river, extend some
seventy miles south to Ambrizette: slavers keep all such details
very close, and doubtless for good reasons--"short-cuts" greatly
facilitate shipping negroes. The lesser Congo delta is bounded
north by the Banana or Malela stream, whose lower fork is
"Pirates' Creek;" and south by the mangrove-clad drains, which
subtend the main line: the base measures 12-15 miles. At the
highest station, Boma, I shall have something to say about the
greater delta. The left bank of the embouchure projects further
seaward, making it look "under hung," representing in charts a
lower jaw, and the projection of Shark Point the teeth, en
profile.

My first care was to collect news at the factories. French Point
is a long low spit, which supports two establishments where the
chart (September 1859) gives "Emigration Depot." It is the old
Banana Point, and probably the older Palmeirinha Point of James
Barbot, who places it in the territory of Goy (Ngoy), now
Cabinda. This part has greatly changed since 1859; either the
Banana River requires removing two miles to the north, or French
Point must be placed an equal distance south. The principal
establishment, M. Régis' of Marseilles, is built in his best
style; a two-storied and brilliantly "chunam'd" house, containing
a shop and store on the ground-floor, defended by a three-
pounder. Behind it a square "compound," with high walls, guards
the offices and the other requisites of a bar racoon. It is
fronted by a little village where "Laptots," Senegal Moslems, and
men-at-arms live with their families and slaves. In the rear
stands the far more modest and conscientious establishment of
Messrs. Pencoff and Kerdyk: their plank bungalow is full of work,
whilst the other lies idle; so virtue here is not, as in books,
its own reward.

M. Victor Parrot, the young Swiss agent of M. Régis, hospitably
asked us to take up our quarters with him, and promised to start
us up stream without delay; his employer fixes the tariff of
every article, and no discretion is left to the subordinates. We
called upon M. Elkman of the Dutch factory. His is a well-known
name on the river, and, though familiar with the people, he has
more than once run some personal risk by assisting our cruizers
to make captures. He advised us to lose no time in setting out
before the impending rains: I wanted, however, a slight
preparation for travel, and determined to see something of the
adjoining villages, especially the site of the historic Padrão.

Whilst crossing the stream, we easily understood how the river
was supposed to be in a perpetual state of inundation. The great
breadth and the shallows near either jaw prevent the rain-floods
being perceptible unless instruments are used, and "hydrometry,"
still in an imperfect state, was little to be depended upon in
the days when European ideas concerning the Congo River were
formed. Twenty miles up stream the high-water mark becomes
strongly marked, and further on, as will be seen, it shows even
better.

If Barbot's map have any claim to correctness, the southern shore
has changed greatly since A.D. 1700. A straight line from Cape
Padrão to Chapel Point, now Shark Point, was more than double the
breadth of the embouchure. It is vain to seek for the "Island of
Calabes" mentioned by Andrew Battel, who was "sent to a place
called Zaire on the River Congo, to trade for elephants' teeth,
wheat, and palm oil." It may be a mistake for Cavallos, noticed
in the next chapter; but the "town on it" must have been small,
and has left, they say, no traces. After a scramble through the
surf, we were received at Shark Point, where, at this season, the
current is nearer five than three knots, by Mr. Tom Peter,
Mafuka, or chief trader, amongst these "Musurungus." He bore his
highly respectable name upon the frontal band of his "berretta"
alias "corôa," an open-worked affair, very like the old-fashioned
jelly-bag night cap. This head-gear of office made of pine-apple
fibre-- Tuckey says grass--costs ten shillings; it is worn by the
kinglets, who now distribute it to all the lieges whose fortunes
exceed some fifty dollars.

Most of the Squaline villagers appeared to be women, the men
being engaged in making money elsewhere. Besides illicit trade,
which has now become very dangerous, a little is done in the
licit line: grotesquely carved sticks, calabashes rudely
ornamented with ships and human figures, the neat bead-work
grass-strings used by the women to depress the bosom, and
cashimbos or pipes mostly made about Boma. All were re-baptized
in 1853, but they show no sign of Christianity save crosses, and
they are the only prostitutes on the river.

Following Tom Peter, and followed by a noisy tail, we walked to
the west end of Shark Point, to see if aught remained of the
Padrão, the first memorial column, planted in 1485 by the
explorer Diogo Cam, knight of the king's household, Dom João II.
"O principe perfeito," who, says De Barros ("Asia," Decad. I.
lib. iii. chap. 3), "to immortalize the memory of his captains,"
directed them to plant these pillars in all remarkable places.
The Padrões, which before the reign of D. João were only wooden
crosses, assumed the shape of "columns, twice the height of a man
(estado), with the scutcheon bearing the royal arms. At the sides
they were to be inscribed in Latin and Portuguese (to which James
Barbot adds Arabic), with the name of the monarch who sent the
expedition, the date of discovery, and the captain who made it;
on the summit was to be raised a stone cross cramped in with
lead." According to others, the inscription mentioned only the
date, the king, and the captain. The Padrão of the Congo was
especially called from the "Lord of Guinea's favourite saint, de
São Jorge"--sit faustum! As Carli shows, the patron of Congo and
Angola was Santiago, who was seen bodily assisting at a battle in
which Dom Affonso, son of Giovi (Emmanuel), first Christian king
of Congo, prevailed against a mighty host of idolaters headed by
his pagan brother "Panso Aquitimo." In 1786 Sir Home Popham found
a marble cross on a rock near Angra dos Ilheos or Pequena (south
latitude 26° 37'), with the arms of Portugal almost effaced. Till
lately the jasper pillar at Cabo Negro bore the national arms.
Doubtless much latitude was allowed in the make and material of
these padrões; that which I saw near Cananea in the Brazil is of
saccharine marble, four palms high by two broad; it bears a
scutcheon charged with a cross and surmounted by another.

There is some doubt concerning the date of this mission. De
Barros (I. iii. 3) says A.D. 1484. Lopes de Limn (IV. i. 5) gives
the reason why A.D. 1485 is generally adopted, and he believes
that the cruise of the previous year did not lead to the Congo
River. The explorer, proceeding to inspect the coast south of
Cape St. Catherine (south latitude 2° 30'), which he had
discovered in 1473, set out from São Jorge da Mina, now Elmina.
He was accompanied by Martin von Behaim of Nürnberg (nat. circ.
A.D. 1436, ob. A.D. 1506), a pupil of the mathematician John
Müller (Regiomontanus); and for whom the discovery of the New
World has been claimed.

After doubling his last year's terminus, Diogo Cam chanced upon a
vast embouchure, and, surprised by the beauty of the scenery and
the volume of the stream, he erected his stone Padrão, the first
of its kind. Finding the people unintelligible to the
interpreters, he sent four of his men with a present of hawk's
bells (cascaveis) and blue glass beads to the nearest king, and,
as they did not soon return, he sailed back to Portugal with an
equal number of natives as hostages, promising to return after
fifteen moons. One of them, Caçuta (Zacuten of Barbot), proved to
be a "fidalgo" of Sonho, and, though the procedure was contrary
to orders, it found favour with the "Perfect Prince." From these
men the Portuguese learned that the land belonged to a great
monarch named the Mwani-Congo or Lord of Congo, and thus they
gave the river a name unknown to the riverine peoples.

Diogo Cam, on his second visit, sent presents to the ruler with
the hostages, who had learned as much Portuguese and Christianity
as the time allowed; recovered his own men, and passed on to
Angola, Benguela and Cabo Negro, adding to his discoveries 200
leagues of coast. When homeward bound, he met the Mwani-Sonho,
and visited the Mwani-Congo, who lived at Ambasse Congo (São
Salvador), distant 50 leagues (?). The ruler of the "great and
wonderful River Zaire," touched by his words, sent with him
sundry youths, and the fidalgo Caçuta, who was baptized into Dom
Joao, to receive instruction, and to offer a present of ivory and
of palm cloth which was remarkably strong and bright. A request
for a supply of mechanics and missionaries brought out the first
mission of Dominicans. They sailed in December, 1490, under
Gonçalo de Sousa; they were followed by others, and in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the country was fairly over-
run by the Propaganda. A future page will enter into more
details, and show the results of their labours.

The original Padrão was destroyed by the Dutch in 1645, an act of
barbarism which is justly called "Vandalica façanha." Father
Merolla says (1682), "The Hollanders, out of envy, broke the fine
marble cross to pieces; nevertheless, so much remained of it,
when I was there, as to discover plainly the Portuguese arms on
the ruins of the basis, with an inscription under them in Gothic
characters, though not easy to be read." In 1859 a new one was
placed in Turtle Cove, a few yards south-west of Shark Point; but
the record was swept away by an unusually high tide, and no
further attempt has been made.

We were then led down a sandy narrow line in the bush, striking
south-east, and, after a few yards, we stood before two pieces of
marble in a sandy hollow. The tropical climate, more adverse than
that of London, had bleached and marked them till they looked
like pitted chalk: the larger stump, about two feet high, was
bandaged, as if after amputation, with cloths of many colours,
and the other fragment lay at its feet. Tom Peter, in a fearful
lingua-Franca, Negro-Anglo-Portuguese, told us that his people
still venerated the place as part of a religious building; it is
probably the remnant thus alluded to by Lopes de Lima (iii. 1-6):
"Behind this point (Padrão) is another monument of the piety of
our monarchs, and of the holy objects which guided them to the
conquest of Guinea, a Capuchin convent intended to convert the
negroes of Sonho; it has long been deserted, and is still so.
Even in A.D. 1814, D. Garcia V., the king of Congo, complained in
a letter to our sovereign of the want of missionaries." Possibly
the ruined convent is the church which we shall presently visit.
Striking eastward, we soon came to a pool in the bush
sufficiently curious and out of place to make the natives hold it
"Fetish;" they declare that it is full of fish, but it kills all
men who enter it--"all men" would not include white men. Possibly
it is an old piscina; according to the Abbé Proyart, the
missionaries taught the art of pisciculture near the village of
Kilonga, where they formed their first establishment. The place
is marked "Salt-pond" in Barbot, who tells us that the condiment
was made there and carried inland.

A short walk to a tall tree backing the village showed us,
amongst twenty-five European graves, five tombs or cenotaphs of
English naval officers, amongst whom two fell victims to
mangrove-oysters, and the rest to the deadly "calenture" of the
lower Congo. We entered the foul mass of huts,

                    "Domus non ullo robore fulta
          Sed sterili junco cannâque intecta palustri."

It was too early for the daily debauch of palm wine, and the
interiors reeked with the odours of nocturnal palm oil. The older
travellers were certainly not blasés; they seemed to find
pleasure and beauty wherever they looked: Ca da Mosto (1455),
visiting the Senegal, detected in this graveolent substance, fit
only for wheel-axles, a threefold property, that of smelling like
violets, of tasting like oil of olives, and tinging victuals like
saffron, with a colour still finer. Even Mungo Park preferred the
rancid tallow-like shea butter to the best product of the cow. We
chatted with the Shark Point wreckers, and found that they
thought like Arthegal,

          "For equal right in equal things doth stand."

Moreover, here, as in the Shetlands of the early nineteenth
century, when the keel touches bottom the seaman loses his
rights, and she belongs to the shore.

Tom Peter offered to show us other relics of the past if we would
give him two days. A little party was soon made up, Mr. J. C.
Bigley, the master, and Mr. Richards, the excellent gunner of the
"Griffon," were my companions. We set out in a south-by-easterly
direction to the bottom of Sonho, or Diogo's Bay, which Barbot
calls "Bay of Pampus Rock." Thence we entered Alligator River, a
broad lagoon, the Raphael Creek of Maxwell's map, not named in
the hydrographic chart of 1859. Leading south with many a bend,
it is black water and thick, fetid mud, garnished with scrubby
mangrove, where Kru-boys come to cut fuel and catch fever; here
the dew seemed to fall in cold drops. After nine miles we reached
a shallow fork, one tine of which, according to our informants,
comes from the Congo Grande, or São Salvador, distant a week's
march. Leaving the whaler in charge of a Kru-man, we landed, and
walked about half a mile over loose sand bound by pine-apple
root, to the Banza Sonho, or, as we call it, King Antonio's Town-
-not to be mistaken for that placed in the charts behind Point
Padron. Our object being unknown, there was fearful excitement in
the thatched huts scattered under the palm grove, till Tom Peter
introduced us, and cleared for us a decent hut. The buildings, if
they can be so called, are poor and ragged, copies of those which
we shall see upon the uplands. Presently we were visited by the
king named after that saint "of whom the Evil One was parlous
afraid." This descendant of the "Counts of Sonho," in his dirty
night-cap and long coat of stained red cloth, was a curious
contrast to the former splendour of the "count's habit," with cap
of stitched silk which could be worn only by him and his nobles,
fine linen shirt, flowered silk cloak, and yellow stockings of
the same material. When King Affonso III. gave audience to the
missioners (A.D. 1646), the negro grandee "had on a vest of cloth
set with precious stones, and in his hat a crown of diamonds,
besides other stones of great value. He sat on a chair under a
canopy of rich crimson velvet, with gilt nails, after the manner
of Europe; and under his feet was a great carpet, with two stools
of the same colour, and silk laced with gold." After the usual
palaver we gave the black earl a cloth and bottle of rum for
leave to pass on, but no one would accompany us that evening, all
pretending that they wanted time to fit up the hammocks. At night
a body of armed bushmen marched down to inspect us.

The demands for porterage were so exorbitant next morning, that
we set out on foot under the guidance of Tom Peter. We passed
southwards over large tracts of bush and gramineous plants, with
patches of small plantations, manioc and thur; and settlements
girt by calabash-trees, cocoas, palmyra and oil palms. The people
poured out, threatened impotent vengeance on those who brought
the white men to "make their country," that is, to seize and
settle in it. The only animals were fowls and pigs; small strong
cages acting as hogstyes showed that leopards were dangerous; in
1816 Lieutenant Hawkey found signs of these animals, together
with elephant, wild boar, and antelope. Now there is no sport
below the cataracts, and possibly very little, except in the
water, above them. Thence we debouched upon rolling land, loose
and sandy waves, sometimes divided by swamps; it is the lower end
of the high yellow band seen from the south of the river, the
true coast of alluvial soil, scattered here and there with quartz
and pebbles. Then the bush opened out, and showed to the north-
east stretches of grassy land, where the wild fig-tree drooped
its branches, laden with thick fleshy leafage, to the ground;
these are the black dots which are seen from afar studding the
tawny desert-like surface. Flowers were abundant despite the
lateness of the season, and the sterility of the soil was
evidenced by cactus and euphorbia.

After a walk of six miles Tom Peter pompously announced that we
had reached the church. We saw only an oblong furrow and a little
worm-eaten wood near three or four of the most miserable
"magalia;" but a bell, hung to a dwarf gallows, was dated 1700,
and inscribed, "Si Deus cum nobis Qis (sic) contra nos?" The
aspect of this article did not fail to excite Mr. Richards'
concupiscence: I looked into the empty huts, and in the largest
found a lot of old church gear, the Virgin (our Lady of Pinda),
saints, and crucifixes, a tank-like affair of iron that acted as
font, and tattered bundles of old music-scores in black and red
ink. In Captain Tuckey's day some of the Sonho men could read the
Latin Litany; there was a priest ordained by the Capuchins of
Loanda, a bare-footed (and bare-faced) black apostle, with a wife
and five handmaids; and a multitude of converts loaded with
crucifixes and satchels of relics. Our home march was enlivened
by glimpses of the magnificent river seen through the perennial
tropical foliage, and it did not suggest trite reflections upon
the meanness of man's highest aspirations in presence of eternal
Nature.

We had been treading upon no vulgar spot. We are now in the
earldom of Sonho, bounded north by the Congo River and south by
the Ambriz, westward by the Atlantic, and eastward by the "Duchy
of Bamba." It was one of the great divisions of the Congo
kingdom, and "absolute, except only its being tributary to the
Lord Paramount." The titles of Portugal were adopted by the
Congoese, according to Father Cavazzi, after A.D. 1571, when the
king constituted himself a vassal of the Portuguese crown. Here
was the Pinda whose port and fort played an important part in
local history. "Built by the Sonhese army at the mouth of the
River Zaire," it commanded both the stream and sea: it was
plundered in 1600 by four French pirates. According to Carli
(1666-67) "the Count of Sonho, the fifth dignitary of the empire,
resided in the town of Sonho, a league from the River Zaire."
Pinda was for a time the head-quarters of the Portuguese Mission,
subject only to that of São Salvador; it consisted of an
apartment two stories high, which caused trouble, being contrary
to country custom.

At the French factory I found the employés well "up" in the
travels of the unfortunate adventurer Douville ("Voyage au Congo
et dans l'Intérieur de l'Afrique Equinoxiale fait dans les années
1828, 1829, et 1830. Par J. B. Douville, Secrétaire de la Société
de Géographic de Paris pour l'année 1832, etmembre de plusieurs
Sociétés savantes françoises et étrangères. Ouvrage auquel la
Société de Géographic a décerné le prix dans sa séance du 30
mars, 1832. 3 tomes. 8vo. Paris, 1832"). Dr. Gardner, in his
Brazilian travels, gives an account of Douville's murder, the
consequence of receiving too high fees for medical attendance on
the banks of the São Francisco. So life like are his descriptions
of the country and its scenery, that no one in the factory would
believe him to have been an impostor, and the Frenchmen evidently
held my objections to be "founded on nationality." The besetting
sins of the three volumes are inordinate vanity and
inconséquence, but these should not obscure our vision as to
their solid and remarkable merits. Compare the picturesque
account of São Paulo with those of the latest English travellers,
and the anthropology of the people, their religion, their
ceremonies, their magic, their dress and costume, their trade,
their manufactures, their maladies (including earth-eating),
their cannibalism, the condition of their women, and the
necessity of civilizing them by education before converting them,
all subjects of the highest interest, with that of Mungo Park,
for instance, arid we have a fair measure of the French
traveller's value. The native words inserted into the text are
for the most part given with unusual correctness, and the carping
criticism which would correct them sadly requires correction
itself. "Thus the word which he writes mouloundu in his text, and
mulundu in his vocabulary, is not singular, as he supposes, but
the plural of loondu, a mountain" (p. 200 of the" Review").
Firstly, Douville has warned the reader that the former is the
spelling best adapted to French, the latter to Portuguese.
Secondly, "mulundu" in Angolan is singular, the plural being
"milundu"--a handful, the Persians say, is a specimen of the
heap. The excess of female births in low and unhealthy places (1,
309) and as the normal result of polygamy (3, 243), is a highly
interesting subject still awaiting investigation. I do not mean
that Douville was the first to observe this phenomenon, which
forced itself upon the notice of physiologists in ancient times.
Foster ("Cook's Third Voyage") remarks that, wherever men and
animals have many females, the feminine births preponderate over
the masculine; a fact there explained by the "organic molecule"
of Buffon. Pigafetta, the circumnavigator, gives the King of
Tidor eighteen daughters to eight sons.

The French traveller does not pretend to be a mineralogist, but
he does his best to lay open the metallic riches of the country;
he gives careful observations of temperature, in water as well as
air, he divines the different proportions of oxygen in the
atmosphere, and he even applies himself to investigating the
comparative heat of the negro's blood, an inquiry still far from
being exhausted. The most remarkable part is certainly the
medical, and here the author was simply in advance of his age.
Instead of the lancet, the drastic cathartics, and the calomel
with which our naval surgeons slew their patients, he employed
emetics and tonics to an extent that would have charmed my late
friend, Dr. Dickson, the chromothermalist, and he preceded Dr.
Hutchinson in the use of quinine wine. Indeed, the peculiar
aptitude for medicine shown in these pages led to the traveller's
adopting the destructive art of healing as a profession, and
caused his unhappy end. The curious mixture of utter imposture
and of genius for observation which a traveller can detect in
Douville renders him worthy of a monograph.





                          Chapter VI.

Up the Congo River.--the Slave Depot, Porto Da Lenha.--arrival at
                             Boma.



M. Parrot was as good as his word. By August 31st, "L'Espérance,"
a fine schooner-rigged palhabote (launch) of thirty-five tons,
heavily sparred and carrying lots of "muslin," was ready to
receive my outfit. The party consisted of the commander, Mr.
Bigley, and five chosen "Griffons," including William Deane,
boatswain's mate, as good a man as his namesake in Blake's day,
and the estimable Friend, captain's cook and Figaro in general.
M. Pissot, an Arlésien, clerk to the factory, went up on business
with a crew of eight useless Cabindas under Frank, their pagan
"patron," who could only run us aground. Finally, there was a
guard of half-a-dozen "Laptots," equally good sailors and
soldiers. The French squadron in West Africa has the advantage
over ours of employing these men,

086--- who are clean, intelligent, and brave; whilst we are
reduced to the unprogressive Kru-man, who is, moreover, a model
coward, a poltroon on principle.

At 5 P.M. our huge canvas drove us rapidly over the shoals and
shallows of this imperfectly known sea: the Ethiopic Directory
justly grumbles, "It is a subject of regret that navigators who
have had occasion to enter the Congo, and to remain there some
time, have not furnished us with more information about the
tides." This will be a work of labour and endurance; detached
observations are of very little use. We at once remarked the
complication caused by the upper, surface, or freshwater current
of 3 to 4 knots an hour, meeting the under, or oceanic inflow.
There is a short cut up Pirate's Creek, but we avoided it for the
usual reason, fear of finding it very long. Passing a low point
to port, subtended north and south by the Bananal River and
Pirate's Creek, after some six knots we were abreast of
Bulambemba (the Boulem beembo of Tuckey's Vocabulary). It is
interpreted "Answer," hence our "Echo Point"(?); but others
render it, "Hold your tongue." The former is correct, and the
thick high screen of trees explains the native and English names.
Old writers call it Fathomless Point, which it is not now; a
bank, the south-eastern projection of the great Mwáná Mázia
shoal, has formed a few feet below the surface; but the term will
apply at the distance of a mile further south. This acute angle
shows a glorious clump, the "Tall Trees," white mangroves rising
a hundred feet, and red mangroves based upon pyramidal cages of
roots; and beyond it the immediate shore is covered with a dense
tropical vegetation, a tangle of bush, palms, and pandanus,
matted with creepers and undergrowth, and rhyzophoras of many
varieties delighting in brackish water. We passed on the right
the Ponta de Jacaré (Point of the Crocodile), fronting Point
Senegal on the other side. The natives call the former Ngándu
(li. Jigándu), and farcical tales are told about it: in the lower
settlements Europeans will not go abroad by night without a
lantern. During my trip I sighted only one startled crocodile
that floated log-like a mile off, and Captain Baak, of the Dutch
house, had not seen one during a whole year at Banana Point.

We anchored for the night off the south side of the Zungá chyá
Ngombe, in Portuguese Ilha do Boi (Bullock), the Rhinoceros
Island of our early charts. It emerges from the waters of the
right bank, a mere "ponton" plumed with dark mangroves and
streaked with spar-like white trunks. This is probably the
"Island of Horses," where the Portuguese, flying from the
victorious Hollanders, were lodged and fed by the courteous Count
of Sonho; perhaps it is Battel's "Isle Calabes." The place is
backed by the Monpanga or Mombang, the "Look-out Islands" of the
chart, which has greatly changed since the beginning of the
century; the dark mass of mangroves is now apparently part of the
northern shore. Almost due south of the Ilha do Boi is the Zungá
chyá Kampenzi, whence our word chimpanzee: in the hydrographic
chart it is miswritten Zoonga Campendi, and in Tuckey's map,
which contradicts his text, "Zoonga Casaquoisa." His "Zoonga
Kampenzey," also named "Halcyon Island," appears to be the
Draper's Island or the "Monkey Island" of Mr. Maxwell: the latter
in modern charts is more to the north-east, that is, above Porto
da Lenha, than the former. The Simiads have been killed out;
Captain Tuckey going up the river saw upwards of twenty which,
but for their tails, might have been mistaken for negroes.
Merolla says that wild men and women (gorillas?) have been
captured in Sonho, and he carefully distinguishes them from
baboons: one of them was presented to a friar of his order, who
"bestowed it on the Portuguese governor of Loanda." Chimpanzee
Island may be the Zariacacongo of Father Merolla, who makes
Cacongo (Great Congo) a large and independent kingdom" lying in
the middle between Congo and Loango." He describes Zariacacongo,
"none of the smallest, and situate in the midst of the River
Zaire." It abounded in all sorts of provisions, was well peopled,
consisted of a plain raised eight fathoms above water, and was
divided from the kingdom of Congo by a river, over which there
was a bridge.

After a pleasant breezy night upon the brown waters, on September
1st we hove anchor betimes and made for Scotchman's Head, a
conspicuous mangrove bluff forming a fine landmark on the left
bank. The charts have lately shifted it some two miles west of
its old position. Six or seven miles beyond it rise the blue
uplands of the "Earldom of Sonho." On our right, in mid-stream,
lay a "crocodile bank," a newly fixed grass islet, a few square
feet of green and gold, which the floods will presently cover or
carry away. To the left, above the easternmost "Mombang" and the
network of islands behind it, opens the gape of the Malela River,
a short cut to French Point, found useful when a dangerous tide-
rip is caused by the strong sea-breeze meeting the violent
current of the Thalweg. Above it lies a curious formation like
concentric rings of trees inclosing grass: it is visible only
from the north-east. Several slave factories now appear on either
shore, single-storied huts of wood and thatch, in holes cut out
of the densest bush, an impenetrable forest whose sloppy soil and
miry puddles seem never to dry. The tenements serve as videttes
and outposts, enabling cargoes to ship without the difficulties
of passing Palm Point, and thus to make a straight run down
stream. There are three on the north bank, viz. M. Rágis (aîné),
now deserted, Sr. Lima Viana, and Sr. Antonio Fernandez; and
three on the left side, Sr. Alessandro Ferreira, Sr. Guilherme,
and Sr. Fonseca. Those on the southern or left bank facilitate
overland transit to Mangue, Ambrizette, and other dépôts. At
present it is "tiempo seco" (dull time), and the gérants keep
their hands in by buying ground-nuts and palm oil. The slave
trade, however, makes 500, not 50, per cent., and the agents are
naturally fond of it, their mere salaries being only some 150
francs a month.

Landing at the factory of Sr. Fernandez, we were received by his
agent, Sr. Silva, in a little bungalow of bamboo and matting,
paved with tamped earth and old white ostreoid shells, a kind of
Mya, relished by the natives but not eaten by Europeans. To
these, doubtless, Mr. W. Winwood Reacle refers ("Savage Africa,"
chap, xxxvii.), "The traders say that in Congo there are great
heaps of oyster-shells, but no oysters. These shells the negroes
also burn for lime." I did not hear of any of these "ostreiras,"
which, if they exist, must reflect the Sambaquis of the opposite
Brazilian shore. The house was guarded by three wooden figures,
"clouterly carved," and powdered with ochre or red wood; two of
them, representing warriors in studded coatings of spike nails,
with a looking-glass fixed in the stomach, raised their hands as
if to stab each other. These figures are sometimes found large as
life: according to the agents, the spikes are driven in before
the wars begin, and every one promises the hoped-for death of an
enemy. Behind them the house was guarded by a sentinel with drawn
sword. The unfortunate tenant, who looked a martyr to ague, sat
"in palaver" with a petty island "king," and at times the tap of
a war-drum roused my experienced ear. The monarch, habited in a
shabby cloth coat, occupied a settee, with a "minister" on either
side; he was a fat senior of light complexion, with a vicious
expression upon features, which were not those of the
"tobacconist nigger," nor had he the effeminate aspect of the
Congoese.

I looked curiously at these specimens of the Musulungu or
Musurungu, a wilder race than that of Shark Point: the English,
of course, call them Missolonghi, because Lord Byron died there.
Here the people say "le" for "re," and "rua" for "lua,"
confounding both liquids, which may also be found in the Kibundo
tongue. In Loango, according to the Abbé Proyart, the national
organ does not admit the roughness of the r, which is changed to
l. Monteiro and Gamitto assert (xxii.) that the "Cazembes or
Lundas do not pronounce the letter r, in whose place they use l."
The "Ibos" of the lower Congo, dwelling on the southern shore
between the mouth and the Porto da Lenha, above which they are
harmless, these men have ever been dangerous to strangers, and
the effect of the slave-trade has been to make them more
formidable. Lieutenant Boteler (1835) was attacked by twenty-
eight canoes, carrying some 140 men, who came on boldly,
"ducking" at the flash, and who were driven off only by a volley
of musketry and a charge of grape. In 1860 a whaler and crew were
attacked by their war-canoes sallying out from behind Scotchman's
Head. These craft are of two kinds, one shaped like a horse-
trough, the other with a lean and snaky head. The "Wrangler" lost
two of her men near Zungá chyá Kampenzi, and the "Griffon"
escaped by firing an Armstrong conical shell. They have
frequently surprised and kept for ransom the white agents, whom
"o negocio" deterred from reprisals. M. Pissot, our companion,
was amarré by them for some weeks, and the most unpleasant part
of his captivity was the stunning concert of songs and
instruments kept up during the day to prevent his escaping by
night. The more sensible traders at Boma pay them black mail by
employing them as boats' crews, upon our Anglo-Indian principle
of the "Paggi" and the "Ramosi."

Merolla calls these men Musilongo or Sonhese. The word appears to
me opprobrious, as if each tribe termed itself Mushi-Congo (Congo
people), and its neighbours Musulungus: Barbot writes as a
Frenchman Moutsie, the Portuguese Muxi (Mushi). Mushi-Longo would
perhaps mean Loango-people; but my ear could not detect any
approach to "Loango" in "Musulungu." The first syllable, Mu, in
Fiote or Congoese, would be a contraction of Muntu (plural
Wántú). They inhabit the islands, own a part of the north bank,
and extend southwards to Ambriz: eastward they are bounded by the
Fiote or Congo-speaking peoples, to whom their tongue is
intelligible. They have no tattoo, but they pierce the nose
septum and extract the two central and upper incisors; the Muxi-
Congoes or Lower Congoese chip or file out a chevron in the near
sides of the same teeth-- an ornament possibly suggested by the
weight of the native pipe. The chipping and extracting seem to be
very arbitrary and liable to change: sometimes the upper, at
other times the lower teeth are operated upon. The fashionable
mutilation is frequently seen in Eastern Africa, and perhaps it
is nothing but a fashion. They are the "kallistoi" and "megistoi"
of the Congoese bodies, taller and darker, fiercer and braver
than their neighbours, nor will they cease to be river pirates
till the illicit trade dies.

After taking leave of Sr. Silva we resumed our way, the
thermometer (F.) showing at 1.45 P.M. 95° in the air when the sun
was obscured, and the mirage played the usual fantastic tricks.
The mangrove, which Tuckey's introduction prolongs to fifty miles
from the mouth, now disappears; in fact, it does not extend much
above Bullock Island, nineteen direct miles on the chart from
Shark Point and, as usual, it enables us to measure the extreme
limit where the salt-tide ascends. The palhabote went gallantly,

               "The water round her bows
          Dancing as round a drinking cup."

Small trembling waves poppled and frothed in mid-stream, where
the fresh water met wind and tide; and by the "boiling" of the
surface we saw that there was still a strong under-current
flowing against the upper layer. A little beyond the factory we
were shown on the northern bank Mariquita Nook, where the slaver
of that name, commanded by a Captain Bowen, had shipped some 520
men. She was captured by H.M. Steamship "Zebra," Commander
Hoskins, after being reported by a chief, whom her captain had
kicked, to a trader at the river mouth, and by him to the
cruizer. Slavers used to show their sense by starting on Sundays,
when the squadron kept a careless look-out; but their inevitable
danger was the general "drunk" of the officers and crew to
celebrate the event, and this libation often caused delays which
led to seizure. It was an admirable site, a bit of golden sand
fronting the cleared bush, commanding an unbroken sweep of vision
to the embouchure, and masked by forest from Porto da Lenha. It
is easily known by its two tall trees, and that nearest the sea,
when viewed from the east, appears surmounted by what resemble
the "Kangaroo's Head:" they are cones of regular shape, covered
to the topmost twig with the lightest green Flagellaria. The
"bush" now becomes beautiful, rolling in bulging masses of
verdure to the very edge of the clear brown stream. As in the
rivers of Guinea, the llianas form fibrous chains, varying in
size from a packthread to a cable; now straight, then twisted;
investing the trees with an endless variety of folds and
embraces, and connecting neighbours by graceful arches like the
sag of an acrobat's rope. Here and there a grotesque calabash
contrasted with the graceful palms towering in air for warmth and
light, or bending over water like Prince of Wales's feathers. The
unvarying green was enlivened by yew-like trees with scarlet
flowers, the "Burning Bush" of Sierra Leone, setting off the
white boles of the cotton-trees; and the whole was edged by the
yellow green of the quaint pandanus hung with heavy fruit.

A little beyond "Mariquita Nook" the right bank becomes a net-
work of creeks, "obscure channels," tortuous, slimy with mud,
banked with the snake-like branches of trees, and much resembling
the lower course of the Benin, or any other north equatorial
African river; the forest is also full of large villages,
invisible like the streams till entered. A single tree,
apparently growing out of the great stream-bed, showed shallow
water as we passed the Ponte de tres Palmeiras; the three oil-
palms are still there, but the easternmost is decaying. At 2 P.M.
we were in sight of the chief slaving settlement on the Congo,
the Whydah of the river, Porto da Lenha. Our charts have "Ponta
de Linha," three mistakes in as many words. Some authorities,
however, prefer Ponta da Lenha, "Woody Point," from the piles
flanking the houses; others, Ponte da Lenha, from a bridge built
by the agent of Messrs. Tobin's house over the single influent
that divides the settlement. Cruizers have often ascended thus
far; the Baltimore barque of 800 tons went up and down safely in
1859, but now square-rigged ships, which seldom pass Zungá chyá
Kampenzi, send up boats when something is to be done higher up.

Porto da Lenha dates like Abeokuta from the second decade of the
present century. In Tuckey's time the projection from the
northern bank was known as "Tall Trees," a term common to several
places in the "Oil rivers;" no factories existed, schooners
sailed to Boma for cargo, and dropped down stream as soon as
loaded. From French Point it is distant 40,000 measured metres (=
21 statute miles and 1,615 yards); our charts show 20.50 nautical
miles (= 32,500 metres in round numbers). The river opposite the
projection narrows to a gate barely a mile and a half broad,
whilst the valley stretches some five miles, and the blue hills
inhabited by the Musulungus are clearly visible; the flood rises
four or five feet, and drinking water must be brought from up
stream. The site of the settlement is on the right or northern
bank behind the projection, a slip of morass backed by swamps and
thick growths, chiefly bombax, palm and acacia, lignum vitae, the
mammee-apple and the cork-tree, palmyra, pandanus, and groves of
papyrus. Low and deeply flooded during the rains, the place would
be fatal without the sea-breeze; as it is, the air is exceedingly
unwholesome. There is no quay, the canoe must act gondola; the
wharf is a mere platform with steps, and in places the filthy
drains are not dry even at this season. The length of the station
is about one mile, and of no depth except what is taken up by the
neat and expensive gardens. Eastward or up stream it thins out,
and the foundations give considerable trouble; the inhabitants
are condemned to do beavers' work, to protect the bank with
strong piles, and to heap up earth for a base, whilst, despite
all their toil, the water often finds its way in. The sixteen
houses look well; they are substantial bungalows, built country
fashion, with timber and matting; they have large and shady
verandahs, and a series of inner rooms. Each house has a well-
kept pottage plot, inferior, however, to those up stream.

The tenure of ground here, as at Borna, is by yearly rent to the
two "kings," Nengongo and Nenzalo, each of whom claims a half.
Like the chiefs of Porto Novo, the despot of Dahome, the rulers
of many Nigerian tribes, and even the Fernandian "Bube," these
potentates may not look at the sea nor at the river. Their power
is, therefore, deputed to "linguisters" or interpreters,
linguistele ya Nchinu, "linguist to the king," being the official
titles of these worthies, who massacre the Portuguese language,
and who are empowered to receive "comey" (customs) and rent. The
revenue is composed of three principal items; an ounce ($16) per
head of negro embarked at Porto da Lenha; four per cent, on all
goods sold, and, lastly, a hundred hard dollars monthly ground-
rent--£l92 (English pound symbol) a year. The linguist becomes
more powerful than the chief, who is wholly in his power, and
always receives the best presents. Neagongo's fattore is old
Shimbah, an ignoble aspect with a "kink in his leg;" Mashel or
Machela, a corruption of the Portuguese Maciel, died about two
months aeo: we shall see him disembarked for burial at Boma.

It is evident that the slavers were wrong not to keep hulks like
those of the Bonny River; health would have gained, and the
procedure might have modified negro "sass." The chiefs begin
early morning by going their rounds for drink, and end business
between 7 and 10 A.M. Everywhere on this coast a few hours of
work support a "gentleman;" even the comparatively industrious
and hard-working Egbas rarely do anything after noon. These lords
and masters are fully aware that the white men are their willing
slaves as long as the large profits last. If a glass of watered
rum, which they detect more easily than we do watered milk, be
offered to them, it will be thrown in the donor's face. Every
factory must keep a barrel of spirits ready broached if the
agents would buy eggs and yams, and the poorest negro comes
regularly with his garrafa. The mixed stuff costs per bottle only
a hundred reis (= fourpence), and thoroughly demoralizes the
black world.

We landed at once, sent our letters to M. Monteiro, who
hospitably offered his house, and passed the day quickly enough
in a round of visits. Despite the general politeness and
attention to us, we found a gloom overhanging the place: as at
Whydah, its glories have departed, nor shall they ever return.
The jollity, the recklessness, the gold ounces thrown in handfuls
upon the monte-table, are things of the past: several houses are
said to be insolvent, and the dearth of cloth is causing actual
misery. Palm and ground-nut oil enable the agents only to buy
provisions; the trade is capable of infinite expansion, but it
requires time--as yet it supports only the two non-slaving
houses, English and Dutch. The forty or fifty tons brought in
every month pay them cent, per cent.; the bag of half a hundred
weight being sold for four fathoms of cloth; or two hatchets, one
bottle of rum, and a jug or a plate.

Early next day I went to the English factory for the purpose of
completing my outfit. Unfortunately, Mr. P. Maculloch, the head
agent, who is perfectly acquainted with the river and the people,
was absent, leaving the business in the hands of two "mean
whites," walking buccras, English pariahs. The factory--a dirty
disgrace to the name--was in the charge of a clerk, whom we saw
being rowed about bareheaded through the sun, accompanied by a
black girl, both as far from sober as might be. The cooper, who
was sitting moony with drink, rose to receive us and to weigh out
the beads which I required; under the excitement he had recourse
to a gin-bottle, and a total collapse came on before half the
work was done. Why should south latitude 6°, the parallel of
Zanzibar, be so fatal to the Briton?

At 2.20 P.M. on September 2, we left Porto da Lenha, and passed
Mashel's Creek, on whose right bank is the village of Makatalla;
the charts call it Foomou, and transfer it to the left. Here we
enter upon the riverine archipelago. The great stream before one,
now divides into three parallel branches, separated by long
narrow islands and islets, banks and shallows. The northernmost
channel in our maps, "Maxwell River," is known to Europeans and
natives as Noangwa; Mamballa or the central line is called by the
moderns Nshibúl, and the southern is dubbed by the hydrographer,
"Rio Konio," a truly terrible mistake for Sonho. As a rule, the
Noangwa, though infested during the rains by cruel mosquitoes, is
preferred for the ascent, and the central for dropping down
stream. The maximum breadth of the Congo bed, more than half
island, is here five miles; and I was forcibly reminded of it
when winding through the Dalmatian Archipelago.

The river still maintained its alluvial aspect as we passed along
the right bank. The surface was a stubble strewn with the usual
trees; the portly bombax; the calabash, now naked and of wintry
aspect; and the dark evergreen palmyra, in dots and streaks upon
the red-yellow field, fronted by an edging of grass, whose king,
cyperus papyrus, is crowned with tall heads waving like little
palms. This Egyptian bush extends from the Congo mouth to Banza
Nokki, our landing-place; it grows thickest about Porto da Lenha,
and it thins out above and below: I afterwards observed it in the
sweet water marshes of Syria and the Brazils. We passed sundry
settlements--Loango Pequeno, Loango Grande, and others--and many
canoes were seen plying up and down. On the left or to the south
was nothing but dense reedy vegetation upon the low islands,
which here are of larger dimensions than the northern line. As
evening drew near, the grasshoppers and the tree frogs chirped a
louder song, and the parrots whistled as they winged their rapid
flight high overhead. Presently we passed out of the lower
archipelago, and sighted the first high land closing upon the
stream, rolling hills, which vanished in blue perspective, and
which bore streaks of fire during the dark hours. Our Cabinda
Patron grounded us twice, and even the high night breeze hardly
enabled us to overcome the six-knot current off the narrow, whose
right side is called Ponta da Diabo. Devil's Point is not so
named in the chart: the place is marked "Strong Tide" (No. 1),
opposite Chombae Island, which the natives term Zungá chyá
Bundika, hence probably the name of the village Bemandika (Boma
ndika). At this satanic headland, where the banks form a gate
three miles broad, a man hailed us from the bank; none understood
him, but all made up their minds that he threatened to visit us
during the night.

A light breeze early next morning fortunately freshened as we
approached "Strong Tide" (No. 2). We ran north of the second
archipelago above the gate; south of us lay the "Low Islands" of
the chart, with plantations of beans and tobacco; the peasants
stood to stare like Icelanders, leaning on oblong-bladed paddles
six feet long, or upon alpen-stocks capped with bayonets; the
"scare-crows" were grass figures, with pots for heads and wooden
rattles suspended to bent poles. On the right bank a block of
hills narrows the stream, and its selvage of light green grasses
will contribute to the "floating islands." Higher up, blocks and
boulders of all sizes rise from the vegetation, and prolong
themselves into the shallower waters. There are two distinct
bluffs, the westernmost marked by a tree-clump at its feet, and
between them lies a baylet, where a dozen palms denote the once
dreaded village Bemandika. The second block, 400 to 500 feet
high, bears on its rounded summit the Stone of Lightning, called
by the people Tadi Nzázhí, vulgò, Taddy Enzazzi. The Fiote
language has the Persian letter Zh (j), sounding like the initial
of the French "jour:" so Lander ("On the Course and Termination
of the Niger," "Journal Royal Geographical Society," vol. i. p.
131) says of the Island Zegozhe, that "zh is pronounced like z in
azure." This upright mass, apparently 40 feet high, and seeming,
like the "Lumba" of Kinsembo to rest upon a basement, is very
conspicuous from the east, where it catches the eye as a watch-
tower would. At the bluff-base, a huge slab, an irregular
parallelogram, slopes towards the water and, viewed far up
stream, it passably represents a Kaffir's pavoise. This Fingal's
Shield, a name due to the piety of Mr. George Maxwell, is called
by the French La Pierre Fétiche: it must not be confounded with
our Fetish Rock (Tádi ya Muingu) on the southern bank at the
entrance of the Nshibúl and Sonho branches. I can add nothing to
Tuckey's description or Lieutenant Hawkey's tracing of the rude
figures which distinguish a not unusual feature. Tuckey (p. 97)
calls Fingal's Shield Taddy d'ya M'wangoo, and Professor Smith,
Taddi Moenga (p. 303); the only defect in Lieutenant Hawkey's
sketch is that of exaggerating the bluff, a mere mamelon, one of
many lumps upon a continued level. Both rocks are of the oldest
granite, much weather-worn and mixed and banded with mica and
quartz. M. Charles Konig found in the finer-grained varieties
"minute noble garnets," which also appeared in the mica-slate of
"Gombac" higher up stream, and in the primitive greenstone of
"Boka Embomma."[FN#8]

Beyond this point, where Boma is first sighted, lies the large
marauding village of Twáná. Here also a man shouted to us from
the bank "Muliele! muliele!" for the Portuguese "mulher," one of
the interminable corruptions of the tongue--a polite offer, as
politely declined. The next feature is the Rio Jo Jacaré, a
narrow sedgy stream on the right bank, which, winding northward
through rolling lines of hills, bends westward, and joins, they
say, the Rio Lukullu (Lukallo?) of Cabinda Bay. Men have
descended, I am told, three leagues, but no one has seen the
junction, consequently there may be a portage between the drains.
If not, this is the apex of the greater Congo delta, a false
formation, whose base between Cabinda Bay (S. lat. 5° 25') and
Ambrizette (S. lat. 7° 16') measures 1° 51', equal to 111 direct
geographical miles, whilst its depth inland would be sixty.





                          Chapter Vii.

               Boma.--our Outfit for the Interior



We now reach Boma, the furthest Portuguese factory, about thirty,
usually reckoned thirty-eight, nautical miles from Porta da
Lenha, and a total of 52.50 from French Point.

The upper dépôt of the Congo lies upon the north bank, accidenté
ground, poor, stony, and sandy soil, with rounded, grass-clad
hills, The southern is less broken; there are long slopes and
waves of land which trend in graceful lines, charmingly
diversified, to the uplands, where the old capital, São Salvador,
is situated; and upon the undulating blue ridges, distance behind
distance, appear markings by Nature's hand, which the stranger's
eye can hardly distinguish from villa or village. The view
explains how the old expedition felt "every day more in love with
this beautiful country," The sea-like river wants nothing but
cattle on its banks to justify the description--


          "Appunto una scena pastorale, a cui fanno
           Quinci il mar, quinci i colli, e d' ogn' intorno
           I fior, le piante, e l' ombre, e l' onde, e ‘l cielo.
           Unteatro pomposo."

In the centre of the broad stream, whose southern arm is not
visible, are three islets. The western most, backed by a long,
grassy, palm-tasselled bank, is called Zungá chyá Bundiká. This
Chombae Island of the charts is a rocky cone, dark with umbrella-
shaped trees. Its north-eastern neighbour, Simúle Kete, the
Molyneux Island of Mr. Maxwell, the Hekay of Tuckey, and the
Kekay of the chart, contrasts sharply with the yellow stubbles
and the flat lines of Zungá chyá Ngándi. Here, since Tuckey's
time, the trees have made way for grass and stones; the only
remnants are clumps in the south-eastern, which is not only the
highest point, but also the windy and watery direction. On the
Congo course the foul weather is mostly from the "sirocco," where
the African interior is a mass of swamps. At the mouth tornadoes
come down the line of stream from the north-east, and I heard
traditions of the sea-tornado, which blows in shore instead of
offshore as usual. About the close of the last century one or
other of these islands was proposed as a dépôt and settlement,
which a few simple works would convert into a small Gibraltar.
The easternmost Buka, the Booka Embomma of the charts and maps,
will presently be described. In this direction the Zaire assumes
the semblance of a mountain lake, whilst down stream the broad
bosom of the Nshibúl branch forms almost a sea-horizon, with dots
showing where tall, scattered palms spring from the watery
surface. We cannot but admire the nightly effects of the wintry
bush-fires. During the day livid volumed smoke forms cumuli that
conceal their enemy, the sun, and discharge a rain of blacks ten
times the size of Londoners. In the darkened air we see storms of
fire fiercely whirling over the undulating ranges, here sweeping
on like torrents, there delaying, whilst the sheets meet at the
apex, and a giant beard of flame (<Greek>                  )
flouts the moon. The land must be splendidly grassed after the
rains.

The Boma factories are like those of Porto da Lenha, but humbler
in size, and more resembling the wicker-work native houses. The
river, which up stream will show a flood mark of twelve feet,
here seldom rises above five, and further down three and four;
consequently piles are not required, and the swiftness of the
current keeps off the jacaré. Formerly there were fourteen
establishments, which licit trade in palm oil and ground-nuts,
instead of men, women, and children, have reduced to ten. The air
is sensibly drier and healthier than at the lower settlement, and
apparently there is nothing against the place but deadly ennui
and monotony.

We landed at once, and presented our letters to Sr. Antonio
Vicente Pereira, who at once made us at home: he had seen Goa as
well as Macáo, so we found several subjects in common. The
factory enjoyed every comfort: the poultry yard throve, far
better than at Porto da Lenha; we saw fowls and pigeons,
"Manilla" ducks and ducklings, and a fine peacock from Portugal,
which seemed to enjoy the change. The fish is not so good as that
caught further down, and the natives have a habit of narcotizing
it: the Silurus electricus is exceptionally plentiful. The
farmyard contained tame deer, and a house-dog fierce as a
tethered mastiff; goats were brought whenever wanted, and the
black-faced, thin-tailed sheep gave excellent mutton. Beef was
impossible; the Portuguese, like the natives, care little for
milk, and of the herd, which strangers had attempted to
domesticate, remained only a bull and a cow in very poor
condition--the deaths were attributed to poisonous grass, but I
vehemently suspect Tsetse. A daily "quitanda," or market, held
under the huge calabashes on a hill behind the house, supplied
what was wanted.

Upon Market Hill executions also take place, the criminal being
shot through the heart. M. Pereira's garden produces all that
Porta da Lenha can grow, with less trouble and of a superior
kind. Water-melons, tomatoes, onions, and pimento, or large
pepper (pimentão, siliquastrum, ndungu ya yenéne), useful to
produce "crocodiles' tears;" mint, and parsley flourish
remarkably; turnips are eatable after two months; cabbage and
lettuce, beet, carrot, and endive after three or four. It is a
waste of ground to plant peas; two rows, twelve feet by four,
hardly produce a plateful. Manioc ripens between the sixth and
ninth month, plantains and bananas once a year, cotton and rice
in four months, and maize in forty days--with irrigation it is
easy to grow three annual crops. The time for planting is before
the rains, which here last six weeks to two months, September and
October. The staple of commerce is now the nguba, or ground-nut
(plural, jinguba), which Merolla calls incumba, with sometimes a
little milho (maize), and Calavance beans. Of fruits we find
trellised grapes, pines, and guavas, which, as at Fernando Po,
are a weed. The agrumi, limes, oranges and citrons are remarkably
fine, and hold, as of old, a high place in the simple medicines
of the country. A cup of lime-leaf tea, drunk warm in the
morning, is the favourite emetic and cathartic: even in Pliny's
day we find "Malus Assyria, quam alii vocant medicam (Mediam?,
venenis medetur" (xii. 7). On the Gold Coast and in the Gaboon
region, colic and dysentery are cured by a calabash full of lime-
juice, "laced" with red pepper. The peculiarity of European
vegetables throughout maritime Congo and Angola is the absence of
all flavour combined with the finest appearance; it seems as
though something in the earth or atmosphere were wanting to their
full development. Similarly, though in the upper regions the
climate is delicious, the missionaries could not keep themselves
alive, but died of privation, hardship, and fatigue.





                         Chapter VIII.

                   A Visit to Banza Chisalla,



Boma, at the head of the Congo delta, the great dépôt between the
interior and the coast, owes its existence wholly to

                    "the cruel trade
           Which spoils unhappy Afric of her sons."

Father Merolla (1682), who visited it from "Angoij," our
"Cabinda," speaks of it as a pretty large island, tributary to
the Mani-Congo, extremely populous, well supplied with
provisions, and outlaid by islets belonging to the Count of
Sonho. Tuckey's Embomma was an inland banza or town, and the site
of the factories was called Market Point; the Expedition map and
the hydrographic chart term it Loombee, the latter being properly
the name of a large quitanda (market) lying two miles to the
north-west. Early in the present century it is described as a
village of a hundred huts, opposite which trading vessels
anchored under charge of the "Fuka or king's merchant;" no market
was held there, lest, in case of dispute, the royal person might
suffer. Although the main features of our maps are still correct,
there have been great changes in the river-bed between Porto da
Lenha and Boma, especially about the latter place, which should
be transferred from its present site to Lumbi. The broad Chisalla
Creek, which Mr. Maxwell calls Logan, between the northern bank
and the island "Booka Embomma," is now an arm only 200 feet wide.
In fact all the bank about Boma, like the lower delta, urgently
calls for re-surveying.

This part of the river belongs to the "Rei dos Reis," Nessalla,
under whom are some ten chief officers called "kings," who buy
and sell; indeed, Africa knows no other. The title is prostituted
throughout the West Coast, but it is nowhere so degraded as in
the Congo regions; the whites abuse it to flatter the vanity of
the astute negro, who accepts it with a view to results--a "king-
dash" must, of course, be greater than that of a subject. Every
fellow with one black coat becomes a "preese" (prince), and if he
has two he styles himself a "king." Without permission of the
"King of Kings" we could obtain neither interpreter, canoe, nor
crew; a visit to Banza Chisalal was therefore necessary and, as
it would have been vain to ask anything empty-handed, I took with
me a fine spangled cloak, a piece of chintz, and a case of ship's
rum, the whole worth £9.

At 6.30 A.M. on September 5th we set out up stream in a fine
canoe, wall-sided and rather crank, but allowing the comfort of
chairs. She was of Mayumba make, superior to anything built on
the river, and the six men that drove her stood up to pole, and
paddle. Above Boma the hills, which are the outlines of the west
African Ghats, form a graceful semicircle, separated from the
water by a flat terrace garnished with little villages and tree-
islets. On the north bank are many of the crater-like sinks which
dot the coast from the Gaboon to Loango. We hugged the right side
to avoid the rapid swirl; there was no backwater at the points,
and hard work was required to prevent our being swept against the
boulders of gneiss, schiste, and pudding-stone edging the shores
and stretching into the stream. Here the fish is excellent as at
Porto cla Lenha, and we found the people catching it in large
spoon-shaped basins: I enquired about the Peixe mulher (woman-
fish), the French sirène, which old missioners describe as an
African mermaid, not exactly as she appeared to the "lovely lord
of Colonsay," and which Barbot figures with "two strutting
breasts." He makes the flesh taste like pork, and tells us that
the small bones of the hand were good for gravel, whilst
bracelets made of the left rib were worn near the heart, to stop
bleeding. This manatus, like the elephant and the hippopotamus,
has long disappeared before the gun.

After some three quarters of an hour we reached the entrance of
Chisalla Creek, which is the northernmost branch of the main
stream. On the left (north) was a plain showing traces of a large
village, and we sighted our first grass-island--a compact mass of
fibrous, earth-washed roots and reedy vegetation, inhabited by
serpents and ardeine birds. To the right, or southward, rises the
tall island of Boma, rocky and wooded, which a narrow channel
separates from its eastern neighbour, Chisalla Islet. The latter
is the royal Pere la Chaise, the graves being kept carefully
concealed; white men who have visited the ground to shoot
antelope have had reason to regret the step. Here also lie three
officers of the Congo Expedition-- Messrs. Galwey, Tudor, and
Cranch--forgotten, as Gamboa and Reitz at Mombasah.

The banks of the winding creek were beautified with the
malaguetta pepper, the ipomsea, the hibiscus, and a yellow flower
growing upon an aquatic plant like a magnified water-cress.
Animal life became somewhat less rare; we saw sandpipers, hawks,
white and black fish-eagles, and long-legged water-hens, here
supposed to give excellent sport. An embryo rapid, formed by a
gneiss-band connecting the north bank with the islet, delayed us,
and the rocks on the right showed pot-holes dug by the poling-
staves; during the rains canoes from Boma avoid this place, and
seek fuel down stream. After a total of two hours and a quarter
we reached Banza Chisalla: it is a "small country," in African
parlance, a succursal of Boma proper, the Banza on the hills
beyond the reedy, grassy plain. The site is charming--a flat
palm-orchard backed by an amphitheatre of high-rolling ground,
and the majestic stream approaches it through a gate, whose right
staple is the tall Chisalla, and whose left is a rocky islet with
outlying needles.

We ascended the river-bank, greeted by the usual accidents of an
African reception; the men shouted, the women rushed screaming
under cover, and the children stood howling at the horrible
sight. A few paces placed us at the "palace," a heap of huts,
surrounded by an old reed-fence. The audience-room was a trifle
larger than usual, with low shady eaves, a half-flying roof, and
a pair of doorways for the dangerous but indispensable draught; a
veteran sofa and a few rickety chairs composed the furniture, and
the throne was known by its boarded seat, which would have been
useful in taking a "lamp-bath."

Presently entered the "Rei dos Reis," Nessalla: the old man,
whose appearance argued prosperity, was en grande tenue, the
State costume of Tuckey's, not of Merolla's day. The crown was
the usual "berretta" (night-cap) of open work; the sceptre, a
drum-major's staff; the robes, a "parochial" beadle's coat of
scarlet cloth, edged with tinsel gold lace. His neck was adorned
with hair circlets of elephants' tails, strung with coral and
beads; the effect, to compare black with white, was that of Beau
Brummell's far-famed waterfall tie, and the head seemed supported
as if on a narrow-rimmed "charger." The only other ornament was a
broad silver ring welded round the ankle, and drawing attention
to a foot which, all things considered, was small and well
shaped.

Some of the chiefs had copper rings of home manufacture, with
neatly cut raised figures. The king held in his right hand an
article which at first puzzled us--a foot's length of split reed,
with the bulbous root attached. He may not, like his vassals,
point with the finger, and without pointing an African can hardly
give an order. Moreover, the Sangálávú or Malaguetta pepper
(Amomum granum Paradisi), fresh or old, is not only a toothstick,
but a fetish of superior power when carried on journeys.
Professor Smith writes "Sangala woo," and tells us that it was
always kept fresh in the house, to be rolled in the hands when
invoking the Fetish during war-time; moreover, it was chewed to
be spat at the enemy. Possibly he confuses it with the use as a
tooth-stick, the article which Asia and Africa prefer to the
unclean hog's- bristle brush of Europe.

On the left of the throne sat the Nchinu, or "second king,"
attired in a footman's livery of olive-coloured cloth, white-worn
at the seams, and gleaming with plated buttons, upon which was
the ex-owner's crest--a cubit arm.

The stranger in Africa marvels why men, who, as Dahome shows, can
affect a tasteful simplicity, will make themselves such "guys."
When looking at these caricatures, he is tempted to read
(literally) learned Montesquieu, "It is hardly to be believed
that God, who is a wise being, should place a soul, especially a
good soul, in such a black, ugly body," and to consider the few
exceptions as mere "sporting plants." But the negro combines with
inordinate love of finery the true savage taste--an imitative
nature,--and where he cannot copy the Asiatic he must ape the
European; only in the former pursuit he rises above, in the
latter he sinks below his own proper standard. Similarly, as a
convert, he is ennobled by El Islam; in rare cases, which may be
counted upon the fingers, he is civilized by Christianity; but,
as a rule, the latter benefits him so far only as it abolishes
the barbarous and murderous rites of Paganism.

But there is also a sound mundane reason which causes the African
"king" to pose in these cast-off borrowed plumes. Contrast with
his three-quarter nude subjects gives him a name; the name
commands respect; respect increases "dash;" and dash means
dollars. For his brain, dense and dead enough to resist
education, is ever alive and alert to his own interest; whilst
the concentration of its small powers prevails against those who,
in all other points, are notably his superiors. The whole of
negro Africa teaches this lesson. "The Ethiopians," says Father
Merolla, "are not so dull and stupid as is commonly imagined, but
rather more subtle and cunning than ordinary;" and he adds an
instance of far-sighted treachery, which would not have been
despicable even in a Hindoo.

A desultory palaver "came up;" the soul of the meeting not being
present. M. Pissot explained my wish to "take walk and make
book," carefully insisting upon the fact that I came to spend,
not to gain money. The grizzled senior's face, before crumpled
like a "wet cloak ill laid up," expanded at these last words, and
with a grunt, which plainly meant "by' m' by," he rose, and
retired to drink-- a call of nature which the decencies of
barbarous dignity require to be answered in private. He returned
accompanied by his nephew, Manbuku Prata (pronounced Pelata), the
"Silver Chief Officer," as we might say, Golden Ball. The title
is vulgarly written Mambuco; the Abbé Proyart prefers Ma-nboukou,
or "prince who is below the Makaia in dignity." The native name
of this third personage was Gidifuku. It was a gorgeous
dignitary: from the poll of his night-cap protruded a dozen
bristles of elephant's tail hair, to which a terminal coral gave
the graceful curve of a pintado's crest, and along his ears, like
the flaps of a travelling casquette, hung two dingy little
mirrors of talc from Cacongo, set in clumsy frames of ruddled
wood. Masses of coral encircled his neck, and the full-dress
naval uniform of a French officer, with epaulettes of stupendous
size, exposed a zebra'd guernsey of equivocal purity. A long
black staff, studded with broad-headed brass beads, served to
clear the room of the lieges, who returned as fast as they were
turned out--the baton was evidently not intended to be used
seriously.

But the Manbuku Prata is not a mere "Punch in a puppet show." His
face expresses more intelligence and resolution than usual, and
his Portuguese is not the vile article of the common trader. He
means business. When other chiefs send their "sons," that is
their slaves, to fight, he leads them in person--venite, non ite.
The French "Emigration Libre" put 30,000 dollars into his pocket,
and he still hopes against hope to ship many a cargo for the
Banana factory. He has some 300 armed serviles at Chinímí and
Lámbá, two villages perched like condors' nests upon hills
commanding the river's northern bank, and, despite the present
dearth of "business," he still owns some 100,000 francs in cloth
and beads, rum and gunpowder.

As the "Silver Minister" took his seat upon the ground before the
king, all removed their caps with a simultaneous grunt and
performed the "Sákilá" or batta-palmas; this hand-clapping must
be repeated whenever the simplest action is begun or ended by
king or chief. Monteiro and Gamitto (pp. 101 et seg.) refer to
the practice everywhere on the line of country which they
visited: there it seems to be even a more ceremonious affair than
in the Congo. The claps were successively less till they were
hardly audible; after a pause five or six were given, and the
last two or three were in hurried time, the while without
pronouncing a word. The palaver now opened steadily with a drink:
a bottle of trade "fizz" was produced for the white man, and rum
for his black congeners; then the compliment of healths went all
round. After this we fell to work at business. By dint of
abundant wrangling and with an immense display of suspicion,
natural under the circumstances, it was arranged that the king
should forward me in a couple of his own canoes to Banza Nokki,
the end of river navigation, as we were told, and falsely told;
in my turn I was to pay goods valued about £6, at least three
times the usual tariff. They consisted of fourteen red caps, as
many "sashes," and fifty-two fathoms of cloth for the crew; ten
Peças de lei or Chiloes for each interpreter, and two pieces for
the canoes. I should have given four fathoms for each man and the
same for each boat. The final scene was most gratifying to the
African mind: I solemnly invested old Nessala with the grand
cloak which covered his other finery; grinning in the ecstasy of
vanity, he allowed his subjects to turn him round and round, as
one would a lay figure, yet with profound respect, and, lastly,
he retired to charm his wives.

This part of the negotiations ended with presenting some "satin
stripe" and rum to the Nchinu and Manbuku Prata, and with shaking
hands--a dangerous operation. The people are cleanly; they wash
when rising, and before as well as after every meal; they are
always bathing, yet from prince to pauper, from baby to grey
beard, they are affected with a psora known by its Portuguese
name, "sarnas." The Congo "fiddle" appears first between the
articulations of the fingers, and bleaches the hands and wrists
as if it were leprosy. Yet I did not see a single case of true
lepra Arabum, or its modifications, the huge Barbadoes leg
(elephantiasis), and the sarcoma scrotale and sarcocele of
Zanzibar and East Africa. From the extremities the gale extends
over the body, especially the shins, and the people, who appear
in the perpetual practice of scalpturigo, attribute it to the
immoderate use of palm wine. I observed, however, that Europeans,
in the river, who avoid the liquor, are hardly ever free from
this foul blood-poison, and a jar of sulphur mixture is a common
article upon the table. Hydrocele is not unfrequent, but hardly
so general as in the Eastern Island; one manner of white man, a
half caste from Macáo, was suffering with serpigo, and boasted of
it.

All predicted to me a similar fate from the "botch of Congo," but
happily I escaped. Indeed, throughout the West African Coast,
travellers risk "craw-craw," a foul form of the disease, seen on
board the African steamers. Kru-men touching the rails of the
companion ladders, have communicated it to passengers, and these
to their wives and families.

The town was neat and clean as the people. The houses were built
upon raised platforms, and in the little fenced fields the
Cajanus Indicus vetch was conspicuous. In Hindostani it is called
Thur, or Doll-plant, by the Eastern Arab Turiyan, in Kisawahili
Mbarazi, in Angola voando (Merolla's Ouuanda), and in the Brazil
Guandu.[FN#9] The people had lost their fear, and brought their
exomphalous little children, who resembled salmon fry in the
matter of umbilical vesicles, to be patted by the white man; a
process which caused violent screams and in some cases nearly
induced convulsions-- the mothers seemed to enjoy the horror
displayed by their hopefuls. There is little beauty amongst the
women, and settled Europeans prefer Cabinda girls. The latter
have perhaps the most wiry and wig-like hair on the whole West
African coast, where all hair is more or less wiry and wig- like.
Cloth was less abundant in the village than a smear of red; the
bosom even after marriage was unveiled, and the rule of fashion
was shown by binding it tightly down. The rich wore armlets and
leglets of staircase rods, brass and copper, like the metal
gaiters and gauntlets of the Gaboon River. The only remarkable
object was the Quesango, a wooden effigy of a man placed in the
middle of the settlement: Battel mentions it amongst the "Gagas
or Guides," and Barbot terms it "Likoku Mokisi." Three faint
hurrahs, a feeble African echo of England like the "hoch!" of
Vienna, and the discharge of a four- pounder were our parting
honours.

We returned viâ the gateway between the two islets. On the south-
eastern flank of Chisalla is a dwarf precipice called Mbondo la
Zumba and, according to the interpreters, it is the Lovers' Leap
of Tuckey. But its office must not be confounded with that
attributed to the sinister-looking scaur of Leucadia; here the
erring wives of the Kings of Boma and their paramours found a
Bosphorus. The Commander of the First Congo Expedition applies
the name to a hanging rock on the northern shore, about eighteen
miles higher up stream. A portentous current soon swept us past
Père la Chaise, and shortly after noon we were comfortably at
breakfast with Sr. Pereira.

During the last night we had been kept awake by the drumming and
fifing, singing and shouting, weeping and howling, pulling at
accordions and striking the monotonous Shingungo. Merolla names
this cymbal Longa, and describes it justly as two iron bells
joined by an arched bar: I found it upon the Tanganyika Lake, and
suffered severely from its monotonous horrors. Monteiro and
Gamitto (p. 232) give an illustration of what is known in the
Cazembe's country as "Gomati:" The Mchua or gong-gong of Ashanti
has a wooden handle connecting the cones. Our palhabote had
brought up the chief Mashel's bier, and to-day we have the
satisfaction of seeing it landed. A kind of palanquin, covered
with crimson cloth and tinsel gold like a Bombay "Tabút," it had
three horns or prominences, two capped with empty black bottles,
and the central bearing the deceased's helmet; it was a fancy
article, which might have fitted him of Gath, with a terrific
plume and the spoils of three horses in the sanguine hues of war.
Although eight feet long by five broad, the coffin was said to be
quite full. The immense respect which the Congoese bear to their
rulers, dead as well as alive, prevented my verifying the
accounts of the slave dealers. I knew that the chief who had died
at Kinsembo, had been dried on a bamboo scaffolding over a slow
fire, and lay in state for some weeks in flannel stockings and a
bale of baize, but these regions abound in local variations of
custom. Some declared, as we find in Proyart, that the corpse had
been mummified by the rude process of smoking; others that it had
been exposed for some days to the open air, the relatives sitting
round to keep off the flies till preliminarily bandaged.
According to Barbot (iii. 23), the people of Fetu on the Gold
Coast and the men of Benin used to toast the corpse on a wooden
gridiron; and the Vei tribe, like the Congoese, still fumigate
their dead bodies till they become like dried hams. This rude
form of the Egyptian rite is known to East as well as to West
Africa: Kimera, late King of Uganda, was placed upon a board
covering the mouth of a huge earthern pot heated from below.

Instances are known of bodies in the Congo region remaining a
year or two above ground till the requisite quantity of fine
stuffs has been procured--the larger the roll the greater the
dignity, and sometimes the hut must be pulled down before it can
be removed. Here, as on the Gold Coast, we find the Jewish
practice recorded by Josephus of converting the tomb into a
treasury; in the case of Mashel some £600 in gold and silver,
besides cloth, beads, and ornaments, shared, they say, his fate.
The missionaries vainly fought against these customs, which are
evidently of sentimental origin--

          "Now bring the last sad gifts, with these
               The last lament be said;
           Let all that pleased and still may please
               Be buried with the dead."

The bier was borne by slaves, as the head men would not even look
at it; at times the carriers circled round, as if to deprecate
the idea that they were hurrying it to its bourne. The grave was
a pit fifteen to twenty feet deep, cut like a well, covered with
stones to keep out wild beasts, and planted round with the
cylindrical euphorbia by way of immortelles.

I could not find out if the Congoese still practise the vivi-
sepulture so common on the Western Coast--the "infernal
sacrifices of man's flesh to the memory of relatives and
ancestors," as the old missioners energetically expressed
themselves. According to Battel, the "Giaghi" corpse was seated
as if alive in a vault; in this "infernal and noisome dungeon"
were placed two wives with their arms broken, and thus there was
no danger of the Zumbi or ghost killing men by reapparition. When
the king of Old Calabar died, a huge hole was dug, with an off
chamber for two sofas, one of which supported the dressed and
ornamented corpse. Personal attendants, such as the umbrella,
sword, and snuff-box bearers, holding the insignia of their
offices, together with sundry virgins, were either slaughtered or
thrown in alive, a rude in pace. Quantities of food and trade
goods, especially coppers, were heaped up; after which the pit
was filled and the ground was levelled. The less wealthy sort of
"gentlemen" here are placed in smaller graves near the villages;
and the slaves are still "buried with the burial of an ass,"--
cast forth into the bush.

Yet, by way of showing themselves kind to the dead, the Congoese
are "commonly very cruel to the living." Lately, a chief, called
from his wealth, "Chico de Ouro" (Golden Frank) died somewhat
suddenly. The Nganga or medicine man who, on such occasions, here
as elsewhere, has the jus vitæ et necis, was called in; he
charged one of the sons with parricide by witchcraft, and the
youth was at once pierced by the bayonets of his brothers.
"Golden Frank" was peculiar in his ways. He used to entertain the
factors at dinner, imitating them from soup to cheese; his only
objections were to tea, and to drinking toasts out of anything
but the pet skull of an enemy: it was afterwards placed upon his
grave.

Boma is no longer "the emporium of the Congo Empire," if it ever
did deserve that title. Like Porto da Lenha, it is kept up by the
hopes of seeing better days, which are not doomed to dawn. Even
at the time of my visit some 400 to 500 negroes were under guard
in a deserted factory, and, whilst we were visiting Nessalla,
they were marched down to bathe. When I returned from the
cataracts, the barracoon contained only fifty or sixty, the rest
having been shunted off to some unguarded point. At a day's
notice a thousand, and within a week 3,000 head could be procured
from the adjoining settlements, where the chattels are kept at
work. As in Tuckey's day, "those exported are either captives in
war or condemned criminals." During the Free Emigration as much
as $80 have been paid per man, a large sum for "Congoes:" whilst
a cargo of 500 "Minas" (Guinea negroes) loses at most 20 per
cent., these less hardy gangs seldom escape without at least
double the deaths by dysentery or some other epidemic. Now they
are freely offered for $10 to $20, but there are no buyers; the
highest bid of which I heard was $100 for a house-"help."

The slave-traders in the Congo look upon their employment as did
the contrabandist in the golden days of smuggling; the "free
sailor" whom Marryatt depicts, a law-breaker, yet not less a very
pleasant, companionable fellow. The unhappy differences between
the late British Commissioner for Loanda and the Judge of the
mixed Court, Sr. José Julio Rodriguez, who followed his enemy to
the grave on April 12, 1863, rendered São Paulo anything but a
pleasant place to an English resident; but the rancour had not
extended to the Congo, and, so far from showing chagrin, the
agents declared that without the "coffin squadron," negroes would
have been a mere drug in the market. The only déplaisir is that
which I had already found in a Gaboon factory, the excessive
prevalence of petty pilfering. The Moleques or house-boys steal
like magpies, even what is utterly useless to them; these young
clerks of St. Nicholas will scream and writhe, and confess and
beg pardon under the lash, and repeat the offence within the
hour: as they are born serviles, we cannot explain the habit by
Homer's,

          "Jove fixed it certain that whatever day
           Makes man a slave takes half his worth away."

One of our watches was found in the pocket of a noble
interpreter, who, unabashed, declared that he placed it there for
fear of its being injured; and the traders are constantly
compelled to call in the Fetishman for the protection of their
stores against the prigging chiefs. Yet in Tuckey's time there
was only one thief at Boma, a boy who stole a knife, confessed,
and restored it. During a month's residence amongst the pagans of
the interior, where the houses swarmed with serviles, and where
my outfit, which was never locked up, must have represented a
plate-chest in England, not the smallest article was "found
missing," nor could anything be touched except by collusion with
the head man.





                          Chapter IX.

                  Up the Congo to Banza Nokki.

For a wonder the canoes came in time, and, despite their mat-
sails, we could not complain of them. There were twelve paddlers
two for the stem, and two for the stern of each craft, under a
couple of interpreters, Jotakwassi and Nchama-Chamvu, who were
habited in European frock-coats of broadcloth, and in native
terminations mostly "buff." Our excellent host bade us a kindly
adieu, with many auguries of success--during the last night the
frogs had made a noise in the house. Briefly, we set out on
September 6th.

In the forty-five miles between Boma, where we enter the true
trough of the Congo, and the landing-place of Banza Nokki below
the cataracts, there are half-a-dozen reaches, the shortest of
three, the longest of fifteen miles. They are not straight, as
upon the chart; the windings of the bed exclude direct vision,
and the succession of points and bays suggest, like parts of the
Rhine, a series of mountain-tarns. The banks show the high-water
level in a low shelf, a ribbon of green, backed by high rolling
hills, rounded and stony, with grass dry at this season; the
formation is primitive, and the material of the lower bed has
been held to "prove the probability that the mountains of
Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, and other adjacent parts of South
America, were primevally connected with the opposite chains, that
traverse the plains of Congo and Loango." In parts the rocks fall
bluff into the river, and here the current rushes past like a
mill-race without a shadow of backwater. The heights are
intersected by gullies and ravines, of which I counted sixty-nine
on the right and fifty-four on the left bank; many of them are
well wooded, and others are fronted by plains of the reeds and
flags, which manufacture floating islands, cast loose, like those
of the Niger, about the end of July by the "Malka" rains. About a
dozen contained running water: Captain Tuckey did not see one
that would turn a mill in August and September; but in November
and December all these fiumaras will discharge torrents.

The breadth of the entroughed bed varies from 700 yards to two
miles where it most dispreads itself. The current increases from
the normal three to five knots in rare places; the surface loses
the glassiness of the lower section, and at once shows the
boiling and swirling which will be noticed near the cataracts.
The shores are often foul, but the midway is mostly clear, and,
where sunken rocks are, they are shown by whirlpools. The flow of
the tide, or rather the damming up of the lower waters between
Porto da Lenha and the mouth, causes a daily rise, which we found
to measure about a foot; thus it assists in forming a treble
current, the rapid down-flow in the Thalweg being subtended by a
strong backwater on either side carrying a considerable portion
in a retrograde direction, and showing a sensible reflux; this
will continue as far as the rapids. In the Amazonas the tides are
felt a hundred leagues from the mouth; and, whilst the stream
moves seawards, the level of the water rises, proving an evident
under-current. Mr. Bates has detected the influence of oceanic
tides at a point on the Tapajos, 530 miles distant from its
mouth, such is the amazing flatness of the country's profile:
here we find the reverse.

The riverine trough acts as wind-conductor to a strong and even
violent sea-breeze; on the lower section it begins as a ground-
current--if the "bull" be allowed--a thin horizontal stratum near
the water, it gradually curves and slides upwards as it meets the
mountain flanks, forming an inverted arch, and extending some
2,000 to 3,000 feet above the summits. At this season it is a
late riser, often appearing about 3 P.M., and sometimes its
strength is not exhausted before midnight. The brown water,
grass-sheeted at the sides, conceals the bright yellow sand of
the bed; when placed in a tumbler it looks clear and colourless,
and the taste is perfectly sweet--brackishness does not extend
far above Porto da Lenha. Yet at Boma the residents prefer a
spring near the factories, and attribute dysentery to the use of
river-water. According to Mr. George Maxwell, the supply of the
lower bed has the quality of rotting cables, and the same
peculiarity was attributed to the Tanganyika.

Of late years no ship has ventured above Boma, and boats have
ascended with some difficulty, owing to the "buffing stream." Yet
there is no reason why the waters should not be navigated, as
proposed in 1816, by small steamers of good power, and the strong
sea-breeze would greatly facilitate the passage. In older and
more enterprising days merchant-schooners were run high up the
Zaire. The master of a vessel stated to Tuckey that he "had been
several voyages up to the distance of 140 miles from the mouth"
without finding any difficulty.

Our course passed by Banza Chisalla where, as we had paid double,
there was a vain attempt to make us pay treble. Travelling up the
south-eastern reach, we passed a triangular insulated rock off
the southern bank, and then the "diabolitos" outlying Point Kilu,
opposite Banza Vinda on the other side. A second reach winding to
the north-east showed on the right Makula (Annan) River, and a
little further Munga-Mungwa (Woodhouslee); between them is the
terminus of the São Salvador road. On the northern bank where the
hills now become rounded mountains, 1,500 feet above the stream,
perches Chinimi the village of Manbuku Prata, who expects canoes
here to await his orders; and who was sorely offended because I
passed down without landing. The next feature of the chart,
Matádi "Memcandi," is a rocky point, not an island. Turning a
projection, Point Makula (Clough Corner), we entered No. 3, elbow
bending southeast; on its concave northern side appeared the
settlement Vinda la Nzádi. This is the Vinda le Zally of Tuckey;
on the chart Veinde len Zally, and according to others Vinda de
Nzadi, or village of the Zaire River. It is probably the "Benda"
of the Introduction (p. xxxiv.); and as b and v sound alike in
Fiote, Cabinda, Cabenda or Kabendah is evidently Ca-vinda--great
village.

Our terminus that day was the usual resting-place of travellers,
"Mfumba" behind Nkumungu (Point) Kaziwa, a mass of granitoid
slabs, with a single tree for landmark. Opposite us was Sandi ya
Nzondo, which others call Sanga ya Ngondo; in the chart this one-
tree island is written "Catlo Zonda," it is the first of two
similar formations. Oscar Rock, its western (down stream)
neighbour, had shared the fate of "Soonga lem Paccula," (Zunga
chya Makula?) a stone placed in the map north-east of the Makula
or Annan debouchure; both were invisible, denoted only by swirls
in the water. We had taken seven hours to cover what we easily
ran down in two, and we slept comfortably with groan of rock and
roar of stream for lullaby.

September 7.--Our course now lay uninterruptedly along the left
bank, where the scenery became yet more Rhine-like, in natural
basins, reaches on the chart: here and there rugged uprocks
passably simulated ruined castles. The dwarf bays of yellow sand
were girt by a goodly vegetation, the palm and the calabash only
telling us that we were in Africa.

Our men pointed to the work of a Nguvu or hippopotamus, which
they say sometimes attacks canoes; they believe with Tuckey that
the river-horses cause irregularity of soundings by assembling
and trampling deep holes in the bed; but the Ngadi is a proof
that they do not, as M. du Chaillu supposes, exclusively affect
streams with shoals and shallows. The jacaré (crocodile) is known
especially to avoid the points where the current sweeps swiftly
past, yet no one will hang his hand over the canoe into the
water: we did not see any of these wretches, but at Boma Coxswain
Deane observed one about sixteen feet long.

Curls of smoke arose from the mountain-walls of the trough,
showing that the bush was being burned; and spired up from a
grassy palm-dotted plain, between two rocky promontories on the
left bank, the site of the Chacha or Wembo village: in a gap of
the herbage stood half-finished canoes, and a man was bobbing
with rod, line, and float. After an hour's paddling we halted for
breakfast under "Alecto Rock," a sheer bluff of reddish schist,
150 feet high; here a white trident, inverted and placed ten feet
above the water, showed signs of H.M. Ship "Alecto," (late)
Captain Hunt, whose boat passed up in 1855. The people call it
Chimbongolo. The river is now three quarters of a mile wide, and
the charming cove shows the brightest of sands and the densest of
vegetation waving in the cool land-wind.

Resuming our way at 9 P.M., we passed on the left "Scylla Rocks,"
then a wash, and beyond them four high and tree-clad heads off
the right bank. Three are islets, the Zunga chya Gnombe--of the
bull--formed by a narrow arm passing round them to the north:
other natives called them Zunga chya Umbinda, but all seem to
differ. These are the Gombac Islands of the chart, Hall Island
being the easternmost, and the northern passage between the three
horns and the main is called by us "Gombac Creek." Half an hour
beyond was a mass of villages, in a large, grassy low-land of the
left bank, girt by mountains higher than those down stream. Some
outlying huts were called by the interpreters Suko Nkongo, and
formed the "beach town" of large interior settlements, Suko do
Wembo and Mbinda. Others said Lasugu or Sugo Nkongo, the Sooka
Congo of the charts: others again for "Mbinda" proposed "Mpeso
Birimba." This is probably the place where according to the mail
of November, ‘73, diamonds were found, and having been submitted
to "Dr. Basham (Dr. Bastian before mentioned), Director of the
Museum of Berlin," were pronounced to be of very fine water. It
is possible that the sandstone may afford precious stones like
the itacolumite of the Brazil ("Highlands of the Brazil," i.
380), but the whole affair proved a hoax. In mid-stream rose No.
2, "One-Tree Island," Zunga chya Nlemba or Shika chya Nzondo; in
Tuckey it is called Boola Beca or Blemba (the husband) Rock; the
old ficus dying at the head, was based upon a pedestal which
appeared groin-shaped from the east. Here the mirage was very
distinct, and the canoes seemed to fly, not to swim--

     "As when far out of sea a fleet descried,
      Hangs in the clouds."

 The northern bank shows a stony projection called by Maxwell
"Fiddler's Elbow;" it leads to the fourth reach, the second of
the north-eastern series; and the breadth of the stream, once
more a mountain lake, cannot be less than two miles.

I foresaw trouble in passing these settlements. Presently a
snake-like war canoe with hawser-holes like eyes, crept out from
the southern shore; a second fully manned lay in reserve, lurking
along the land, and armed men crowned the rocks jutting into the
stream. We were accosted by the first craft, in which upon the
central place of honour sat Mpeso Birimbá, a petty chief of Suko
Nkongo; a pert rascal of the French factory, habited in a red
cap, a green velvet waistcoat, and a hammock-shaped tippet of
pine-apple fibre; his sword was a short Sollingen blade. The
visit had the sole object of mulcting me in rum and cloth, and my
only wish was naturally to expend as little as possible in mere
preliminaries. The name of Manbuku Prata was duly thrown at him
with but little effect: these demands are never resisted by the
slave-dealers. After much noise and cries of "Mwendi" (miser,
skin-flint) on the part of the myrmidons, I was allowed to
proceed, having given up a cloth twenty-four yards long, and I
felt really grateful to the "trade" which had improved off all
the other riverine settlements. Beyond this point we saw nothing
but their distant smokes.

Before the second north-eastern reach, the interpreters exclaimed
"Yellala falla"--"the cataract is speaking," and we could
distinctly hear the cheering roar. The stream now assumed the
aspect of Niagara below the Falls, and the circular eddies
boiling up from below, and showing distinct convexity, suggested
the dangerous "wells" of the northern seas. Passing the "Three
Weird Sisters," unimportant rocks off, the right bank, we entered
upon the remarkably long stretch, extending upwards of five
miles, and, from its predominating growth, we proposed to call it
"Palmyra Reach." The immediate river banks were clad with sedge,
and the broad leaves of the nymphæa, a plant like the calamus of
Asia, but here used only as a toothpick, began to oust the rushy
and flaggy growth of the lower bed. The pink balls of the spinous
mimosa, and bright flowers, especially the convolvulus and
ipomaea, illuminated the dull green. The grassy land at the foot
of the mountains was a mere edging, faced by outlying rocks, and
we were shown the site of a village long ago destroyed.

The Nteba, or palmyra nobilis, mixed here and there with a
glorious tamarind, bombax or calabash, forms a thin forest along
the reach, and rarely appears upon the upper hills, where we
should expect it. The people use both fruit and wine, preferring,
however, the liquor of the Ebah (oil palm-tree), and the autumnal
fires can hardly affect so sturdy a growth. The other trees are
the mfuma, cotton-tree or bombax (Pentandria truncospinoso,
Smith), much valued as a canoe: Merolla uses Mafuma, a plural
form, and speaks of its "wonderful fine wool." The wild figs show
glorious stature, a truly noble growth, whose parents were sun
and water.

The birds were lank black clivers (Plotus), exceedingly wild; the
African roller (Coracias); halcyons of several species,
especially a white and black kingfisher, nimble and comely; many
swallows, horn-bills, and wild pigeons which made the bush
resound; ardeine birds, especially a heron, like the large Indian
"kullum;" kites, crows, "whip-poor-wills," and a fine haliaetus,
which flies high and settles upon the loftiest branches. One of
these eagles was shot, after a gorge of the electric fish here
common; its coat was black and white, and the eyes yellow, with
dark pupils. Various lizards ran over the rocks; and we failed to
secure a water-snake, the only specimen seen on the whole trip.

About noon we struggled past Point Masalla, our "Diamond Rock," a
reef ending in a triangular block, towering abruptly, and showing
by drift-wood a flood-line now twelve feet high. There are
several of these "bench-marks;" and the people declare that after
every few years an unusual freshet takes place. Here the current
impinges directly upon the rocks, making a strong eddy. "They die
each time," said the interpreters, as the canoemen, with loud
shouts of "Vai ou nao Vai? Vai sempre! Vai direito, ya mondele!"
and "Arister," a mariner's word, after failing to force the way,
tumbled overboard, with a hawser of lliana to act as tow-line.
"Vai direito," according to Father Ciprani, also applies to a
"wonderful bird, whose song consists in these plain words;" and
"Mondele" is synonymous with the Utangáni of the Gaboon and the
East African Muzungu, a white man.

This bend was in former days the terminus of canoe travel up
stream. Grisly tales of mishap are told; and even now a musketry
salute is fired when boats pass without accident. Beyond Diamond
Rock is a well-wooded, stony cove, "Salan Kunkati:" Captain
Tuckey makes this the name of the Diamond Rock, and translates it
"the strong feather." Quartz, before in lines and bands, now
appears in masses: the "Coal Rock," which the chart places near
Insála (Bechope Point) on the northern bank, was probably
submerged. High cliffs towered above us, and fragments which must
have weighed twenty tons had slipped into the water; one of them
bore an adansonia, growing head downwards.

The next feature was Npunga Bay, low and leek-green, between the
blue-brown water, here some 700 yards broad, and the yellow sun-
burnt trough-sides. A little further on, at 2 P.M., the canoe-men
halted beyond a sandy point with two large "Bondeiro" trees, and
declared their part of the bargain to have been fulfilled.
"Bonderro" is a corruption of the Lusitanianized imbundeiro, the
calabash, or adansonia (digitata?): the other baobab is called
nkondo, probably the Aliconda and Elicandy of Battel and old
travellers, who describe the water-tanks hollowed in its huge
trunk, and the cloth made from the bark fibre. Thus the "Condo
Sonio" of the Chart should be "Nkondo Sonho," the latter a proper
name. It is seldom that we find trees turned to all the uses of
which they are capable: the Congo people despise the nutritious
and slightly laxative flour of the "monkey bread," and the young
leaves are not used as pickles; the bast is not valued for cloth
and ropes, nor are the boles cut into cisterns.

As will be seen, we ought to have insisted upon being paddled to
Kala cliff and bight, the Mayumba Bay of the Chart, where the bed
trends west-east, and shows the lowest rapids: the First Congo
Expedition went up even higher. At Nkongo ka Lunga, the point
marked by two calabashes, we inquired for the Nokki Congo, of
which we had heard at Chisalla, and which still exists upon the
chart,--districts and villages being often confounded. All
laughed, and declared that the "port-town" had long been sold
off, the same had been the case, even in Tuckey's day, with the
next settlement, "Condo Sonio" (the Baobab of Sonho), formerly
the great up-stream mart, where the slave-traders transacted
their business. All the population was now transferred inland
and, like our predecessors, we were promised a two hours' climb
over the rough, steep highland which lay in front. Then we
understood that "Nokki" was the name of a canton, not of a
settlement. Its south-eastern limits may have contained the "City
of Norchie, the best situated of any place hitherto seen in
Ethiopia," where Father Merolla (p. 280) baptized 126 souls,--and
this is rendered probable by the crucifixes and coleworts which
were found by the First Congo Expedition.

Here, then, at 97.50 miles from the sea, ended our clan's cruize.
We could only disembark upon the clean sand, surrounded by cool
shade and blocks of gneiss, the favourite halting-place, as the
husks of ground-nuts show. Nchama Chamvu was at once sent off
with a present of gin and a verbal report of arrival to
Nessudikira Nchinu, (King), of Banza Nkaye, whilst we made ready
for a night's lodging à la belle étoile. The mesenger returned,
bringing a goat, and the good news that porters would be sent
early next morning. We slept well in the cool and dewless air,
with little trouble from mosquitoes. The voice of the cataract in
its "sublime same-soundingness" alone broke the silence, and the
scenery suggested to us, as to the first Britishers, that we
might be bivouacking among the "blue misty hills of Morven."

September 8.--Shortly after sunrise appeared Gidi Mavunga, father
to the "king," accompanied by five "princes," in the usual black
coats, and some forty slaves, armed with pistols, blunderbusses,
and guns of French and Yankee build. Our visitors wore the
official berretta, European shirts, that contrasted with coral
necklaces and rings of zinc, brass, and copper, and handsome
waistcoats, fronted by the well-tanned spoil of some "bush"
animal, generally a wild cat, hanging like a Scotch sporran--this
is and has long been the distinctive sign of a "gentleman."
According to John Barbot (Supplement, Churchill, v. 471), all men
in Loango were bound to wear a furskin over their clothes, viz.,
of an otter, a tame cat, or a cat-o'-mountain; a "great wood or
wild cat, or an angali (civet-cat). Besides which, they had very
fine speckled spelts, called ‘ enkeny,' which might be worn only
by the king and his peculiar favourites."

On the great man's mat was placed a large silver-handled dagger,
shaped somewhat like a fish-slicer; and the handsome hammocks of
bright-dyed cottons brought down for our use shamed our humble
ship's canvas. The visitors showed all that African câlinerie,
which, as fatal experience told me, would vanish for ever,
changing velvet paw to armed claws, at the first question of
cloth or rum. Meanwhile, we had only to visit their village "upon
the head of Gidi Mavunga."

About 9 A.M. we attacked a true Via Dolorosa, the normal road of
the Lower Congo. The steep ascent of dry, clayey soil was strewed
with schist and resplendent silvery gneiss; quartz appeared in
every variety, crystallized and amorphous, transparent white,
opaque, dusky, and rusty. Tuckey's mica slate appears to be
mostly schist or gneiss: I saw only one piece of true slate which
had been brought from the upper bed. Merolla's talc is mostly
mica.

Followed an equally rough descent to a water set in fetid mud,
its iridescence declaring the presence of iron; oozing out of the
ground, it discharges during rains into the river: and,
throughout the dry season, it keeps its little valley green with
trees and shrubs. I observed what appeared to be the Esere or
Calabar bean (Physostigma venenosum), whose hairy pod is very
distasteful to the travelling skin: it was a "Mucuna urens."

Another scramble upon a highly inclined hogsback, where weather-
worn brown-black granite, protruded bone-like from the clay
flesh, placed us at the outlying village of Kinbembu, with its
line of palms; here the aneroid showed 1,322 feet. After a short
rest, the hammock men resumed work over a rough plateau: the
rises were scattered with brush-wood, and the falls were choked
with the richest vegetation. Every hill discharged its own
rivulet bubbling over the rock, and the waters were mostly
chalybeate.

Presently appeared a kind of barracoon, a large square of thick
cane-work and thatch about eight feet high, the Fetish house of
the "Jinkimba" or circumcised boys, who received us with
unearthly yells. After a march of an hour and three
quarters,'covering five indirect and three direct miles in a
south-eastern rhumb, we reached Banza Nkaye, the royal village,
where the sympiesometer showed 1430 feet. Our bearers yelled
"Abububu!" showing that we had reached our destination, and the
villagers answered with a cry of "Abía-a-a!" The entrance was
triumphal: we left the river with a tail of fifty-six which had
swelled to 150 ragged followers.

After a short delay we proceeded to the "palace," which was
distinguished from afar by a long projecting gable, forming a
cool verandah. Descending some three hundred feet, we passed a
familiar sight in Africa, where "arboribus suus horror inest." A
tree-trunk bore three pegged skulls somewhat white with age;
eight years ago they were taken off certain wizards who had
bewitched their enemies. A labyrinthine entrance of transparent
cane-work served to prevent indecent haste, and presently we
found ourselves in presence of the Mfumo, who of course takes the
title of "Le Rei." Nessudikira was a "blanc-bec," aged twenty or
twenty-one, who till lately had been a trading lad at Boma--now
he must not look upon the sea. He appeared habited in the usual
guy style: a gaudy fancy helmet, a white shirt with limp Byronic
collar, a broad-cloth frock coat, a purple velvet gold-fringed
loin-wrap: a theatrical dagger whose handle and sheath bore cut-
glass emeralds and rubies, stuck in the waist-belt; brass anklets
depended over naked feet, and the usual beadle's cloak covered
the whole. Truly a change for the worse since Tuckey's day, when
a "savage magnificence" showed itself in the display of lions'
and leopards' skins; when no women were allowed to be present,
and when the boys could only clap hands: now the verandah is
surrounded by a squatting crowd and resounds with endless chatter
and scream.

Nessudikira, whose eyes by way of grandeur never wandered from
the floor, shook hands with us without rising from his chair,
somewhat after the fashion of certain women in civilized society,
who would be dignified, and who are not. His father, Gidi
Mavunga, knelt before him on the ground, a mat being forbidden in
the presence: he made the "batta-palmas" before he addressed his
"filho de pistola," as he called him, in opposition to filho de
fazenda. The "king" had lately been crowned in virtue of his
mother being a uterine sister of his predecessor. Here the goods
and dignity of the father revert after death to his eldest
maternal brother; to his eldest nephew, that is, the eldest son
of the eldest uterine sister, and, all others failing, to the
first born of the nearest maternal relative. This subjection of
sire to son is, however, mainly ceremonious: in private life the
king wears a cotton pagne, and his "governor" asserts his birth-
right even by wigging royalty.

We disposed ourselves upon seamen's chests covered with red
baize, fronting the semi-circle of frock-coated "gentlemen" and
half-naked dependants and slaves. Proceedings began with the
"mata-bicho" de rigueur, the inevitable preliminary and
conclusion of all life-business between birth and burial. The
Congo traveller will hear "Nganna! mata bicho" (Master! kill the
worm, i.e., give me a dram), till the words seem, like
"Bakhshish" further east, to poison his ears. This excuse for a
drink arose, or is said to have arisen, from some epidemic which
could be cured only by spirits, and the same is the tradition in
the New World ("Highlands of the Brazil," i. chap. 38). Similarly
the Fulas of the Windward coast, who as strict Moslem will not
drink fermented liquors, hold a cup of rum to be the sovereignest
thing in the world for taenia. The entozoon of course gives rise
to a variety of stale and melancholy jokes about the early bird,
the worm that dieth not, and so forth.

A greybeard of our gin was incontinently opened and a tumbler in
a basin was filled to overflowing; even when buying ground-nuts,
the measure must be heaped up. The glass was passed round to the
"great gentlemen," who drank it African fashion, expanding the
cheeks, rinsing the mouth so that no portion of the gums may lose
their share, and swallowing the draught with an affectedly wry
face. The basin then went to the "little gentlemen" below the
salt, they have the "vinum garrulum," and they scrambled as well
as screamed for a sup of the precious liquor. I need hardly quote
Caliban and his proposed genuflections.

I had been warned by all the traders of the lower river that
Banza Nokki would be to me the far-famed point of which it was
said,

          "Quern passar o Cabo de Nam
           Ou tornará, ou n o,"

and prepared accordingly. Old Shimbal, the linguist, had declared
that a year would be required by the suspicious "bush-men" to
palaver over the knotty question of a stranger coming only to
"make mukanda," that is to see and describe the country. M.
Pissot was forbidden by etiquette to recognize his old employé
(honours change manners here as in Europe), yet he set about the
work doughtily. My wishes were expounded, and every possible
promise of hammocks and porters, guides and interpreters, was
made by the hosts. The royal helmet was then removed, and a
handsome burnous was drawn over the king's shoulders, the hood
covering the berretta in most grotesque guise. After which the
commander and M. Pissot set out for the return march, leaving me
with my factotum Selim and the youth Nchama Chamvu. To the
question "Quid muliere levius?" the scandalous Latin writer
answers "Nihil," for which I would suggest "Niger." At the
supreme moment the interpreter, who had been deaf to the
charmer's voice (offering fifty dollars) for the last three days,
succumbed to the "truant fever." He knew something of Portuguese;
and, having been employed by the French factory, he had scoured
the land far and wide in search of "emigrants." He began well;
cooked a fowl, boiled some eggs, and made tea; after which he
cleared out a hut that was declared très logeable, and found a
native couch resembling the Egyptian kafas.

We slept in a new climate: at night the sky was misty, and the
mercury fell to 60° (F.). There was a dead silence; neither beast
nor bird nor sound of water was heard amongst the hills; only at
times high winds in gusts swept over the highlands with a
bullying noise, and disappeared, leaving everything still as the
grave. I felt once more "at home in the wilderness"--such,
indeed, it appeared after Boma, where the cockney-taint yet
lingered.





                           Chapter X.

               Notes on the Nzadi or Congo River.



And first, touching the name of this noble and mysterious stream.
Diogo Cam, the discoverer in 1485, called it River of Congo,
Martin von Behaim Rio de Padrao, and De Barros "Rio Zaire." The
Portuguese discoveries utilized by Dapper thus corrupted to the
sonorous Zaïre, the barbarous Nzadi applied by the natives to the
lower bed. The next process was that of finding a meaning.
Philippo Pigafetta of Vicenza,[FN#10] translated Zaïre by "so,
cioè Sapio in Latino;" hence Sandoval[FN#11] made it signify "Rio
de intendimiento," of understanding. Merolla duly records the
contrary. "The King of Portugal, Dom John II., having sent a
fleet under D. Diego Cam to make discoveries in this Southern
Coast of Africa, that admiral guessed at the nearness of the land
by nothing so much as by the complexion of the waters of the
Zaire; and, putting into it, he asked of the negroes what river
and country that was, who not understanding him answered
‘Zevoco,' which in the Congolan tongue is as much as to say ‘I
cannot tell;' from whence the word being corrupted, it has since
been called Zairo."

D'Anville (1749), with whom critical African geography began,
records "Barbela," a southern influent, perhaps mythical, named
by his predecessors, and still retained in our maps: it is the
Verbele of Pigafetta and the Barbele of Linschoten, who make it
issue either from the western lake-reservoir of the Nile, or from
the "Aquilunda" water, a name variously derived from O-Calunga,
the sea (?), or from A-Kilunda, of Kilunda (?) The industrious
compiler, James Barbot (1700), mentions the "Umbre," the modern
Wambre, rising in the northern mountains or, according to P.
Labat, in a lake: Dapper (1676), who so greatly improved the
outline of Africa, had already derived with De Barros the "Rio
Zaïre" from a central reservoir "Zaïre," whose island, the
Zembre, afterwards became the Vambere, Wambre, and Zambere, now
identified through the Zambeze with the Maravi, Nyassa or Kilwa
water. The second or northernmost branch is the Bancora of modern
maps, the Brankare of Pigafetta, and the Bancari of Cavazzi; it
flows from the same mountain as the Umbre, and Duarte Lopez
(1560) causes it to mingle with the Zaire on the eastern borders
of Pango, at the foot of the Sierra del Crystal. In certain
modern maps the Bankare fork is called "Lekure,"and is made to
receive the "Bambaye." The Barbela again anastomoses with the
Luba (?) or northern section of the Coango, including its
influent, the Lubilash; the Kasai (Kasabi) also unites with the
Coango, and other dotted lines show the drainage of the Lualaba
into the Kasai.

The Portuguese, according to Vasconcello, shunning all fanciful
derivations, were long satisfied to term the Congo "Rio de
Patron" (Rio do Padrao) from the first of memorial columns built
at its mouth. In 1816 Captain Tuckey's expedition learned with
Maxwell that the stream should be called, not Zaire, but Moienzi
Enzaddi, the "great river" or the "river which absorbs all other
rivers." This thoroughly corrupted name, which at once found its
way into popular books, and which is repeated to the present day
even by scientific geographers, suggested to some theorists
"Zadi," the name of the Niger at Wassenah according to Sidi
Harriet, as related by the American, James Riley, of the brig
"Commerce," wrecked on August 28, 1815: others remembered "Zad"
which Shaykh Yusuf (Hornemann), misleading Mungo Park, learned to
be the Niger east of Tinbuktu, "where it turns off to the
southward." I need hardly say that this "Zadi" and "Zad" are
evident corruptions of Bahr Shady, Shary, Shari, Chad, Tsad, and
Chadda, the swampy lake, alternately sweet and brackish, which
was formerly thrown by mistake into the Chadda River, now called
the Binue or Bimúwe, the great eastern fork of the Negro-land
Nile: the true drainage of the Chadda in ancient times has lately
been determined by the adventurous Dr. Nachtigal. Mr.
Cooley[FN#12] applied, as was his wont, a superficial knowledge
of Kibundo to Fiote or Congoese, and further corrupted Moienzi
Enzaddi to Muenya (for Menha or Menya) Zinzádi-this Angolan
"emendation," however, was not adopted.

The natives dwelling upon the Congo banks have, as usual in
Africa, no comprehensive generic term for the mighty artery of
the West Coast. Each tribe calls it by its own name. Thus even in
Fiote we find "Mulángo," or "Lángo," the water; "Nkoko," the
stream, "Mwánza," the river, and "Mwanza Nnenne," the great
river, all used synonymously at the several places. The only
proper name is Mwánza Nzádi, the River Nzadi: hence Zaire, Zaïre,
Zahir, Zaira the "flumen Congo olim Zaida" (C. Barlé)--all
corruptions more or less common.

The homogeneous form of the African continent causes a whimsical
family resemblance, allowing for the difference of northern and
southern hemispheres, in its four arterial streams--the Nile and
Niger, the Congo and Zambeze. I neglect the Limpopo, called in
its lower bed Espirito Santo, Maniça, Manhiça (Manyisa), and
Delagoa River; the Cunene (Nourse) River, the Orange River, and
others, which would be first-rate streams in Europe, but are mere
dwarfs in the presence of the four African giants. The Nile and
Niger, being mainly tenanted by Moslemized and comparatively
civilized races, have long been known, more or less, to Europe.
The Zambeze, owing to the heroic labours of Dr. Livingstone, is
fast becoming familiar to the civilized world; and the Congo is
in these days (1873) beginning at last to receive the attention
which it deserves. It is one of the noblest known to the world.
Whilst the Mississippi drains a basin of 1,244,000 English square
miles, and at Carrollton, in Louisiana, discharges as its mean
volume for the year 675,000 cubic feet of water per second, the
Congo, with a valley area of 800,000 square miles, rolls at least
2,500,000 feet. Moreover, should it prove a fact that the Nzadi
receives the Chambeze and its lakes, the Bangweolo (or Bemba),
the Moero, near which stands the capital of the Cazembe, the
Kamalondo, Lui or Ulenge, "Lake Lincoln" (Chibungo), and other
unvisited waters, its area of drainage will nearly equal that of
the Nile.

The four arteries all arise in inner regions of the secondary
age, subtended east and west by ghats, or containing mountains
mostly of palaeozoic or primary formation, the upheaval of
earthquakes and volcanoes. These rims must present four distinct
water-sheds. The sea-ward slopes discharge their superabundance
direct to the ocean often in broad estuaries like the Gambia and
the Gaboon, still only surface drains; whilst the counterslopes
pour inland, forming a network of flooded plains, perennial
swamps, streams, and lakes. The latter, when evaporation will not
balance the supply to a "sink," "escape from the basin of the
central plateau-lands, and enter the ocean through deep lateral
gorges, formed at some ancient period of elevation and
disturbance, when the containing chains were subject to
transverse fractures." All four head in the region of tropical
rains, the home of the negro proper, extending 35° along the
major axis of the continent, between Lake Chad (north latitude
14° to 15°), and the Noka a Batletle or Hottentot Lake, known to
the moderns as Ngami (south latitude 20° to 21°). Consequently
all are provided with lacustrine reservoirs of greater or smaller
extent, and are subject to periodical inundations, varying in
season, according as the sun is north or south of the line. Those
of the northern hemisphere swell with the "summer rains of
Ethiopia," a fact known in the case of the Nile to Democritus of
Abdera (5th cent. B.C.), to Agatharchidas of Cnidos (2nd cent.
B.C.) to Pomponius Nida, to Strabo (xvii. 1), who traces it
through Aristotle up to Homer's "heaven-descended stream" and to
Pliny (v. 10). For the same reason the reverse is the case with
the two southern arteries; their high water, with certain
limitations in the case of the Congo, is in our winter.

By the condition of their courses, all the four magnates are
broken into cataracts and rapids at the gates where they burst
through the lateral chains; the Mosi-wa-túnya (smoke that
thunders) of the Zambeze, and the Ripon Falls discovered by
Captains Speke and Grant upon the higher Nile, are the latest
acquisitions to geography, whilst the "Mai waterfall," reported
to break the Upper Congo, still awaits exploration. This accident
of form suggests a division of navigation on the maritime section
and on the plateau-bed which, in due time, will be connected,
like the St. Lawrence, by canals and railways. All but the Nzadi,
and perhaps even this, have deltas, where the divided stream,
deficient in water-shed, finds its sluggish way to the sea.

The largest delta at present known is the Nigerian, whose base
measures 155 direct geographical miles between the Rivers Kontoro
east, and Benin west. Pliny (v. 9) makes the Nile delta extend
170 Roman miles, from the Canopic or African to the Pelusiac or
Asiatic mouth, respectively distant from the apex 146 and 166
miles; the modern feature has been reduced to 80 miles from east
to west, and a maximum of 90 from north to south. The Zambeze
extends 58 miles between the Kilimani or northern and the west
Luabo, Cuama or southern outlet-at least, if these mouths are not
to be detached. The Nzadi is the smallest, measuring a maximum of
only 12 to 15 miles from the Malela or Bananal Creek to the
mangrove ditches of the southern shore.

In these depressed regions the comparatively salubrious climates
of the uplands become dangerous to the European; the people also
are degraded, mostly pirates and water-thieves, as the Nigerian
Ibos, the Congoese Musulungus, and the Landim (Amalandi) Kafirs
about the lower Zambeze. There is a notable similarity in their
productions, partly known to Pliny (v. 8), who notices "the
calamus, the papyrus, and the animals" of the Nigris and the
Nile. The black-maned lion and the leopard rule the wold; the
gorilla, the chimpanzee, and other troglodytes affect the thinner
forests; the giraffe, the zebra, and vast hosts of antelopes
scour the plains; the turtle swims the seas; and the
hippopotamus, the crocodile, and various siluridae, some of
gigantic size, haunt the lakes and rivers. The nymphæa, lotus or
water-lily, forms rafts of verdure; and the stream-banks bear the
calabash, the palmyra, the oil-palm, and the papyrus. Until late
years it was supposed that the water-lily, sacred to Isis, had
been introduced into Egypt from India, where it is also a
venerated vegetable, and that it had died out with the form of
Fetishism which fostered it. It has simply disappeared like the
crocodile from the Lower Nile. Finally, to conclude this rapidly
outlined sketch, all at the present moment happily share the same
fate; they are being robbed of their last mysteries; the veil of
Isis is fast yielding to the white man's grasp.

We can hardly as yet answer the question whether the Congo was
known to the ancients. Our acquaintance with the oldest
explorations is at present fragmentary, and we are apt to assume
that the little told us in our school-books is the sum-total of
former exploits. But possibly inscriptions in the New World, as
well as in the Old, may confirm the "first circumnavigation" so
simply recounted by Herodotus, especially that of the
Phoenicians, who set out from the Red Sea, and in three years
returned to the Mediterranean. The expression, "they had the sun
to the right," is variously explained. In the southern hemisphere
the sailors facing west during our winter would see the sun at
noon on the right, and in the northern hemisphere on the left.
But why should they face west? In the "Chronicle" of Schedel (p.
ccxc., printed in 1793, Pigafetta, Pinkerton, xi. 412) we read:
"These two, (i.e. Jacob Cam and Martin Behem, or Behaim) by the
help of the gods, ploughing the sea at short distance from shore,
having passed the equinoctial line, entered the nether
hemisphere, where, fronting the east, their shadow fell towards
the south, and on their right hand." Perhaps it may simply allude
to the morning sun, which would rise to port as they went
southwards, and to starboard as they returned north. Again, the
"First Overland Expedition" is related by the Father of History
with all the semblance of truth. We see no cause to doubt that
the Nasammones or Nasamones (Nás Amún), the five young Lybians of
the Great Syrtis (Fezzan) crossed the <Greek>           (watered
strip along the Mediterranean), passed through the
<Greek>         (the "bush") on the frontier, still famed for
lions, and the immeasurably sandy wastes (the Sahara proper,
across which caravan lines run). The "band of little black men"
can no longer be held fabulous, since Miani and Schweinfurth
added the Akya to M. du Chaillu's Obongo. The extensive marshes
were the northern limit of the tropical rains, and the "City of
Enchanters" is the type of many still existing in inner Africa.
The great river flowing from west to east, whose crocodiles
showed it to be the Nile, must have been the Niger. The ancients
knew middle Ethiopia to be a country watered by lakes and
streams: Strabo (xvii. 3) tells us that "some suppose that even
the Nile-sources are near the extremities of Mauritania." Hence,
too, the Nilides, or Lake of Standing Water in Pliny (v. 10). For
the most part they made a great central river traverse the
northern continent from west to east, whereas the Arabian
geographers of the middle ages, who were followed by the
Portuguese, inverted the course. Both may be explained by the lay
of the Quorra and the Binúwe, especially the latter; it was
chronically confounded with the true Nile, whose want of western
influents was not so well known then as now.

The generation which has discovered the "Moabite Stone," the
ruins of Troy (Schliemann), and the key to the inscriptions of
Etruria (Corssen), need not despair of further progress. It has
been well remarked that, whereas the course of modern exploration
has generally been maritime, the ancients, whose means of
navigation were less perfect, preferred travelling by land. We
are, doubtless, far better acquainted with the outlines of the
African coast, and the immediately maritime region, than the
Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, and the Arabs. But it is still
doubtful whether their information respecting the interior did
not surpass ours. Eratosthenes, librarian of Alexandria (B. C.
276-196) expresses correct notions concerning the upper course of
the Nile; Marinus of Tyre[FN#13] had the advantage of borrowing
from the pilot, Diogenes, who visited the Nile reservoirs of
central inter-tropical Africa, and Ptolemy has been justified in
certain important points by our latest explorations.

No trace of the Nzadi or Congo is to be found in the Pelusian
geographer, whose furthest point is further north. In the "Tabula
Rotunda Rogeriana" of A. D. 1154 (Lelewel, No. X.) two lakes are
placed upon the equator, and the north-western discharges to the
Atlantic the river Kauga or Kanga, which the learned Mr. Hogg
suspected to be the Congo. Marino Sanudo (1321), who has an idea
of Guinea (Ganuya) and of Zanzibar (Zinziber), here bends Africa
to the south-east, and inscribes, "Regio inhabitabilis propter
calorem." Fra Mauro (1457) reduces "Ethiopia Occidentalis et
Australis" to the minimum, and sheds the stream into the F. Xebe
(Webbe or Galla-Somal River). Martin von Behaim of Nürnberg
(1492) in whose day Africa began to assume her present form,
makes the Rio de Padron drain the western face of the Montes
Lunae. Diogo Ribera, chief pilot of the Indies under Charles V.
(Seville, 1529) further corrects the shape of the continent, and
places the R. do Padrão north, and the Rio dos Boms Sinhaes
(Zambeze) south of the Montes Lunae. Mercator and Henry Hondt
(1623) make the Zaire Lacus the northern part of the Zembre
Lacus. John Senex (circ. 1712) shows the "R. Coango," the later
Quango, believed to be the great south-western fork of the Congo.
It is not a little peculiar that the last of the classics,
Claudius Claudianus, an Alexandrian Christian withal, describes
the Gir, or Girrhaeus, with peculiarly Congoese features. In "De
laud. Stilicho." (lib. i. 252) we have--

               "Gir, notissimus amnis
          Æthiopum, simili mentitus gurgite Nilum."

And again ("Eidyll. in Nilum," 20):

          "Hunc bibit infrenis Garamas, domitorque ferarum
           Girrhæus, qui vasta colit sub rupibus antra,
           Qui ramos ebeni, qui denies vellit eburnos."

Here we find a Wady or torrent discharging into the
Mediterranean, made equal to "Egypt's heaven-descended stream;"
caused to flow under great rocks, as the Niger was long believed
to pass underground to the Nile, of which it was a western
branch; and said to supply ebony, which is the characteristic not
even of the Niger regions, but of the Zaire.[FN#14] A little of
this peculiar and precious commodity is produced by Old Calabar,
east of the Nigerian delta, and southwards it becomes common.

Pliny (v. i) places his Gir (which some editions read "Niger")
"some distance" beyond the snowy Atlas. Ptolemy (iv. 6) tells us
"in Mediterraneâ verò fluunt amnes maximi, nempe Gir conjungens
Usargalam montem et vallem Garamanticam, à quo divertens amnis
continet secundum situm (east longitude) 42° (north latitude)--
16°." Again: "Et Nigir fluvius jungens et ipse Mandrum" (Mandara,
south of Lake Chad?) "et Thala montes" (the range near the
western coast on the parallel of Cabo Blanco?). "Facit autem et
hic Nigritem Paludem" (Lake Dibbie or Debu, north-east of Sego
and Sansanding?) cujus situs 15°-18°."

Here the Gir, Ger, Gar, or Geir is clearly laid down as a
Mediterranean stream, whilst "Niger" gave rise to the confusion
of the Senegal with the true Niger. The name has greatly
exercised commentators' ingenuity. D'Anville believes the Niger
and the Gir to end in the same quarter of Africa, and the latter
to be entirely unknown. Gosselin, agreeing with Pliny, whose Ger
is the Nigir of the Greeks, places them south of the Atlas. Mr.
Leake (loc. cit.) holds all conjecture useless. Not so the Rev.
M. Tristram, whose geography is of the ornithological or bird's-
eye order. In "The Great Sahara" (pp. 362-4, Appendix I.), he
asks, "May not the name Giris or Gir be connected with Djidi?" i.
e. the Wadi Mzi, a mean sink in El Areg, south of Algeria.
Gräberg ("Morocco") had already identified it with the Ghir,
which flows through Sagelmessa; Burckhardt with the Jir, "a large
stream coming from about north latitude 10°, and flowing north-
west through the Wadaí, west of the borders of Dar-Fur." No
wonder that some geographers are disposed to believe Gir, Giris,
Ger, and Geir to be "a general native name for a river, like Bá"
(Bahr), "Bi" (in many Central African tongues a river,
Schweinfurth, ii. 241), "Quorra (Kwara), Gulbi and Gambaru (the
Yeou), Shadda, and Enzaddi."

It is still interesting to consider the circumstances which gave
rise to Captain Tuckey's disastrous expedition. As any map of
Africa during the early quarter of the present century, Bowdich
or Dupuis for instance, may prove, the course of the Niger was
laid down, now according to the ancients, then after Arab
information. The Dark Continent, of which D'Anville justly said
that writers abused, "pour ainsi dire, de la vaste carrière que
l'intérieur y laissait prendre" ("Mém. de l'Acad. des
Inscriptions," xxvi. 61), had not been subjected to scientific
analysis; this was reserved for the Presidential Address to the
Royal Geographical Society by the late Sir R. I. Murchison, 1852.
Geographers did not see how to pass the Niger through the" Kong
Mountains, which, uniting with the Jebel Komri, are supposed to
run in one unbroken chain across the continent;" and these Lunar
Mountains of the Moslems, which were "stretched like a chaplet of
beads from east to west," undoubtedly express, as M. du Chaillu
contends, a real feature, the double versant, probably a mere
wave of ground between the great hydrographic basins of the Niger
and the Congo, of North Africa and of Central Africa. Men still
wasted their vigour upon the Nigritis Palus, the Chelonídes
waters, the Mount Caphas, and the lakes of Wangara, variously
written Vancara and Vongara, not to mention other ways. Maps
place "Wangara"to the north-west of Dahome, where the natives
utterly ignore the name. Dupuis ("Ashantee," 1824) suggests that,
like "Takrúr," it is an obsolete Moslem term for the 660 miles of
maritime region between Cape Lahu and the Rio Formoso or the Old
Calabar River. This would include the three despotisms, Ashanti,
Dahome, and Benin, with the tribes who, from a distance of
twenty-five days, bring gold to Tinbuktu (the Tungubutu of De
Barros, i. 220). Thus the lakes of Wangara would be the lagoons
of the Slave-coast, in which the Niger may truly be said to lose
itself.

At length M. Reichard, of Lobenstein ("Ephémerides
Géographiques," Weimar, 1802), theoretically discovered the mouth
of the Niger, by throwing it into the Bight of Benin. He was
right in essentials and wrong in details; for instance, he
supposed the Rio Formoso or Benin River and the Rio del Rey to
join in one great stream beyond the flat alluvial delta: whereas
the former is indirectly connected through the Wari with the
Niger, and the latter has no connection with it at all. The truth
was received with scant courtesy, and the hypothesis was
pronounced to be "worthy of very little attention." There were,
however, honourable exceptions. In 1813, the learned Malte-Brun
("Précis de la Géographie Universelle," vol. iv. 635) sanctioned
the theory hinted at by Mungo Park, and in 1828 the well-abused
Caillié, a Frenchman who had dared to excel Bruce and Mungo Park,
wrote these remarkable words: "If I may be permitted to hazard an
opinion as to the course of the River Dhioliba, I should say that
it empties itself by several mouths into the Bight of Benin." In
1829, fortified by Clapperton's opinion, my late friend, James
Macqueen, who to immense industry added many qualifications of a
comparative geographer, recommended a careful examination of the
estuaries between the Rio Formoso and Old Calabar. The question
was not finally set at rest till 1830 (November 15th), when
Richard and John Lander entered Yoruba viâ Badagry and,
triumphantly descending the lower Niger, made the sea by the
"Nun" and Brass embouchures.

Meanwhile, Mr. George Maxwell, a Scotchman who had long traded in
the Congo, and who subsequently published a chart of the lower
river proposed, at the end of the last century, to take from
England six supernumerary boats for rowing and sailing, which
could be carried by thirty people and portaged round the
cataracts. This gave rise to Captain Tuckey's first error,
depending upon labour and provisions, which were not to be had
"for love or money" anywhere on the Congo above the Yellala. With
thirty or forty black rowers, probably Cabinda men, Maxwell
advised navigating the river about May, when the Cacimbo or dry
season begins; and with arms, provisions, and merchandize he
expected to reach the sources in six weeks. The scheme, which was
rendered abortive by the continental war of 1793, had two
remarkable results. It caused Mungo Park's fatal second journey,
and it led to the twin expeditions of Tuckey and Peddie.


In July, 1804, the ardent and irrepressible Scot wrote from
Prior's Lynn, near Longtown, to a friend, Mr. William Kier, of
Milholm, that the river "Enzaddi" was frequented by Portuguese,
who found the stream still as large as near the mouth, after
ascending 600 miles. It is useful to observe how these distances
are obtained. The slave-touters for the Liverpool and other
dealers used, we are told, to march one month up country, and
take two to return. Thirty days multiplied by twenty miles per
diem give 600 miles. I need hardly point out that upon such a
mission the buyer would be much more likely to travel 60 miles
than 600 in a single month, and I believe that the natives of the
lower river never went beyond Nsundi, or 215 indirect miles from
Point Padrão.

With truly national tenacity and plausibility Perfervidum
Ingenium contended that the Congo or Zaire was the Nigerian
debouchure. Major Rennell, who had disproved the connection of
the Niger and the Egyptian Nile by Bruce's barometric
measurements on the course of the mountain-girt Bahr el Azrak,
and by Brown's altitudes at Darfur, condemned the bold theory for
the best of reasons.

Mungo Park, after a brief coldness and coquetting with it, hotly
adopted to the fullest extent the wild scheme. Before leaving
England (Oct. 4, 1804), he addressed a memoir to Lord Camden,
explaining the causes of his conversion. It is curious to note
his confusion of "Zad," his belief that the "Congo waters are at
all seasons thick and muddy," and his conviction that "the annual
flood," which he considered perpetual, "commences before the
rains fall south of the equator." The latter is to a certain
extent true; the real reason will presently be given. Infected by
the enthusiasm of his brother Scot, he adds, "Considered in a
commercial point of view, it is second only to the discovery of
the Cape of Good Hope; and, in a geographical point of view, it
is certainly the greatest discovery that remains to be made in
this world."

Thereupon the traveller set out for the upper Niger with the
conviction that he would emerge by the Congo, and return to
England viâ the West Indies. From the fragments of his Journal,
and his letters to Lord Camden, to Sir Joseph Banks, and to his
wife, it is evident that at San-sanding he had modified his
theories, and that he was gradually learning the truth. To the
former he writes, "I am more and more inclined to think that it
(the Niger) can end nowhere but in the sea;" and presently a
guide, who had won his confidence, assured him that the river,
after passing Kashna, runs directly to the right hand, or south,
which would throw it into the Gulf of Guinea.

The fatal termination of Park's career in 1805 lulled public
curiosity for a time, but it presently revived. The geographical
mind was still excited by the mysterious stream which evaporation
or dispersion drained into the Lake-swamps of Wangara, and to
this was added not a little curiosity concerning the lamented and
popular explorer's fate. We find instructions concerning Mungo
Park issued even to cruizers collecting political and other
information upon the East African coast; e.g., to Captain Smee,
sent in 1811 by the Bombay Government. His companion, Lieutenant
Hardy, converted Usagára, west of the Zanzibar seaboard, into
"Wangarah," and remarks, "a white man, supposed to be Park, is
said to have travelled here twenty years ago" ("Observations,"
&c.).

About ten years after Mungo Park's death, two expeditions were
fitted out by Government to follow up his discovery. Major Peddie
proceeded to descend the Niger, and Captain Tuckey to ascend the
Congo. We have nothing to say of the former journey except that,
as in the latter, every chief European officer died--Major
Peddie, Captain Campbell, Lieutenant Stokoe, and M. Kummer, the
naturalist. The expedition, consisting of 100 men and 200
animals, reached Kakundy June 13, 1817, and there fell to pieces.
Concerning the Zaire Expedition, which left Deptford on February
16, 1816, a few words are advisable.

The personnel was left to the choice of the leader, Commander J.
K. Tuckey, R. N. (died). There were six commissioned officers--
Lieutenant John Hawkey, R.N. (died); Mr. Lewis Fitz-maurice,
master and surveyor; Mr. Robert Hodder and Mr. Robert Beecraft,
master's mates; Mr. John Eyre, purser (died); and Mr. James
McKerrow, assistant surgeon. Under these were eight petty
officers, four carpenters, two blacksmiths, and fourteen able
seamen. The marines numbered one sergeant, one corporal, and
twelve privates. Grand total of combatants, forty-nine. To these
were added five "savants": Professor Chetien Smith, a Norwegian
botanist and geologist (died); Mr. Cranch, collector of objects
of natural history (died); Mr. Tudor, comparative anatomist
(died); Mr. Galway, Irishman and volunteer naturalist (died); and
"Lockhart, a gardener" (of His Majesty's Gardens, Kew). There
were two Congo negroes, Benjamin Benjamins and Somme Simmons; the
latter, engaged as a cook's mate, proved to be a "prince of the
blood," which did not prevent his deserting for fear of the
bushmen.

The allusions made to Mr. Cranch, a "joined methodist," and a
"self-made man," are not complimentary. "Cranch, I fear," says
Professor Smith, "by his absurd conduct, will diminish the
liberality of the captain towards us: he is like a pointed arrow
to the company." And, again, "Poor Cranch is almost too much the
object of jest; Galway is the principal banterer."In the
Professor's remarks on the" fat purser,"we can detect the
foreigner, who, on such occasions, should never be mixed up with
Englishmen.

Sir Joseph Banks had suggested a steamer drawing four feet, with
twenty-four horse-power; an admirable idea, but practical
difficulties of construction rendered the "Congo" useless. Of the
fifty-four white men, eighteen, including eleven of the "Congo"
crew, died in less than three months. Fourteen out of a party of
thirty officers and men, who set out to explore the cataracts viâ
the northern bank, lost their lives; and they were followed by
four more on board the "Congo," and one at Bahia. The expedition
remained in the river between July 6th and October 18th, little
more than three months; yet twenty-one, or nearly one-third,
three of the superior officers and all the scientific men,
perished. Captain Tuckey died of fatigue and exhaustion (Oct.
4th) rather than of disease; Lieutenant Hawkey, of fatal typhus
(which during 1862 followed the yellow fever, in the Bonny and
New Calabar Rivers); and Mr. Eyre, palpably of bilious remittent.
Professor Smith had been so charmed with the river, that he was
with difficulty persuaded to return. Prostrated four days
afterwards by sickness on board the transport, he refused physic
and food, because his stomach rejected bark, and, preferring cold
water, he became delirious; apparently, he died of
disappointment, popularly called a "broken heart." Messrs. Tudor
and Cranchalso fell victims to bilious remittents, complicated,
in the case of the latter, by the "gloomy view taken of
Christianity by that sect denominated Methodists." Mr. Galway, on
September 28th, visited Sangala, the highest rapid ("Narrative,"
p. 328). In the Introduction, p. 80, we are wrongly told that he
went to Banza Ninga, whence, being taken ill on August 24th, he
was sent down stream. He, like his commander, had to sleep in the
open, almost without food, and he also succumbed to fever,
fatigue, and exhaustion.

The cause of this prodigious mortality appears in the records of
the expedition. Officers and men were all raw, unseasoned, and
unacclimatized. Captain Tuckey, an able navigator, the author of
"Maritime Geography and Statistics," had served in the tropics;
his biographer, however, writes that a long imprisonment in
France and "residence in India had broken down his constitution,
and at the age of thirty (ob. æt. thirty-nine) his hair was grey
and his head nearly bald." The men perished, exactly like the
missionaries of old, by hard work, insufficient and innutritious
food, physical exhaustion, and by the doctor. At first "immediate
bleeding and gentle cathartics" are found to be panaceas for mild
fevers (p. 46): presently the surgeon makes a discovery as
follows: "With regard to the treatment I shall here only observe
that bleeding was particularly unsuccessful. Cathartics were of
the greatest utility, and calomel, so administered as speedily to
induce copious salivation, generally procured a remission of all
the violent symptoms." The phlebotomy was inherited from the
missioners, who own almost to have blinded themselves by it. When
one was "blooded" fifteen times and died, his amateur Sangrado
said, "It had been better to have bled him thirty times:" the
theory was that in so hot a climate all the European blood should
be replaced by African. One of the entries in Captain Tuckey's
diary is, "Awaking extremely unwell, I directly swallowed five
grains of calomel"--a man worn out by work and sleeping in the
open air! The "Congo" sloop was moored in a reach surrounded by
hills, instead of being anchored in mid stream where the current
of water creates a current of air; those left behind in her died
of palm wine, of visits from native women, and of exposure to the
sun by day and to the nightly dews. On the line of march the
unfortunate marines wore pigtails and cocked hats; stocks and
cross-belts; tight-fitting, short-waisted red coats, and knee-
breeches with boots or spatter-dashes--even the stout Lord Clyde
in his latest days used to recall the miseries of his march to
Margate, and declare that the horrid dress gave him more pain
than anything he afterwards endured in a life-time of marching.
None seemed capable of calculating what amount of fatigue and
privation the European system is able to support in the tropics.
And thus they perished, sometimes of violent bilious remittents,
more often of utter weariness and starvation. Peace to their
manes!--they did their best, and "angels can no more." They
played for high stakes, existence against fame--

          "But the fair guerdon when we hope to find,
           Comes the blind Fury with th' abhorred shears,
           And slits the thin-spun life."

"The Narrative of an Expedition to Explore the River Zaire"
(London, John Murray, 1818), published by permission of the Lords
Commissioners of the Admiralty, was necessarily a posthumous
work. The Introduction of eighty-two pages and the General
Observations (fifty-three pages) are by anonymous hands; follow
Captain Tuckey's Narrative, Professor Smith's Journal, and an
Appendix with seven items; 1, vocabularies of the Malemba and
Embomma (Fiote or Congo) languages; 2, 3, and 4, Zoology; 5,
Botany; 6, Geology; and 7, Hydrography. The most valuable is No.
5, an admirable paper entitled "Observations, Systematical and
Geographical, on Professor Christian Smith's Collection of Plants
from the Vicinity of the River Congo, by Robert Brown, F.R.S."
The "Geology," by Mr. Charles Konig, of the British Museum, is
based upon very scanty materials. The folio must not be severely
criticized; had the writers lived, they might have worked up
their unfinished logs into interesting and instructive matter.
But evidently they had not prepared themselves for the work; no
one knew the periods of rain at the equator; there was no
linguist to avoid mistakes in the vocabulary; moreover, Professor
Smith's notes, being kept in small and ill-formed Danish
characters, caused such misprints as "poppies" for papaws. Some
few of the mistakes should be noticed for the benefit of
students. The expedition appears to have confused São Salvador,
the capital, with St. Antonio placed seven days from the river
mouth (p. 277). It calls Santo Antão (Cape Verds) "San Antonio;"
the Ilha das Rôlas (of turtle doves) Rolle's Island; "morfil"
bristles of the elephant's tail, and manafili ivory, both being
from the Portuguese marfim; moudela for mondele or mondelle, a
white man; malava, "presents," for mulavu (s. s. as msámbá, not
maluvi, Douville), palm wine, which in the form mulavu m'putu
(Portuguese) applies to wine and spirits. We have also "Leimba"
for Lyámba or Dyámba (Cannabis saliva); "Macasso, a nut chewed by
great people only," for Makazo, the bean of the Kola (Sterculia);
"Hyphæa" and "Dom" for Palmyra Flabelliformis, whose "fruit hangs
down in bunched clusters;" "Raphia" for Raphia Vinifera, commonly
called the bamboo or wine palm, and "casa," a purgative legumen,
for nkasa, "sass," or poison wood, identified with the red-water
tree of Sierra Leone, the erythropheum of Professor Afzelius, of
the order Cæalpineae, which gave a name to the Brazil.

The next important visit to the Congo River was paid by Captain
Owen's Expedition, when homeward bound in 1826. The "Leven" and
"Barracouta" surveyed the stream twenty-five miles from its mouth
during a week, beginning with January 1, just after the highest
flood. At thirteen miles out at sea the water was fresh and of a
dingy red; it fermented and remained in a highly putrescent state
for some days, tarnishing silver; kept for four months, it became
perfectly clear and colourless, without depositing any sediment.
This reminds us of the changing colours, green, red and milky
white, to which the Nile and all great African rivers that flood
periodically are subject.[FN#15]

The next traveller that deserves notice is the unfortunate
Douville,[FN#16] through whose tissue of imposture runs a golden
thread of truth. As his first journey, occupying nearly two of
the three volumes, was probably confined to the Valley of the
Cuanza River, so his second, extending beyond the equator, and to
a meridian 25° east of Paris, becomes fable as he leaves the
course of the Loge Stream. Yet, although he begins by doubting
that the Coango and the Zaire are the same waters, he ends by
recognizing the fact, and his map justly lays down the Fleuve
Couango dit Zaire à son embouchure. Whether the tale of the
mulatto surveyor be fact or not is of little matter: the
adventurer had an evident inkling of the truth.

A flood of side light is thrown upon the head waters of the Congo
River by Dr. Livingstone's first memorable journey (1852-56),
across Africa, and by the more dubious notices of his third
expedition The Introduction (p. xviii.) to Captain Tuckey's
narrative had concluded from the fact of the highest flood being
in March, and the lowest level about the end of August, that at
least one branch of the river must pass through some portion of
the northern hemisphere. The general observations affixed to
"Narrative" (p. 346), contain these words: "If the rise of the
Zaire had proceeded from rains to the southward of the Line,
swelling the tributary streams and pouring in mountain torrents
the waters into the main channel, the rise would have been sudden
and impetuous." Of course the writer had recourse to the "Lakes
of Wangara," in north latitude 12° to 15°: that solution of the
difficulty belonged inevitably to his day. Captain Tuckey (p.
178) learned, at Mavunda, that ten days of canoeing would take
him beyond all the rapids to a large sandy islet which makes two
channels, one to the north-west, the other to the north-east. In
the latter there is a fall above which canoes are procurable:
twenty days higher up the river issues, by many small streams,
from a great marsh or lake of mud.[FN#17] Again, a private letter
written from the "Yellala" (p. 343) declares that "the Zaire
would be found to issue from a lake or a chain of lakes
considerably to the north of the Line; and, so far from the low
state of the river in July and August militating against the
hypothesis, it gives additional weight, provided the river swell
in early September"--which it did. In his "Journal" (p. 224), we
find a memorandum, written as it were with a dying hand,
"Hypothesis confirmed. The water..."

On February 24, 1854, Dr. Livingstone, after leaving what he
calls the "Dilolo Lake," found on an almost level plain, some
4,000 to 5,000 feet high and then flooded after rains, a great
water parting between the eastern and the western continental
shores. I have carefully considered the strictures upon this
subject by the author of "Dr. Livingstone's Errors" (p. 101), and
have come to the conclusion that the explorer was too experienced
to make the mistakes attributed to him by the cabinet geographer.
The translation "despair" for "bitterness" (of the fish?) and the
reference to Noah's Deluge may be little touches ad captandum;
but the Kibundo or Angolan tongue certainly has a dental though
it lacks a cerebral d.

The easterly flow was here represented by the Leeba or upper
course of the "Leeambye," the "Diambege of Ladislaus Magyar, that
great northern and north-western course of the Zambeze across
which older geographers had thrown a dam of lofty mountains,
where the Mosi-wa-tunya cataract was afterwards discovered. The
opposite versant flowing to the north was the Kasai or Kasye
(Livingstone), the Casais of the Pombeiros, the Casati of
Douville, the Casasi and Casézi of M. Cooley (who derives it from
Casezi, a priest, the corrupted Arabic Kissis ); the Kassabi
(Casabi) of Beke, the Cassaby of Monteiro and Gamitto (p. 494),
and the Kassaby or Cassay of Valdez. Its head water is afterwards
called by the explorer Lomame and Loke, possibly for Lu-oke,
because it drains the highlands of Mossamba and the district of
Ji-oke, also called Ki-oke, Kiboke, and by the Portuguese
"Quiboque." The stream is described as being one hundred yards
broad, running through a deep green glen like the Clyde. The
people attested its length by asserting, in true African style,
"If you sail along it for months, you will turn without seeing
the end of it:" European geographers apparently will not
understand that this declaration shows only the ignorance of the
natives concerning everything a few miles beyond their homes. The
explorer (February 27,1854) places the ford in south latitude 11°
15' 47", and his map shows east longitude (G.), 21° 40' 30",
about 7° 30' (=450 direct geographical miles) from Novo Redondo
on the Western Coast. He dots its rise in the "Balobale country,"
south latitude 12° to 13°, and east longitude 19° to 20°.
Pursuing his course, Dr. Livingstone (March 30) first sighted the
Quango (Coango) as it emerged from the dark jungles of Londa, a
giant Clyde, some 350 yards broad, flowing down an enormous
valley of denudation. He reached it on April, 1854, in south
latitude 9° 53', and east longitude (G.) 18° 37', about 300
geographical linear miles from the Atlantic. Three days to the
west lies the easternmost station of Angola, Cassange: no
Portuguese lives, or rather then lived, beyond the Coango Valley.
The settlers informed him that eight days' or about 100 miles'
march south of this position, the sources are to be found in the
"Mosamba Range" of the Basongo country; this would place them in
about south latitude 12° to 13° and east longitude (G.) 18° to
19°.

The heights are also called in Benguela Nanos, Nannos, or Nhanos
(highlands);[FN#18] and in our latest maps they are made to
discharge from their seaward face the Coango and Cuanza to the
west and north, the Kasai to the north-east and possibly to the
Congo, the Cunene south-westwards to the Atlantic, and southwards
the Kubango, whose destination is still doubtful. Dr. Charles
Beke ("Athenæum," No. 2206, February 5, 1870), judged from
various considerations that the "Kassábi" rising in the primeval
forests of Olo-vihenda, was the "great hydrophylacium of the
continent of Africa, the central point of division between the
waters flowing to the Mediterranean, to the Atlantic, and to the
Indian Ocean"--in fact, the head-water of the Nile. I believe,
however, that our subsequent information made my late friend
abandon this theory.

On his return march to Linyanti, Dr. Livingstone, who was no
longer incapacitated by sickness and fatigue, perceived that all
the western feeders of the "Kasa" flow first from the western
side towards the centre of the continent, then gradually turn
with the main stream itself to the north, and "after the
confluence of the Kasai with the Quango, an immense body of water
collected from all these branches, finds its way out of the
country by means of the River Congo or Zaire, on the Western
Coast" (chap. xxii.). He adds: "There is but one opinion among
the Balonda respecting the Kasai and the Quango. They invariably
describe the Kasai as receiving the Quango, and beyond the
confluence assuming the name of Zairé or Zerézeré. And thus he
verifies the tradition of the Portuguese, who always speak of the
Casais and the Coango as "suppôsto Congo." It is regrettable that
Dr. Livingstone has not been more explicit upon the native names.
The Balonda could hardly have heard of the semi-European term
Zaire, which is utterly unknown even at the Yellalas. On the
other hand, it must be borne in mind that Maxwell was informed by
native travellers that the river 600 miles up country was still
called "Enzaddi," and perhaps the explorer merely intends Zairé
to explain Zerézeré. It is hardly necessary to notice Douville's
assertion (ii. 372).

Meanwhile the late Ladislaus Magyar, who had previously informed
the Benguelan Government that the Casais was reported to fall
into the Indian Ocean at some unknown place, in 1851 followed
this great artery lower than any known traveller. He heard that,
beyond his furthest exploration point (about south latitude 6°
30,[FN#19] and east longitude, G. 22°), it pursues a north-
easterly direction and, widening several miles, it raises waves
which are dangerous to canoes. The waters continue to be sweet
and fall into a lake variously called Mouro or Moura (Moráve or
Marávi?), Uhanja or Uhenje (Nyanza?), which is suspected to be
the Urenge or Ulenge, of which Livingstone heard in about south
latitude 3°, and east longitude (G.) 26°. The Hungarian traveller
naturally identified it with the mythical Lake Nyassa which has
done such portentous mischief in a day now gone by. Ladislaus
Magyar also states:[FN#20] "The Congo rises, I have convinced
myself by reports, in the swamp named Inhan-ha occupying the high
plateau of Moluwa, in the lands of the Luba, uniting with the
many streams of this region; at a distance of about five days
from the source it becomes a deep though narrow river, which
flows to the westward, through a level country covered with dense
forests, whose frequent streams coming from the north (?) and
south are taken up "by the river; then it bends north-westward
under the name of Kuango." Here we find the drowned lands, the
"sponges" of Livingstone, who, however, placed the sources much
further to the south-east.

Dr. Livingstone's third and last expedition, which began on March
24, 1866, and which ended (1873) with fatal fitness in the swamps
of the Bangweolo, suggests a new and more distant derivation for
the mighty Congo. After travelling from the Rovuma River to Lake
Nyassa, the great explorer in l867-8 came upon an "earthern
mound," west of Lake Bangweolo or Bemba, in about south latitude
11°; and here he places the sources of the Nile, where
geographers have agreed provisionally to place the sources of the
Congo. Already, in 1518, Fernandez de Enciso (Suma de
Geographia), the "theoretical discoverer" of Kilimanjaro, was
told by the Congoese that their river rises in high mountains,
from which another great stream flows in an opposite direction--
but this might apply to more watersheds than one. The subject is
treated at considerable length in an article by Dr. E.
Behm,[FN#21] certain of whose remarks I shall notice at the end
of this chapter.

The article proves hypsometrically that the Lualaba, in which the
explorer found the head waters of the Egyptian river, cannot feed
the Tanganyika nor the Lake Nzige (N'zíghe, Mwutan, Chowambe, or
Albert Nyanza Lake), nor even the Bahr el Ghazal, as was once
suspected. From the latter, indeed, it is barred by the water
parting of the Welle, the "Babura" of Jules Poncet (1860), in the
land of the Monbuttú; whose system the later explorer, Dr.
Schweinfurth, is disposed to connect with the Shari.
Hydrometrically considered, the Lualaba, which at Nyangwe, the
most northerly point explored by Dr. Livingstone (1870), rolls a
flood of 124,000 cubic feet per second in the dry season, cannot
be connected either with the Welle (5,100 cubic feet), nor with
the Bahr el Ghazal (3,042 to 6,500 cubic feet), nor with the Nile
below the mouth of the Bahr el Ghazal (11,330); nor with the
Shari (67,500); nor with the shallow Ogobe, through its main
forks the Rembo Okanda and the Rembo Nguye.

But the Lualaba may issue through the Congo. The former is made
one of the four streams ferried over by those travelling from the
Cazembe to the Mwata ya Nvo, and Dr. de Lacarda[FN#22] records it
as the "Guarava," probably a dialectic form of Lualava. It is the
Luapula of the "Geographer of N'yassi," who, with his usual
felicity and boldness of conjecture (p. 38), bends it eastward,
and discharges it into his mythical Central Sea.

Dr. Behm greatly under-estimates the Congo when he assigns to it
only 1,800,000 cubic feet per second. He makes the great artery
begin to rise in November instead of September and decrease in
April, without noticing the March-June freshets, reported by all
the natives to measure about one-third of the autumnal floods.
His elements are taken from Tuckey, who found off the "Diamond
Rock" a velocity of 3.50 knots an hour, and from Vidal's Chart,
showing 9,000 English feet or 1.50 nautical miles in a Thalweg
fifty fathoms deep. Thus he assumes only two nautical miles for
the current, or sixty inches per second, which must be
considerably increased, and an average depth of ten fathoms,
which again is too little. For 1,800,000 cubic feet of water per
second, which Tuckey made 2,000,000, we may safely read
2,500,000.

Dr. Livingstone himself was haunted by the idea that he was
exploring the Upper Congo, not the Nile. From a Portuguese
subordinate he "learned that the Luapula went to Angola." He asks
with some truth, "Who would care to risk being put into a
cannibal pot, and be converted into blackman for anything less
than the grand old Nile?" And the late Sir Roderick I. Murchison,
whose geographical forecasts were sometimes remarkable, suspected
long ago[FN#23] that his "illustrious friend" would follow the
drainage of the country to the western coast.

The "extraordinary quiet rise of the periodical flood," proved by
the first expedition, argues that the Congo "issues from the
gradual overflowing of a lake or a chain of lakes." The increment
in the lower bed, only eight to twelve feet where the Nile and
the Ganges rise thirty and the Binuwe fifty, would also suggest
that it is provided with many large reservoirs. The Introduction
to Tuckey's "Narrative" (p. xviii.) assumes that the highest
water is in March, but he entered the stream only on July 6, and
the expedition ended in mid-October. The best informants assured
me that from March till June there are heavy freshets. As in the
Ogobe, the flood begins in early September, somewhat preceding
that of the Lualaba, but, unlike the former stream, it attains
its highest in November and December, and it gradually subsides
from the end of June till August, about which time the water is
lowest.

In the middle region of the Tanganyika, I found the rainy season
lasting from September to May. At Lake Liemba, the south-eastern
projection of the Tanganyika, Dr. Livingstone in 1867 saw no rain
from May 12 to September, and in Many-wema-land, west of the
central Tanganyika, about south latitude 5°, the wet season began
in November, and continued till July with intervals, marking the
passage of the belt of calms. But, for the Congo to rise in
September, we must assume the rains to have fallen in early
August, allowing ten or fifteen days for the streams to descend,
and the rest for the saturation of the land. This postulates a
supply from the Central African regions far north of the equator.
Even for the March-June freshets, we must also undoubtedly go
north of the Line, yet Herr H. Kiepert[FN#24] places the
northernmost influent of Congo some 150 miles south of the
equator. Under these limitations I agree with Dr. Behm:--"Taking
everything into consideration, in the present state of our
knowledge, there is the strongest probability that the Lualaba is
the head stream of the Congo, and the absolute certainty that it
has no connection with the Nile or any other river (system) of
the northern hemisphere." And again: "As surely as the sun stands
over the southern hemisphere in our winter and the northern in
our summer, bringing the rains and the swellings of the tropical
rivers when it is in the zenith with regard to them, so surely
can it be predicated, from a comparison of the rainy seasons and
times of rising, that the Lualaba belongs to no river of the
northern hemisphere; in the southern hemisphere Africa possesses
only one river, the Congo, which could take up the vast water
supply of the Lualaba." The Brazil shows the curious feature of
widely different and even opposite rainy seasons in the same
parallel of latitude; but this is not the place to discuss the
subject.

Since these lines were written, I have to lament the collapse of
the Livingstone-Congo Expedition. In 1872 the great explorer's
friends, taking into consideration the prospect of his turning
westward, organized a "relief" from West as well as from East
Africa. Mr. J. Young, of Kelly, generously supplied the sinews of
travel, and Mr. Clements R. Markham, Secretary of the Royal
Geographical Society, lent important aid in preparing the
exploration. Navigating-Lieutenant W. J. Grandy, who had seen
service on the eastern coast of Africa, landed at S. Paulo de
Loanda in early 1873, and set out from Ambriz in March of that
year. The usual difficulties were met and overcome, when
Lieutenant Grandy was summarily recalled. The official
explanation ("Royal Geographical Society," December 14th, 1874),
is that the measure was in consequence of Livingstone's death.
The traveller himself says:--"Complying with instructions, we,
with many regrets at the idea of leaving our work unfinished when
all seemed so full of promise, commenced preparations for the
return, leaving good presents with the chiefs, in order to
procure a good reception for those who might come after us." An
Ex-President of the Royal Geographical Society had asserted, "The
ascent of the (Upper) Congo ought to be more productive of useful
geographical results than any other branch of African
exploration, as it will bring to the test of experiment the
navigability of the Congo above the Falls, and thus possibly open
out a means of introducing traffic by steam into the heart of the
continent at least two thousand miles from the mouth of the
river."

With this explicit and stimulating assertion before us, we must
lament that England, once the worthy rival in exploration of
Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands, is now too poor to support
a single exploration on the West African Coast, when Germany is
wealthy enough liberally to subsidize two.





                             Note.

                   A nous deux, Dr. E. Behm!



My objections to your paper are the three following: 1. It
generally understates the volume of the Nzadi, by not allowing
sufficiently for the double equinoctial periods of high water,
March to June, as well as September to December; and by ignoring
the north-equatorial supply. 2. It arbitrarily determines the
question of the Tanganyika, separating it from the Nile-system
upon the insufficient strength of a gorilla, and of an oil-palm
which is specifically different from that of the Western Coast;
and 3. It wilfully misrepresents Dr. Livingstone in the matter of
the so-called Victoria Nyanza.

My first objection has been amply discussed. I therefore proceed
to consider the second. As Mr. Alexander G. Findlay observed
("Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society," No. 3, vol.
xvii. of July 28, 1873):--"Up to the time of Stanley's arrival at
Ujiji, and his journey to the north of the lake, Livingstone was
fully impressed with the conviction that the Tanganyika is
nothing more than what he called a ‘lacustrine river' (329 miles
long by twenty of average breadth); flowing steadily to the north
and forming a portion of the Great Nile Basin. The letters
contained his reasons for forming that opinion, stating that he
had been for weeks and months on the shores of the lake watching
the flow of the water northwards" (at the rate of a knot per
hour). At times the current appeared to run southwards, but that
was under the influence of strong northerly winds. Also by Dr.
Livingstone's letters to Sir Thomas Maclear and Dr. Mann ("
Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society,"No. i of 1873, pp.
69-70), it is evident that the explorer believed only in the lake
outlet north of Ujiji. Again, Mr. Findlay, after attentively
considering the unsatisfactory visit of Dr. Livingstone and Mr.
Stanley to the Rusizi River in November and December, 1871, holds
it to be a mere marsh-drain, which when the south winds prevail,
would possibly flow in the opposite direction; and he still
believes that Captain Speke and I, when at Uvira, were within
five or six miles of the head.

Since Dr. Livingstone's visit we have heard more upon this
disputed subject. A native of Karagwah assured my friend Sir
Samuel Baker--who, despite all prepossessions, candidly accepted
the statement--that it is possible and feasible to canoe from
Chibero,on the so-called Albert Nyanza, past Uvira, where the
stream narrows and where a pilot is required, to the Arab dépôt,
Ujiji. He described the northern portion of the Tanganyika as
varying much in breadth, immensely wide beyond Vacovia, and again
contracting at Uvira. His report was confirmed by a Msawahíli,
sent by King Mtesa, with whom he had lived many years, to
communicate with Baker Pasha at Fatiko; this man knew both Uvira
and Ujiji, which he called "Uyiyi." Nothing can be more
substantial than this double testimony, which wears all the
semblance of truth.

On the other hand, Lieut. Cameron, whose admirable work has, so
to speak, re-constructed the Tanganyika Lake, discovered, on the
3rd of May, 18-74, the Lukuga River, which he supposes to form
the outlet. It lies 25 direct miles to the south of the Kasenge
Archipelago, numbering seventeen isles, visited by Captain Speke
in March, 1857. Dr. Livingstone touched here on July 13, 1869,
and heard nothing of the outlet; he describes a current sweeping
round Kasenge to south-east or southwards according to the wind,
and carrying trees at the rate of a knot an hour. But Mr. Stanley
(pp. 400 et passim) agrees with Dr. Krapf, who made a large river
issue from "the lake" westwards, and who proposed, by following
its course, to reach the Atlantic. The "discoverer of
Livingstone" evidently inclines to believe that the Tanganyika
drains through the caverns of Kabogo near Uguhha, and he records
the information of native travellers that "Kabogo is a great
mountain on the other side of the Tanganyika, full of deep holes,
into which the water rolls; "moreover, that at the distance of
over a hundred miles he himself heard the" sound of the
thundering surf which is said to roll into the caves of
Kabogo."In his map he ‘cutely avoids inserting anything beyond
"Kabogo Mountains, 6,000 to 7,000 feet high."

The gallant young naval lieutenant's exploration of the Lukuga
has not yet reached us in a satisfactory form. He found the
current sluggishly flowing at the rate of 1.2 knots per hour; he
followed it for four or five miles, and he was stopped by
floating grass and enormous rushes (papyri?). A friendly chief
told him that the Lukuga feeds the Lualaba which, beyond Nyangwe
(Livingstone's furthest point, in about south latitude 4°) takes
the name of Ugarowwa. An Arab had descended this stream fifty-
five marches, and reached a place where there were ships and
white merchants who traded largely in palm-oil and ivory, both
rare on the Congo River. And, unfortunately, "the name (River)
Congo was also mentioned," a term utterly unknown except to the
few Portuguese-speaking natives.

At present, therefore, we must reserve judgment, and the only
conclusion to which the unprofessional reader would come is that
the weight of authority is in favour of a double issue for the
Tanganyika, north and west.

The wilful misrepresentation is couched in these words: "The
reports obtained by Livingstone are if anything favourable to the
unity of the Victoria Nyanza (Ukerewe, Ukara,) because along with
it he names only such lakes as were already known to have a
separate existence from it." As several were recognized, ergo it
is one! Dr. Livingstone heard from independent sources that the
so-called Victoria Nyanza is a lake region, not a lake; his
account of the Okara (Ukara), and the three or four waters run
into a single huge sheet, is substantially the same as that
which, after a study of the Rev. Mr. Wakefield's Reports I
offered to the Royal Geographical Society, and which I
subsequently published in "Zanzibar City, Island, and Coast."
You, Dr. Behm, are apparently satisfied with a lake drained by an
inverted delta of half-a-dozen issues--I am not. Nor can I agree
with you that "whether the Victoria Nyanza is one lake or several
is a point of detail of less importance," when it has disfigured
the best maps of Africa for nearly a score of years. The last
intelligence concerning the "unity" of the lake is from Colonel
C. C. Long, a staff-officer in the service of His Highness the
Khedive, who was sent by Colonel Gordon on a friendly mission to
King Mtesa of Uganda. With permission to descend "Murchison
Creek," and to view "Lake Victoria Nyanza," Colonel Long, after a
march of three hours, took boat. He sounded the waters of the
lake, and found a depth of from 25 to 35 feet; in clear weather
the opposite shore was visible, appearing "to an unnautical eye"
from 12 to 15 miles distant; nor could this estimate be greatly
wrong. After much negotiation and opposition he obtained leave to
return to Egyptian territory by water, and on the way, in north
latitude 1° 30', he discovered a second lake or "large basin," at
least 20 to 25 miles wide. The geography is somewhat hazy, but
the assertions are not to be mistaken.

Finally, I read with regret such statements as the following,
made by so well-known a geographer as yourself: "Speke's views
have been splendidly confirmed; the attacks of his opponents,
especially of Burton, who was most inimically inclined to him,
collapse into nothing." This unwarrantable style of assertion
might be expected from the "Mittheilungen," but it is not
honourable to a man of science. There are, you well know, three
main points of difference between the late Captain Speke and
myself. The first is the horse-shoe of mountains blocking up the
northern end of the Tanganyika; this, after a dozen years, I
succeeded in abolishing. The second is the existence of the
Victoria Nyanza, which I assert to be a lake region, not a lake;
it is far from being a "point of detail," and I hope presently to
see it follow the way of the horse-shoe. Thirdly is the drainage
of the Tanganyika, which Captain Speke threw southward to the
Zambeze, a theory now universally abandoned. This may be your
view of "splendid confirmation"--I venture to think that it will
not be accepted by the geographical world.





                          Chapter XI.

                      Life at Banza Nokki.



I was now duly established with my books and instruments at
Nkaye, and the inevitable delay was employed in studying the
country and the people, and in making a botanical collection. But
the season was wholly unpropitious. A naval officer, who was
considered an authority upon the Coast, had advised me to travel
in September, when a journey should never begin later than May.
The vegetation was feeling the effect of the Cacimbo; most of the
perennials were in seed, and the annuals were nearly dried up.
The pictorial effects were those of

          "Autumn laying here and there
           A fiery finger on the leaves."

Yet, with Factotum Selim's assistance, I managed to collect some
490 specimens within the fortnight. We had not the good fortune
of the late Dr. Welwitsch (Welwitschia mirabilis), but there is
still a copious treasure left for those who visit the Congo River
in the right season.

I was delighted with the country, a counterpart of the Usumbara
Hills in Eastern Africa, disposed upon nearly the same parallel.
The Cacimbo season corresponded with the Harmattan north of the
Line; still, grey mornings, and covered, rainless noons, so
distasteful to the Expedition, which complained that, from four
to five days together, it could not obtain an altitude. The
curious contrast in a region of evergreens was not wanting, the
varied tintage of winter on one tree, and upon another the
brightest hues of budding spring. The fair land of grass and
flowers "rough but beautiful," of shrubbery-path, and dense
mottes or copse islets, with clear fountains bubbling from the
rocks, adorned by noble glimpses of the lake-like river, and of a
blue horizon, which suggested the ocean--ever one of the most
attractive points in an African landscape,--was easily invested
by the eye of fancy with gold and emerald and steely azure from
above, whilst the blue masses of bare mountain, thrown against a
cloudless sky, towered over the black-green sea of vegetation at
their base, like icebergs rising from the bosom of the Atlantic.

As in the Brazilian Rio de São Francisco, the few miles between
the mouth and the hill-region cause a radical change of climate.
Here the suns are never too hot, nor are the moons too cold; the
nights fall soft and misty, the mornings bring the blessing of
freshness; and I was never weary of enjoying the effects of dying
and reviving day. The most delicate sharpness and purity of
outline took the place of meridian reek and blur; trees, rocks,
and chalets were picked out with an utter disregard to the
perspective of distance, and the lowest sounds were distinctly
heard in the hard, clear atmosphere. The damp and fetid
vegetation of the Coast wholly disappeared. By the benefit of
purest air and water, with long walks and abundant palm wine from
the trees hung with calabashes, the traces of "Nanny Po" soon
vanished; appetite and sleep returned, nightly cramps were things
unknown, and a healthy glow overspread the clammy, corpse-like
skin. When the Lower Congo shall become the emporium of lawful
trade, the white face will find a sanatorium in these portals of
the Sierra del Crystal,--the vine will flourish, the soil will
produce the cereals as well as the fruits and vegetables of
Europe, and this region will become one of the "Paradises of
Africa."

The banzas of Congo-land show the constitution of native society,
which, as in Syria, and indeed in most barbarous and semi-
barbarous places, is drawn together less by reciprocal wants than
by the ties of blood. Here families cannot disperse, and thus
each hamlet is a single house, with its patriarch for president
and judge. When the population outgrows certain limits, instead
of being confounded with its neighbours, it adds a settlement
upon neighbouring ground, and removal is the work of a single
day. The towns are merely big villages, whose streets are
labyrinths of narrow pathways, often grass-grown, because each
man builds in his own way. Some translate the word "Banza" by
city, unaware that Central African people do not build cities.
Professor Smith rightly explains it "a village, which with them
means a paterfamilias, and his private dependants." So the
maligned Douville (i. 159)--"On donne le nom de banza à la ville
ou réside le chef d'une peuplade ou nation nègre. On l'attribue
aussi à l'enceinte que le chef ou souverain habite avec les
femmes et sa cour. Dans ce dernier sens le mot banza veut dire
palais du chef."

Our situation is charming, high enough to be wholesome, yet in a
sheltered valley, an amphitheatre opening to the south-east or
rainy quarter; the glorious trees, here scattered, there gathered
in clumps and impenetrable bosquets, show the exuberant fertility
of the soil. Behind and above the village rises a dwarf plateau,
rich with plantains and manioc. After the deserted state of the
river banks,--the effect of kidnapping,--we are surprised to find
so populous a region. Within cannon-shot, there are not less than
twelve villages, with a total, perhaps, of 2,400 souls.

Banza Nkaye, as usual uninclosed, contains some forty
habitations, which may lodge two hundred head. The tenements are
built upon platforms cut out of the hill slopes; and the make
proves that, even during the rains, there is little to complain
of climate. Ten of these huts belong to royalty, which lives upon
the lowest plane; and each wife has her own abode, whilst the
"senzallas" of the slaves cluster outside. The foundation is
slightly raised, to prevent flooding. The superstructure strikes
most travellers as having somewhat the look of a châlet, although
Proyart compares it with a large basket turned upside down. Two
strong uprights, firmly planted, support on their forked ends a
long strut-beam, tightly secured; the eaves are broad to throw
off the rain, and the neat thatch of grass, laid with points
upwards in regular courses, and kept in site by bamboo strips, is
renewed before the stormy season. The roof and walls are composed
of six screens; they are made upon the ground, often occupying
months, and they can be put together in a few minutes. The
material, which an old traveller says is of "leaves interwoven
not contemptibly with one another," is a grass growing everywhere
on the hills, plaited and attached to strips of cane or bamboo-
palm (Raphia vinifera); the gable "walls" are often a cheque-
pattern, produced by twining "tie-tie," "monkey rope," or
creepers, stained black, round the dull-yellow groundwork; and
one end is pierced for a doorway, that must not front the winds
and rains. It is a small square hole, keeping the interior dark
and cool; and the defence is a screen of cane-work, fastened with
a rude wooden latch. The flooring is hard, tamped clay, in the
centre of which the fire is laid; the cooking, however, is
confined to the broad eaves, or to the compound which, surrounded
with neat walls, backs the house. The interior is divided into
the usual "but" and "ben." The latter communicates with the
former by a passage, masked with a reed screen; it is the
sleeping-place and the store-room; and there is generally a
second wicket for timely escape. The only furniture consists of
mats, calabashes, and a standing bedstead of rude construction,
or a bamboo cot like those built at Lagos,--in fact, the four
bare walls suggest penury. But in the "small countries," as the
"landward towns" are called, where the raid and the foray are not
feared, the householder entrusts to some faithful slave large
stores of cloth and rum, of arms and gunpowder.

The abodes suggest those of our semi-barbarous ancestors, as
described by Holingshed, where earth mixed with lime formed the
floor; where the fire was laid to the wall; where the smoke,
which, besides hardening timber, was "expected to keep the good
man and his family from quake and fever, curled from the door;
and where the bed was a straw pallet, with a log of wood for a
pillow. But the Congoese is better lodged than we were before the
days of Queen Elizabeth; what are luxuries in the north, broad
beds and deep arm-chairs, would here be far less comfortable than
the mats, which serve for all purposes. I soon civilized my hut
with a divan, the Hindostani chabutarah, the Spanish estrada, the
"mud bank" or "bunting" of Sierra Leone, a cool earth-bench
running round the room, which then wanted only a glass window.
But no domestic splendour was required; life in the open air is
the life for the tropics: even in England a greater proportion of
it would do away with much neuralgia and similar complaints. And,
if the establishment be simple, it is also neat and clean: we
never suffered from the cimex and pulex of which Captain Tuckey
complains so bitterly, and the fourmis voyageuses (drivers),
mosquitoes, scorpions, and centipedes were unknown to us.

The people much resemble those of the Gaboon. The figure is well
formed, except the bosom, whose shape prolonged lactation,
probably upon the principle called Malthusian, soon destroys;
hence the first child is said to "make the breasts fall." The
face is somewhat broad and flat, the jowl wide, deep, and strong,
and the cerebellum is highly developed as in the Slav. The eye is
well opened, with thick and curly lashes, but the tunica
conjunctiva is rarely of a pure white; the large teeth are of
good shape and colour. Extensive tattoos appear on breasts,
backs, and shoulders; the wearers are generally slaves, also
known by scantier clothing, by darker skins, and by a wilder
expression of countenance. During their "country nursing," the
children run about wholly nude, except the coating of red wood
applied by the mothers, or the dust gathered from the ground. I
could not hear of the weaning custom mentioned by Merolla, the
father lifting the child by the arm, and holding him for a time
hanging in the air, "falsely believing that by those means he
will become more strong and robust." Whilst the men affect caps,
the women go bare-headed, either shaving the whole scalp, or
leaving a calotte of curly hair on the poll; it resembles the
Shúshah of Western Arabia and East Africa, but it is carried to
the fore like a toucan's crest. Some, by way of coquetterie,
trace upon the scalp a complicated network, showing the finest
and narrowest lines of black wool and pale skin: so the old
traveller tells us "the heads of those who aspire to glory in
apparel resemble a parterre, you see alleys and figures traced on
them with a great deal of ingenuity." The bosom, elaborately
bound downwards, is covered with a square bit of stuff, or a
calico pagne--most ungraceful of raiment-wrapped under the arms,
and extending to the knees:

          "In longitude'tis sorely scanty,
             But ‘tis their best, and they are vaunty."

The poor and the slaves content themselves with grass cloth. The
ornaments are brass earrings, beads and imitation coral; heavy
bangles and manillas of brass and copper, zinc and iron, loading
the ankles, and giving a dainty elephantine gait; the weight also
produces stout mollets, which are set off by bead-garters below
the knees. The leg, as amongst hill people generally, is finely
developed, especially amongst the lower orders: the "lady's"
being often lank and spindled, as in Paris and Naples, where the
carriage shrinks the muscles as bandages cramp Chinese feet.

In these hamlets women are far more numerous than men. Marriage
being expensive amongst the "Mfumo" or gentry, the houses are
stocked with Hagars, and the children inherit their father's rank
as Mwana Mfumos, opposed to Mwanangambe, labouring people, or
Wantu, slaves.

The missionaries found a regular system of "hand-fasting." Their
neophytes did not approve of marriage in facie ecclesiæ, "for
they must first be satisfied whether their wife will have
children; whether she will be diligent in her daily labour, and,
lastly, whether she will prove obedient, before they will marry
her. If they find her faulty in any of these points, they
immediately send her back again to her parents." The woman, not
being looked upon the worse for being returned into stores, soon
afterwards underwent another trial, perhaps with success.
Converts were fined nine crowns for such irregularities. "But,
oh!" exclaims a good father, "what pains do we take to bring them
to marry the lover, and how many ridiculous arguments and reasons
do they bring to excuse themselves from this duty and restraint."
He tells us how he refused absolution to a dying woman, unless
she compelled her daughter to marry a man with whom she was
"living upon trial." The mother answered wisely enough, "Father,
I will never give my daughter cause to curse me after I am dead,
by obliging her to wedlock where she does not fancy." Whereupon
the priest replied, "What! do you not stand more in awe of a
temporal than an eternal curse?" and, working upon the feelings
of the girl, who began to tremble and to weep, extorted from her
a promise to accept the "feigned husband." He adds,
"Notwithstanding this, some obstinate mothers have rather chosen
to die unconfessed, than to concern themselves with the marriage
of their daughters." Being obliged to attend Communion at Easter,
these temporary couples would part on the first day of Lent;
obtain absolution and, a week afterwards, either cohabit once
more or find otherpartners. The "indiscreet method of courtship,"
popularly known as "bundling," here existed, and was found by
Caillié amongst the southern Moors: "When everybody is at rest,
the man creeps into his intended's tent, and remains with her
till daybreak."

An energetic attempt was made to abolish polygamy, which, instead
of diminishing population as some sciolists pretend, caused the
country to swarm like maritime China. Father Carli, who also
dilates upon the evil practice of the sexes living together on
trial, ca. didly owns that his main difficulty lay in "bringing
the multitude to keep to one wife, they being wholly averse to
that law." Yet old travellers declare that when the missionaries
succeeded, the people "lived so Christian-like and lovingly
together, that the wife would suffer herself to be cut to pieces
rather than deceive her husband." Merolla, indeed, enlarges on
the constancy of women, whether white or black, when lawfully
married to their mates; and praises them for living together in
all manner of love and amity. "Hence may be learned what a
propensity the women have to chastity in these parts, many of
whom meet together on the first day of Lent, and oblige
themselves, under pain of severe penance, to a strict continence
till Easter." In case of adultery the husband could divorce the
wife; he was generally satisfied by her begging his pardon, and
by taking a slave from the lover. Widowed "countesses," proved
guilty of "immorality," suffered death by fire or sword. On the
other hand, the "princess" had a right to choose her husband;
but, as in Persia, the day of his splendid wedding was the last
of his liberty. He became a prisoner and a slave; he was
surrounded by spies; he was preceded by guards out of doors, and
at the least "écart" his head was chopped off and his paramour
was sold. These ladies amply revenged the servitude of their sex-
-

          "Asperius nihil est humili cum surgit in altum."

Rich women were allowed to support quasihusbands until they
became mothers; and the slaves of course lived together without
marriage. Since the days of the Expedition a change for the
better has come over the gentil sesso. The traveller is no longer
in the "dilemma of Frère Jean," and, except at the river-mouth
and at the adjacent villages, there is none of that officious
complaisance which characterizes every hamlet in the Gaboon
country. The men appear peculiarly jealous, and the women fearful
of the white face. Whenever we approached a feminine group, it
would start up and run away; if cooking ground-nuts, the boldest
would place a little heap upon the bottom of an upturned basket,
push it towards us and wave us off. The lowest orders will submit
to a kind of marriage for four fathoms of cloth; exactly double
the tariff paid in Tuckey's time (pp. 171-181); and this ratio
will apply to all other articles of living. Amongst themselves
nubile girls are not remarkably strict; but as matrons they are
rigid. The adulterer is now punished by a heavy fine, and, if he
cannot pay, his death, as on many parts of the Southern Coast, is
lawful to the husband.

The life is regular, and society is simple and patriarchal, as
amongst the Iroquois and Mohawks, or in the Shetlands two
centuries ago. The only excitement, a fight or a slave hunt, is
now become very rare. Yet I can hardly lay down the "curriculum
vitae" as longer than fifty-five years, and there are few signs
of great age. Merolla declares the women to be longer-lived than
the men. Gidi Mavunga, who told me that the Congo Expedition
visited their Banza when his mother was a child, can hardly be
forty-five, as his eldest son shows, and yet he looks sixty. The
people rise at dawn and, stirring up the fire, light the
cachimbos or large clay pipes which are rarely out of their
mouths. Tobacco (nsunza) grows everywhere and, when rudely cured,
it is sold in ringlets or twisted leaves; it is never snuffed,
and the only chaw is the Mákázo or Kola nut which grows all over
these hills; of these I bought 200 for 100 coloured porcelain
beads, probably paying treble the usual price. No food is eaten
at dawn, a bad practice, which has extended to the Brazil and the
Argentine Republic; but if a dram be procurable it is taken "por
la manana." The slave-women, often escorted by one of the wives,
and accompanied by the small girls, who must learn to work whilst
their brothers are idling with their rattles, set out with water-
pots balanced on their Astrachan wool, or with baskets for grain
and firewood slung by a head-strap to the back The free-born
remain at home, bathing and anointing with palm-oil, which
renders the skin smooth and supple, but leaves a peculiar aroma;
they are mostly cross enough till they have thoroughly shaken off
sleep, and the morning generally begins with scolding the slaves
or a family wrangle. I have seen something of the kind in Europe.

Visiting, chatting, and strolling from place to place, lead to
the substantial breakfast or first dinner between 9 and 10 A.M.
Meat rarely appears; river fish, fresh or sun-dried, is the usual
"kitchen," eaten with manioc, toasted maize, and peeled, roasted,
and scraped plantain: vegetables and palm-oil obtained by
squeezing the nut in the hands, are the staple dish, and beans
are looked upon rather as slaves' food. They have no rice and no
form of "daily bread:" I happened to take with me a few boxes of
"twice-baked," and this Mbolo was the object of every chiefs
ambition. "Coleworts" are noticed by Merolla as a missionary
importation; he tells us that they produce no seed; and are
propagated by planting the sprouts, which grow to a great height.
The greens, cabbages, spinach, and French beans, mentioned by
Tuckey, have been allowed to die out. Tea, coffee, sugar, and all
such exotics, are unappreciated, if not unknown; chillies, which
grow wild, enter into every dish, and the salt of native
manufacture, brown and earthy, is bought in little baskets.

Between breakfast and midday there is a mighty drink. The palm-
wine, here called "Msámbá," and on the lower river "Manjewa," is
not brought in at dawn, or it would be better. The endogen in
general use is the elai's, which is considered to supply a better
and more delicate liquor than the raphia. The people do not fell
the tree like the Kru-men, but prefer the hoop of "supple-jack"
affected by the natives of Fernando Po and Camarones. A leaf
folded funnel-wise, and inserted as usual in the lowest part of
the frond before the fruit forms, conveys the juice into the
calabashes, often three, which hang below the crown; and the
daily produce may be ten quarts. On the first day of tapping, the
sap is too sweet; it is best during the following week and, when
it becomes tart, no more must be drawn or the tree will be
injured. It cannot be kept; acetous fermentation sets in at once,
and presently it coagulates and corrupts. At Banana and Boma it
is particularly good; at Porto da Lenha it is half water, but the
agents dare not complain, for the reason which prevents them
offering "spliced grog" to the prepotent negro. Europeans enjoy
the taste, but dislike the smell of palm-wine; those in whom it
causes flatulence should avoid it, but where it agrees it is a
pleasant stimulant, pectoral, refreshing, and clearing the primæ
vice. Mixed with wine or spirits, it becomes highly intoxicating.
The rude beers, called by Merolla Guallo and by Tuckey (p. 120)
Baamboo, the Oualo of Douville, and the Pombeof East Africa,
mentioned by almost every traveller, are not now found on the
lower river.

About noon the slaves return from handling their trowel-shaped
iron hoes, and the "gentleman" takes a siesta proportioned to his
drink. The poorer classes sit at home weaving, spinning, or
threading beads, whilst the wives attend to household work,
prepare the meals, buy and sell, dig and delve. Europeans often
pity the sex thus "doomed to perform the most laborious
drudgery;" but it is a waste of sentiment. The women are more
accustomed to labour in all senses of the word, and the result is
that they equal their mates in strength and stature; they enjoy
robust health, and their children, born without difficulty, are
sturdy and vigorous. The same was the case amongst the primitive
tribes of Europe; Zamacola (Anthrop. Mem. ii. 38), assures us
that the Basque women were physically powerful as the men, with
whom they engaged in prize-fights.

The master awakes about 3 P.M. and smokes, visits, plays with his
children, and dawdles away his time till the cool sunset, when a
second edition of the first meal is served up. If there be
neither dance nor festival, all then retire to their bens, light
the fire, and sit smoking tobacco or bhang, with frequent
interruptions of palm wine or rum, till joined by their partners.
Douville (ii. 113), says that the Pangué or chanvre, "croît
naturellement dans lepays" I believe the questions to be still
sub judice, whether the intoxicating cannabis be or be not
indigenous to Africa as well as to Asia; and whether smoking was
not known in the Old World, as it certainly was in the New,
before tobacco was introduced. The cannabis Indica was the
original anæsthetic known to the Arabs and to civilized Orientals
many centuries before the West invented ether and chloroform.

Our landlord has two wives, but one is a mother and will not
rejoin him till her child can carry a calabash of water unaided.
To avoid exciting jealousy he lives in a hut apart, surrounded by
seven or eight slaves, almost all of them young girls. This
regular life is varied by a little extra exertion at seed-time
and harvest, by attending the various quitandas or markets of the
country side, and by an occasional trip to "town" (Boma). When
the bush is burning, all sally out with guns, clubs, and dogs, to
bring home "beef." And thus they dwell in the presence of their
brethren, thinking little of to-day, and literally following the
precept, "Take no thought for the morrow." As the old missioners
testify, they have happy memories, their tempers are mild, and
quarrels rarely lead to blows; they are covetous, but not
miserly; they share what they have, and they apply the term
"close-fist" to the European who gives "nuffin for nuffin."

The most superstitious of men, they combine the two extremes of
belief and unbelief; they have the firmest conviction in their
own tenets, whilst those of others flow off their minds like
water from a greased surface. The Catholic missioners laboured
amongst them for nearly two hundred years; some of these
ecclesiastics were ignorant and bigoted as those whom we still
meet on the West African Coast, but not a few were earnest and
energetic, scrupulous and conscientious, able and learned as the
best of our modern day. All did not hurry over their superficial
tasks like the Neapolitan father Jerome da Montesarchio, who
baptized 100,000 souls; and others, who sprinkled children till
their arms were tired. Many lived for years in the country,
learning the language and identifying themselves with their
flocks. Yet the most they ever effected was to make their
acolytes resemble the Assyrians whom Shalmaneser transplanted to
Assyria, who "feared the Lord and served their graven images" (2
Kings, xvii. 33-41). Their only traces are the word "Deus,"
foully perverted like the Chinese "joss;" and an occasional
crucifix which is called cousa de branco--white man's thing.
Tuckey was justified in observing at Nokki that the crucifixes,
left by missioners, were strangely mixed with native fetishes,
and that the people seemed by no means improved by the muddle of
Christian and Pagan idolatry.

The system is at once complicated and unsettled. There is,
apparently, the sensus numinis; the vague deity being known as
Nzambi or Njambi, which the missionaries translated into God, as
Nganna Zambi--Lord Zambi. Merolla uses Zambiabungù, and in the
vocabulary, Zabiambunco, for the "Spirit above" (Zambi-a-npungo):
Battel tells us that the King of Loango was called "Sambee and
Pango, which mean God." The Abbé Proyart terms the Supreme
"Zambi," and applies Zambi-a-n-pongou to a species of malady
brought on by perjury. He also notices the Manichæan idea of
Zambi-a-Nbi, or bad-God, drawing the fine distinction of European
belief in a deity supremely good, who permits evil without
participating in it. But the dualism of moral light and darkness,
noticed by all travellers,[FN#25] is a bonâ fide existence with
Africans, and the missionaries converted the Angolan "Cariapemba"
into the Aryo-Semitic Devil.

Zambi is the Anyambia of the Gaboon country, a vox et præterea
nihil. Dr. Livingstone ("First Expedition," p. 641), finds the
word general amongst the Balonda, or people of Lunda: with the
"Cazembes" the word is "Pambi," or "Liza," and "O Muata Cazembe"
(p. 297) mentions the proverb, "Ao Pambi e ao Mambi (the King)
nada iguala." In the "Vocabulario da lingua Cafrial" we see (p.
469) that "Murungo" means God or thunder. It is the rudimental
idea of the great Zeus, which the Greeks worked out, the God of
Æther, the eternal, omnipotent, and omniscient, "who was, who is,
and who is to come," the Unknown and Unknowable, concerning whom
St. Paul quoted Aristæus on Mars' Hill. But the African brain
naturally confused it with a something gross and material: thus
Nzambi-a-Npungu is especially the lightning god. Cariambemba is,
properly, Kadi Mpemba or Ntangwa, the being that slays mankind:
Merolla describes it as an "abominable idol;" and the word is
also applied to the owl, here as in Dahome the object of
superstition. I could trace no sign of worship paid to the sun
(Tangwa or Muinyi), but there are multitudes of minor gods,
probably deified ghosts, haunting particular places. Thus,
"Simbi" presides over villages and the "Tadi Nzazhi," or
Lightning Rock, near Boma; whilst the Yellala is the abode of an
evil being which must be propitiated by offerings. As usual
amongst Fetish worshippers, the only trace of belief in a future
state is faith in revenants--returning men or ghosts.

Each village has an idol under a little wall-less roof,
apparently an earthern pot of grease and feathers, called
Mavunga. This may be the Ovengwa of the "Camma people," a
"terrible catcher and eater of men, a vampire of the dead;
personal, whilst the Ibamba are indistinct; tall as a tree;
wandering through the woods, ever winking; whereas the Greek
immortals were known by their motionless eyelids. "Ngolo Wanga"
is a man-shaped figure of unpainted wood, kept in the hut. Every
house is stuck inside and outside with idols and fetishes,
interpreters of the Deity, each having its own jurisdiction over
lightning, wind, and rain; some act as scarecrows; others teach
magic, avert evils, preserve health and sight, protect cattle,
and command fish in the sea or river. They are in all manner of
shapes, strings of mucuna and poison-beans; carved images stuck
over with feathers and tassels; padlocks with a cowrie or a
mirror set in them; horns full of mysterious "medicine;" iron-
tipped poles; bones; birds' beaks and talons; skins of snakes and
leopards, and so forth. We shall meet them again upon our
travels.

No man walks abroad without his protecting charms, Nkisi or
Nkizi, the Monda of the Gaboon, slung en baudrier, or hanging
from his shoulder. The portable fetish of our host is named "Báká
chyá Mázínga: Professor Smith (p. 323) makes "Mázengá" to be
"fetishes for the detection of theft." These magicæ vanitates are
prophylactics against every evil to which man's frailty is heir.
The missioners were careful not to let their Congo converts have
anything from their bodies, like hair or nail parings, for fear
lest it be turned to superstitious use; and a beard (the price of
conversion) was refused to the "King of Micocco." Like the idols,
these talismans avert ill luck, bachelorhood, childlessness,
poverty, and ill health; they are equally powerful against the
machinations of foes, natural or supernatural; against wild
beasts, the crocodile, the snake, and the leopard; and against
wounds of lead and steel. They can produce transformation;
destroy enemies; cause rain or drought, fine or foul weather;
raise and humble, enrich and impoverish countries; and, above all
things, they are sovereign to make man brave in battle. Shortly
before we entered Banza Nkaye a propitiation of the tutelary gods
took place: Coxswain Deane had fired an Enfield, and the report
throughout the settlement was that our guns would kill from the
river-bank.

The Nganga of Congo-land, the Mganga of the Wasawahili and the
Uganga of the Gaboon, exactly corresponds with M. Michelet's
Sorcière of the Middle Ages, "physicienne," that is doctor for
the people and poisoner; we cannot, however, apply in Africa the
adage of Louis XIII.'s day, "To one wizard ten thousand witches."
In the "Muata Cazembe" (pp. 57, et passim) we read "O Ganga or O
Surjão;" the magician is there called "Muroi," which, like
"Fite," is also applied to magic. The Abbé Proyart opines of his
professional brother, "he is ignorant as the rest of the people,
but a greater rogue,"--a pregnant saying. Yet here "the man of
two worlds" is not l'homme de révolution, and he suffices for the
small "spiritual wants" of his flock. He has charge of the
"Kizila," the "Chigella" of Merolla and the "Quistilla" of James
Barbot--Anglicè putting things in fetish, which corresponds with
the Tahitian tapu or taboo. The African idea is, that he who
touches the article, for instance, gold on the eastern coast of
Guinea, will inevitably come to grief. When "fetish is taken
off," as by the seller of palm wine who tastes it in presence of
the buyer, the precaution is evidently against poison. Many of
these "Kizila" are self-imposed, for instance a water melon may
never enter Banza Nokki, and, though slaves may eat bananas upon
a journey, the master may not. Others refuse the flesh of a fowl
until it has been tasted by a woman. These rules are delivered to
the young, either by the fetishman or the parents, and, when
broken, they lead to death, doubtless often the consequence of
strong belief. The Nganga superintends, as grand inquisitor, the
witch-ordeal, by causing the accused to chew red-wood and other
drugs in this land ferax venenorum. Park was right: "By
witchcraft is meant pretended magic, affecting the lives and
healths of persons, in other words it is the administering of
poison." European "Narratives of Sorcery and Magic" exactly
explain the African idea, except in one point: there the witch
"only suffered from not being able to prove to Satan how much she
burned to suffer for his sake;" here she has no Satan. Both
European and African are the firmest believers in their own
powers; they often confess, although knowing that the confession
leads directly to torture and death, with all the diabolical
ingenuity of which either race was capable. In Tuckey's time a
bargain was concluded by breaking a leaf or a blade of grass, and
this rite it was "found necessary to perform with the seller of
every fowl:" apparently it is now obsolete. Finally, although the
Fetish man may be wrong, the fetish cannot err. If a contretemps
occur, a reason will surely be found; and, should the "doctor"
die, he has fallen a victim to a rival or an enemy more powerful
than himself.

A striking institution of the Congo region is that of the
Jinkemba, which, curious to say, is unnoticed by Tuckey. It is
not, however, peculiar to the Congo; it is the "Semo" of the
Susus or Soosoos of the Windward Coast, and the "Purrah" of the
Sherbro-Balloms or Bulloms, rendered Anglicè by "free-masonry."
The novitiate there lasts for seven or eight years, and whilst
the boys live in the woods food is placed for them by their
relations: the initiation, indeed, appears to be especially
severe. Here all the free-born males are subjected to the wrongly
called "Mosaic rite." Merolla tells us that the wizards
circumcise children on the eighth day (like the Jews), not out of
regard for the law, but with some wicked end and purpose of their
own. At any time between the ages of five and fifteen (eight to
ten being generally preferred), boys are taken from their parents
(which must be an exceeding comfort to the latter), and for a
native year, which is half of ours, they must dwell in the Vivála
ya Ankimba, or Casa de Feitiço, like that which we passed before
reaching Banza Nokki. They are now instructed by the Nganga in
the practices of their intricate creed; they are taught the
mysteries under solemn oaths, and, in fine, they are prepared for
marriage. Upon the Congo they must eat no cooked food, living
wholly upon roots and edibles; but they are allowed to enter the
villages for provisions, and here they often appear armed with
matchets, bayonets, and wooden swords. Their faces and necks,
bodies and arms, are ghastly white with chalk or ashes; the hair
is left in its original jet, and the dingy lower limbs contrast
violently with the ghostlike absence of colour above. The dress
is a crinoline of palm-fronds, some fresh and green, others sere
and brown; a band of strong mid-rib like a yellow hoop passed
round the waist spreads out the petticoat like a farthingale, and
the ragged ends depend to the knees; sometimes it is worn under
the axillae, but in all cases the chalked arms must be outside.
The favourite attitude is that of the Rhodian Colossus, with the
elbows bent to the fore and the hands clasped behind the head. To
increase their prestige of terror, the Jinkomba abjure the use of
human language, and, meeting a stranger, ejaculate with all their
might, "Hár-rr-rr-rr-rr!" and "Jojolo! Jojolo!" words mystic and
meaningless. When walking in procession, they warn the profane
out of the way by striking one slip of wood upon another. They
are wilder in appearance than the Hindu Jogi or Sanyasi, who also
affects the use of ashes, but neglects that of the palm-thatch.
It is certainly enough to startle a man of impressible nerves--
one, for instance, who cannot enter a room without a side-long
glance at an unexpected coffin--to see these hideous beings
starting with their savage cry from the depths of an African
forest. Evidently, also, such is the intention of the costume.

Contrasting the Congoese with the Goanese, we obtain a measure of
difference between the African and the Asiatic. Both were
Portuguese colonies founded about the same time, and under very
similar circumstances; both were catechized and Christianized in
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; both had governors and
palaces, bishops and cathedrals, educational establishments and a
large staff of missioners. But Asia was not so inimical, mentally
or bodily, to the European frame as Africa; the Goanese throve
after a fashion, the mixed breed became the staple population,
and thus it continues till this day. On the other hand the
Hamitic element so completely asserted its superiority over
insititious Japheth, that almost every trace has disappeared in a
couple of centuries. There lingers, it is true, amongst the
Congoese of the coast-regions a something derived from the olden
age, still distinguishing them from the wild people of the
interior, and at times they break out naturally in the tongue of
their conquerors. But it requires a practised eye to mark these
minutiae.

The Congoese are passably brave amongst themselves; crafty and
confined in their views, they carry "knowledge of life" as far as
it is required, and their ceremonious intercourse is remarkable
and complicated. They have relapsed into the analphabetic state
of their ancestors; they are great at eloquence; and, though
without our poetical forms, they have a variety of songs upon all
subjects and they improvise panegyrics in honour of chiefs and
guests. Their dances have been copied in Europe. Without ever
inventing the modes of the Greeks, which are still preserved by
the Hindoos, they have an original music, dealing in harmony
rather than in tune, and there are motives, of course all in the
minor key, which might be utilized by advanced peoples; these
sons of nature would especially supply material for that
recitative which Verdi first made something better than a vehicle
for dialogue. Hence the old missioners are divided in opinion;
whilst some find the sound of the "little guitar," with strings
of palm-thread and played with the thumbs of both hands, "very
low, but not ungrateful," others speak of the "hellish harmony"
of their neophytes' bands. The instrument alluded to is the
nsambi or nchambi; four strings are attached to bent sticks
springing from the box; it is the wambi of the Shekyanis (Du
Chaillu, chap. xii), but the bridge, like that of our violin,
gives it an evident superiority, and great care and labour are
required in the maker.

This form of the universal marimba is a sounding-board of light
wood, measuring eight inches by five; some eight to eleven iron
keys, flat strips of thin metal, pass over an upright bamboo
bridge, fixed by thongs to the body, and rest at the further end
upon a piece of skin which prevents "twanging." The tocador or
performer brings out soft and pleasing tones with the sides of
the thumbs and fingers. They have drums and the bell-like cymbals
called chingufu: M. Valdez (ii. 221 et passim), writes
"Clincufo," which he has taken from a misprint in Monteiro and
Gamitto. The chingufu of East Africa is a hollow box performed
upon with a drum-stick of caoutchouc. The pipes are wooden tubes
with sundry holes and a bridge below the mouth-piece; they are
played over edge like our flutes. The "hellish harmonies" mostly
result from an improvised band, one strumming the guitar, another
clapping the sticks, and the third beating the bell-shaped irons
that act as castanets.

The language of the people on and near the Congo River is called
"Fiote," a term used by old travellers to denote a black man as
opposed to Mundele (white), and also applied to things, as
Bondefiote or black baft. James Barbot (p. 512) gives specimens
of some thirty-three words and the numerals in the "Angoy
language, spoken at Cabinde," which proves to be that of the
River. Of these many are erroneous: for instance, "nova," to
sleep (ku-núa); "sursu," a hen (nsusu): while "fina," scarlet;
"bayeta," baize; and "fumu," tobacco, are corrupted Portuguese. A
young lad, "muleche" (moleque), Father Merolla's "molecchas, a
general name among the negroes," for which Douville prefers
"moleke" (masc.) and "molecka" (fem.), is applied only to a
slave, and in this sense it has extended west of the Atlantic. In
the numerals, "wale" (2) should be "kwále," "quina" (4) "kúyá,"
and "evona" (9) "iowá." We may remark the pentenary system of the
Windward Coast and the Gaboon negroes; e.g., 6 is "sambano"
("mose" and "tano" 1 + 5), and 7 is "sambwale" ("mose" and
"kwale") and so forth, whilst "kumi" (10), possibly derived from
neighbouring races, belongs to the decimal system.

The first attempt at a regular vocabulary was made by Douville,
(vol. iii. p. 261): "Vocabidaire de la Langue Mogialoua, et des
deux dialectcs principaux Abunda (Angolan) et Congo" (Fiote); it
is also very incorrect. The best is that published in Appendix
No. I. to the Congo Expedition, under the name of "Embomma;" we
may quote the author's final remark: "This vocabulary I do not
consider to be free from mistakes which I cannot now find time to
discover. All the objects of the senses are, however, correct."
M. Parrot showed me a MS. left at Banana Point by a French
medical officer, but little could be said in its praise. Monteiro
and Gamitto (pp. 479-480) give seventeen "Conguez" words, and the
Congo numerals as opposed to the "Bundo."

The Fiote is a member of the great South African family; some
missionaries argued, from its beauty and richness, that it had
formerly been written, but of this there is no proof. M. Malte-
Brun supposes the Congoese dialects to indicate "a meditative
genius foreign to the habitual condition of these people,"
ignoring the fact that the most complicated and laborious tongues
are those of barbarous nations, whilst modern civilization in
variably labours to simplify. It is copious; every place, tree,
shrub, or plant used by the people has its proper name; it is
harmonious and pleasing, abounding in vowels and liquids,
destitute of gutturals, and sparing in aspirates and other harsh
consonants. At the same time, like the rest of the family, it is
clumsy and unwieldy, whilst immense prolixity and frequent
repetition must develope the finer shades of meaning. Its
peculiarity is a greater resemblance to the Zanzibarian
Kisawahili than any tongue known to me on the Western Coast:
often a question asked by the guide, as "Njia hápá?" (Is this the
road?) and "Jina lako nani?" (What's your name?) was perfectly
intelligible to me.The latter is a fair specimen of the peculiar
euphony which I have noticed in "Zanzibar" (vol. i. chap. x.). We
should expect "Jina jako," whereas this would offend the native
ear. It requires a scholar-like knowledge of the tongue to apply
the curious process correctly, and the self-sufficient critic
should beware how he attempts to correct quotations from the
native languages.

I need hardly say that the speakers are foul-mouthed as the
Anglo-African of S'a Leone and the "English" Coast; they borrow
the vilest words from foreign tongues; a spade is called a spade
with a witness, and feminine relatives are ever the subject of
abuse; a practice which, beginning in Europe with the Slav race,
extends more or less throughout the Old World. I specify the Old
World, because the so-called "Indians" of North and South America
apparently ignore the habit except where they have learned it
from Southern Europe. Finally, cursing takes the place of
swearing, the latter being confined, I believe, to the
Scandinavians, the Teutons, and their allied races.

Nothing can be more unpleasant than the Portuguese spoken by the
Congoman. He transposes the letters lacking the proper sounds in
his own tongue; for instance, "sinholo" (sinyolo) is "senhor;"
"munyele" or "minyele" is "mulher;" "O luo" stands in lieu of "O
rio," (the river); "rua" of "lua" (luna), and so forth. For to-
morrow you must use "cedo" as "manhaa" would not be understood,
and the prolixity of the native language is transferred to the
foreign idiom. For instance, if you ask, "What do you call this
thing?" the paraphrase to be intelligible would be, "The white
man calls this thing so-and-so; what does the Fiote call this
thing?" sixteen words for six. I have elsewhere remarked how
Englishmen make themselves unintelligible by transferring to
Hindostani and other Asiatic tongues the conciseness of their own
idiom, in which as much is understood as is expressed. We can
well understand the outraged feelings with which poor Father
Cannecattim heard his sermons travestied by the Abundo negroes do
Paiz or linguists, the effect of which was to make him compose
his laborious dictionary in Angolan, Latin, and Portuguese. His
wrath in reflecting upon "estos homems ou estos brutos" drives
the ecclesiastic to imitate the ill-conditioned layman who
habitually addresses his slave as "O bruto! O burro! O bicho! O
diabo!" when he does not apply the more injurious native terms as
"Konongwako" and "Vendengwandi." It is only fair to confess that
no race is harsher in its language and manners to its "black
brethren," than the liberated Africans of the English
settlements.

At Banza Nokki I saw the first specimen of a Mundongo slave girl.
The tribe is confounded with the Mandingo (Mandenga) Moslems by
the author of the "Introduction to Tuckey's Journey" (p. Ixxxi.);
by Tuckey (p. 141), who also calls them Mandonzo (p. 135), and by
Prof. Smith (p. 315); but not by the accurate Marsden (p. 389).
She described her tribe as living inland to the east and north-
east of the Congo peoples, distant two moons--a detail, of
course, not to be depended upon. I afterwards met many of these
"captives," who declared that they had been sold after defeats: a
fine, tall race, one is equal to two Congo men, and the boldness
of demeanour in both sexes distinguishes them from other
serviles. Apparently under this name there are several tribes
inhabiting lands of various elevations; some are coloured café au
lait, as if born in a high and healthy region; others are almost
jet black with the hair frightfully "wispy," like a mop.
Generally the head is bullet-shaped, the face round, the features
negroid, not negro, and the hands and feet large but not ill-
shaped. Some again have the Hausa mark, thread-like perpendicular
cuts from the zygomatic arches running parallel with the chin; in
other cases the stigmata are broad beauty-slashes drawn
transversely across the cheeks to the jawbone, and forming with
the vertical axis an angle of 45°. All are exceedingly fond of
meat, and, like the Kru-men, will devour it semi-putrified. The
Congoese declare them to be "papagentes" (cannibals), a term
generally applied by the more advanced to the bushmen living
beyond their frontier, and useful to deter travellers and
runaways. They themselves declare that they eat the slain only
after a battle--the sentimental form of anthropophagy. The slave-
girl produced on this occasion was told to sing; after receiving
some beads, without which she would not open her lips, we were
treated to a "criard" performance which reminded me of the
"heavenly muse" in the Lake Regions of Central Africa.

The neighbours of the Mundonoros are the Mubangos, the Muyanji
(Muyanzi?), and the Mijolo, by some called Mijere. Possibly
Tuckey alludes to the Mijolos when he tells us (p. 141), that the
"Mandingo" slave whom he bought on the Upper River, called his
country "M'intolo." I have seen specimens of the three, who are
so similar in appearance that a stranger distinguishes them only
by the tattoo. No. 1 gashes a line from the root of the hair to
the commissure of the nose: No. 2 has a patch of cuts, five in
length and three in depth, extending from the bend of the eye-
brow across the zygomata to the ear, and No. 3 wears cuts across
the forehead. I was shown a sword belonging to the Mijolo: all
declared that it is of native make; yet it irresistibly suggested
the old two-handed weapon of Europe, preserved by the Bedawin and
the Eastern Arabs, who now mostly derive it from Sollingen. The
long, straight, flexible, and double-edged blade is neatly
mounted by the tang in a handle with a pommel, or terminating
knob, of ivory; others prefer wood. The guard is very peculiar, a
thin bar of iron springing from the junction of blade and grip,
forming an open oval below, and prolonged upwards and downwards
in two branches parallel with the handle, and protecting the
hand. They dance, brandishing this weapon, according to the
slaves, in the presence of their princes.

I inquired vainly about the Anzicos, Anzichi, Anzigui, Anzigi, or
Anziki, whose king, Makoko, the ruler of thirteen kingdoms, was
placed by Dapper north-west of Monemugi (Unyamwezi), and whom
Pigafetta (p. 79) located close to the Congo, and near his
northern Lake. "It is true that there are two lakes, not,
however, lying east and west (Ptolemy's system), but north and
south of each other, and about 400 miles asunder. The first is in
south latitude 12°. The Nile, issuing from it, does not,
according to Odoardo (Duarte Lopez), sink in the earth nor
conceal itself, but, after flowing northwards, it enters the
second lake, which is 220 miles in extent, and is called by the
natives a sea." If the Tanganyika shall be found to connect with
the Luta Nzige or Mwutan Lake, this passage will be found
wonderfully truthful. The Tanganyika's southern versant is now
placed in south latitude 8° 46' 54", or in round numbers 9°, and
the other figures are nearly as correct. James Barbot causes
these Anzikos to wander "almost through all Africa," from Nubia
to the Congo, like negro Bedawin or Scythians; the common food
was man's flesh fattened for the market and eaten by the
relatives, even of those who died diseased. Their "capital,"
Monsol, was built by D'Anville, close to the equator in the very
centre of Africa (east longitude Greenwich, 26° 20') hard by
Douville's "Yanvo;" and the "Opener of Inner Africa in 1852" (pp.
3, 4, 69), with equal correctness, caused them to "occupy the
hills opposite to Sundi, and extending downwards to Emboma below
the Falls."

Mr. Cooley ("Ocean Highways," June, 1873), now explains the word
as A-nzi-co, "people not of the country," barbarians, bushmen.
This kind of information, derived from a superficial knowledge of
an Angolan vocabulary, is peculiarly valueless. I doubt that a
negative can thus be suffixed to a genitive. The name may simply
have been A-nziko (man) of the back-settlement. In 1832, Mr.
Cooley writes: "the nation of the Anziko (or Ngeco):" in 1845,
"the Anziki, north of Congo:" in 1852, "the Micoco or king of the
Anziko"--und so weiter. What can we make of this geographical
Proteus? The first Congo Expedition who covered all the ground
where the Creator of the Great Central Sea places the Anzikos,
never heard of them--nor will the second.

Not being then so well convinced of the nonexistence of the
Giaghi, Giagas, Gagas, or Jagas as a nation, I inquired as vainly
for those terrible cannibals who had gone the way of all the
Anzikos. According to Lopez, Battel, Merolla, and others, they
"consider human flesh as the most delicious food, and goblets of
warm blood as the most exquisite beverage." This act on the part
of savage warriors might have been a show of mere bravado. But I
cannot agree with the editor of Tuckey's "Narrative," "From the
character and disposition of the native African, it may fairly be
doubted whether, throughout the whole of this great continent, a
negro cannibal has any existence." The year 1816 was the Augustan
age of outrageous negrophilism and equally extreme anti-
Napoleonism. "If a French general" (Introduction, p. i),
"brutally seized the person and papers of a British naval
officer, on his return from a voyage of discovery," who, I would
ask, plundered and destroyed the fine botanical collection made
at risk of health and life, during fifteen months of hard labour,
by the learned Palisot de Beauvois, author of the "Flore
d'Oware?" The "Reviewer" of Douville (p. 177) as sensibly
declares that cannibalism "has hitherto continually retired
before the investigation of sober-minded, enlightened men," when,
after a century or two of intercourse with white traders, it
still flourishes on the Bonny and New Calabar Rivers.

We are glad to be rid of the Jagas, a subject which has a small
literature of its own; the savage race appeared everywhere like a
"deus ex machina," and it became to Intertropical Africa what the
"Lost Tribes" were and even now are in some cases, to Asia and
not rarely to Europe. Even the sensible Mr. Wilson ("West
Africa," p. 238) has "no doubt of the Jagas being the same people
with the more modernly discovered Pangwes" (Fans); and this is
duly copied by M. du Chaillu (chap. viii.). M. Valdez (ii. 150)
more sensibly records that the first Jaga established in
Portuguese territory was called Colaxingo (Kolashingo), and that
his descendants were named "Jagas," like the Egyptian Pharaohs,
the Roman Ceesars, the Austrian Kaisers, and the Russian Czars:
he also reminds us (p. 150) that the chief of the Bangalas
inhabiting Cassange (= Kasanjí) was the Jaga or ruler par
excellence.

Early on the morning of September 11, I was aroused by a "bob" in
the open before us. We started up, fearing that some death by
accident had taken place: the occasion proved, on the contrary,
to be one of ushering into life. The women were assembled in a
ring round the mother, and each howled with all the might of her
lungs, either to keep off some evil spirit or to drown the
sufferer's cries. In some parts of Africa, the Gold Coast for
instance, it is considered infamous for a woman thus to betray
her pain, but here we are amongst a softer race.





                          Chapter XII.

                  Preparations for the March.



Gidi Mavunga, finding me in his power, began, like a thoroughbred
African, to raise obstacles. We must pass through the lands of
two kings, the Mfumo ma Vivi (Bibbie of Tuckey) and the Mfumu
Nkulu or Nkuru (Cooloo). The distance was short, but it would
occupy five days, meaning a week. Before positively promising an
escort he said it would be necessary to inspect my outfit; I at
once placed it in the old man's hands, the better to say, "This
is not mine, ask Gidi Mavunga for it."

My patience had been severely tried on first arrival at Banza
Nokki. From ruler to slave every one begged for cloth and rum,
till I learned to hate the names of these necessaries. Besides
the five recognized kings of the district, who wore black cloth
coats, all the petty chiefs of the neighbourhood flocked in,
importunate to share the spoils. A tariff, about one-third higher
than at Boma, was set upon every article and, if the most
outrageous price was refused, the seller, assuming an insipid
expression of countenance, declared that great white men
travelled with barrels, not with bottles of aguardente, and that
without liberality it would be impossible to leave the village.
Nsundi, the settlement above the Falls, was a journey of two
moons, and none of the ten "kings" on the way would take less
than Nessudikira's "dash." Congo Grande, as the people call São
Salvador, was only four marches to the E.S.E.; the road, however,
was dangerous, and an escort of at least fifty men would be
necessary.

But when I was "upon the head of Gidi Mavunga" matters changed
for the better. Shortly after he took charge, one Tetu Mayella,
"King" of Neprat, accompanied by some twenty followers, entered
the village with a view to the stranger's rum: by referring them
to the new owner they perforce contented themselves after three
hours' "parliamenting," with a single bottle. The ruler of Nokki
wanted, besides gin and cloth, a pair of shoes for his poor feet,
which looked clad in alligator's skin; I referred him to his
father, and he got little by that motion.

On the evening of September 10, Gidi Mavunga, who had been
visiting his "small country," returned, and declared himself
ready to set out. He placed before me ten heaps, each of as many
ground-nuts, and made me understand that, for visiting Nsundi and
S. Salvador, he would take fifty short "pieces" (of cloth) for
himself and the same number for his slaves; one moiety to be
advanced before the first trip to the Cataracts and the rest to
follow. For half my store of beads he undertook to ration his
men; a work which would have given us endless trouble. As I
agreed to all his conditions he promised to move on the next day-
-without the least intention of carrying out any one of his
conditions.

These people are rich, and not easily tempted to hard work.
During the French émigration, the district of Banza Nokki drove
slaves to the value of 60,000 dollars per annum, and the dollar
is to the African the pound sterling of Europe. It is one of the
hundred out-stations which supplied the main dépôts, Boma and
Porto da Lenha. Small parties went out at certain seasons
provided with rum, gunpowder, and a little cloth; and either
bought the "chattels" or paid earnest money, promising to settle
the whole debt at their villages. Gidi Mavunga, like most of the
elders, was perfectly acquainted with the routes to Nsundi, S.
Salvador, and other frontier places, where the bush people
brought down their criminals and captives for barter. Beyond
those points his information was all from hearsay.

Besides the large stores in their "small countries," the middle-
men have a multitude of retainers, who may at any moment be
converted into capital. Yet "slave" is a term hardly applicable
to such "chattels," who, as a rule, are free as their lords. They
hold at their disposal all that the master possesses, except his
wives; they sleep when they choose, they work when they like;
they attend to their private affairs, and, if blamed or punished,
they either run away, as at Zanzibar, to their own country, or
they take sanctuary with some neighbouring Mfumo, who, despite
the inevitable feud, is bound by custom to protect them. Cold and
hunger, the torments of the poor in Europe, are absolutely
unknown to them, and their condition contrasts most favourably
with the "vassus" and the "servus" of our feudal times. Their
wives and children are their own: the master cannot claim the
tyrannous marriage-rights of the baron; no "wedding-dish" is
carried up to the castle; nor is the eldest born "accounted the
son of the serf's lord, for he perchance it was who begat him."
The brutality of slavery, I must repeat, is mainly the effect of
civilization. "I shall never forget," says Captain Boteler, "the
impatient tosses of the head and angry looks displayed by a--
lady--when the subject was canvassed. ‘A negro, a paltry negro,
ever understand or conform to the social tie of wedlock! No,
never! never!' Yet this lady was an English-woman." And when
James Barbot's supercargo begins to examine his negroes like
cattle he is begged, for decency's sake, to do it in a private
place, "which shows these blacks are very modest." It rather
proved the whites to be the reverse.

At 7.20 A.M. on September 11, the "moleques" seized our luggage,
and we suddenly found ourselves on the path. Gidi Mavunga,
wearing pagne and fetish-bag, and handling a thin stick in which
two bulges had been cut, led us out of Banza Nokki, and took a
S.S.W. direction. The uneven ground was covered with a bitter
tomato (nenga) and with the shrub which, according to Herodotus,
bears wool instead of fruit. I sent home specimens of this
gossypium arboreum, which everywhere grows wild and which is
chiefly used for wicks. There is scant hope of cotton-culture
amongst a people whose industry barely suffices for ground-nuts.
The stiff clay soil everywhere showed traces of iron, and the
guide pointed out a palm-tree which had been split by the
electric fluid, and a broad, deep furrow, several feet long,
ending in a hole. The Nzazhi (lightning) is as dangerous and as
much dreaded on these hills as in Uganda: the south-west trade
meets the land wind from the north-east; strata of clouds in
different states of electricity combine, says the popular theory,
to produce the thunder and lightning which accompany rain like
the storms upon the mountains of Yemen. After 30' (- 1.50 miles)
we reached our destination, Banza Chinguvu, the head-quarters of
Gidi Mavunga. As we entered it he pointed to a pot full of greasy
stuff under a dwarf shed, saying, "Isso è meu Deus:" it was in
fact his Baka chya Mazinga. Beyond it stood the temple of Nbambi;
two suspended pieces of wood, cut in the shape of horns, bore
monkey skins on both sides of a dead armadillo, an animal
supposed to attract lightning when alive, and to repel it after
death.

The Banza was beautifully situated on a dwarf platform, catching
the full force of the sea-breeze, and commanding to the north-
west a picturesque glimpse of the

               "waters rippling, flowing,
           Flashing along the valley to the sea;"

a mountain tarn representing the mighty stream. On the right lay
fields, dotted with papaw-trees, and plantations of maize and
manioc, thur (Cajanus), and sweet potatoes, a vegetable now
common, but not noticed by Tuckey; on the left, a deep ravine,
densely forested with noble growth, and supplying the best of
water, divides it from Tadi ja Mfimo, a pile of rock on the
opposite hill-side; here lay the Itombo village, belonging to
Gidi Mavunga's eldest son. Beyond it, the tree-clad heights,
rolling away into the distance, faded from blue-brown to the
faintest azure, hardly to be distinguished from the empyrean
above. The climate of these breezy uplands is superior even to
that of Banza Nokki, which lies some 170 feet lower; and the
nights are sensibly cooler.

A few fathoms of altitude here make a surprising difference. The
little valleys with their chalet-like huts reminded me of the
Maroro and Kisanga basins, in the sister formation, the East
African Ghats, but now we have a hill-climate without ague and
fever. Our parallel is that of Yorukan Abokuta, where the people
are anti-oeci, both being about 6° distant from the Line,-- those
north, these south. There the bush is fetid, and the clammy air
gives a sense of deadly depression; here the atmosphere is pure,
the land is open, and there is enjoyment in the mere sense of
life. The effete matter in the blood and the fatty degeneration
of the muscles, the results of inactivity, imperfect respiration,
and F. Po, were soon consumed by the pure oxygen of the highland
air. I can attribute this superiority of the Congo region only to
the labours of an old civilization now obsolete; none but a thick
and energetic population could have cleared off the forest, which
at one time must have covered their mountains.

The Banza consists of about fifty cottages, which are being new-
thatched before the rains, and the population may number 300. Our
host assigned to us one of his own huts; it fronted west, and was
a facsimile of that which we had just left. The old fox,
determined not to be "taken alive," has provided his earth with
three holes, opening to the north, to the east, and to the west.
We often detected him in the "ben," the matrimonial sanctum,
listening to private conversations which he could not understand.
Gidi Mavunga is decidedly a "serious person." The three walls
round the standing bedstead are hung with charms and amulets,
like the sacred pictures in country parts of Europe; and at the
head is his "Mavunga," of which Tuckey says (p. 180), "Each
village has a grand kissey (nkisi), or presiding divinity, named
Mevonga:" it is an anthropoid log, about three feet high, red,
white, and black, the former colour predominating. Two bits of
looking-glass represent the eyes, the nose is patulous, as though
offended by evil savour; the upper lip is drawn up in disdain,
the under overlaps the chin; and a little mirror is inserted into
the umbilical region. Mavunga's dress is represented by an
English billy-cock hat; while all kinds of "medicines,"
calabashes, and a coarse knife depend from his neck to his
shoulders. The figures at the door are generally called
"Ngolowándá."

It is said, I believe, of the Englishwoman-

          "If she will, she will, you may depend on't;
           If she won't, she won't, and there's an end on't."

I may safely predicate the same of the negro, who owns, like the
goose, a "singularly inflexible organization." Whenever he can,
he will, and he must, have his head. Gidi Mavunga would not even
break his fast before touching the cloth and beads, which are to
pay for guidance and carriage. The hut-door was closed, and in
half an hour all was settled to every one's satisfaction. Yet the
veteran did not disdain a little rascality. Awaiting his
opportunity, he tossed into a dark corner a little bundle of two
fancy cloths which I had given the "linguistero" and, when
detected, he shamelessly declared that such people have no right
to trade.

Finally, our departure was settled for the next morning, and the
women at once began their preparations. Although they have sperm-
candles, torches are preferred for the road; odoriferous gums are
made up, as in the Gaboon, with rags or splints of bark; hence
the old writers say, "instead of putting wicks into the torches,
they put torches into the wicks." The travelling foods are mostly
boiled batatas (sweet potatoes), Kwanga, a hard and innutritious
pudding-like preparation of cassava which the "Expedition" (p.
197) calls "Coongo, a bitter root, that requires four days'
boiling to deprive it of its pernicious quality;" this is
probably the black or poisonous manioc. The national dish,
"chindungwa," would test the mouth of any curry-eater in the
world: it is composed of boiled ground-nuts and red peppers in
equal proportions, pounded separately in wooden mortars, mixed
and squeezed to drain off the oil; the hard mass, flavoured with
salt or honey, will keep for weeks. The bees are not hived in
Congo-land, but smoked out of hollow trees: as in F. Po and
Camarones Peaks, they rarely sting, like the harmless Angelito of
the Caraccas, "silla," or saddleback; which Humboldt ("Personal
Narrative," chap. xiii.) describes as a "little hairy bee, a
little smaller than the honey-bee of the north of Europe."
Captain Hall found the same near Tampico; and a hive-full was
sent to the blind but ingenious Francis Huber of Geneva, who died
in 1831. This seems to be the case with the busy hymenopter
generally in the highlands of Africa; the lowland swarms have
been the terror of travellers from Mungo Park's day to that of
the first East African Expedition.

About noon we were visited by the confidential slaves of a
neighbouring chief, who prospectively welcomed us to his
territory. These men were gaudily attired in cast-off clothes,
and in the crimson night-caps formerly affected by the English
labourer: on the mountains, where the helmet is confined to
royalty, it is the head-dress used for state occasions. They sat
in the hut, chatting, laughing, and discussing palm wine by the
gallon, till they had their wicked will in the shape of a bottle
of gin; after this, they departed with many low congés.

It was a study to see Gidi Mavunga amidst the vassals and serfs
of his own village. He had no moated castle, no "Quinquengrogne;"
but his habitation was grander far,--that glorious hill-side,
with all its prospects of mountain and river, field and forest,
valley and village. As he sat upon the mat under his little
piazza, all the dependants gathered in an outer semicircle, the
children, dogs, and cats forming an inner chord. A crowd of
"moleques" placed before him three black pots, one containing a
savoury stew, the others beans and vegetables, which he
transferred to a deep platter, and proved himself no mean
trencherman. The earthenware is of native make, by no means
ornamental, but useful because it retains the heat; it resembles
the produce of the Gold Coast, and the "pepper-pot" platter of
the West Indies. His cup was filled as fast as he drained the
palm wine, and, at times, he passed a huge mouthful to a small
son or daughter, smiling at the serious and awkward attempts at
deglutition. The washing of hands and mouth before and after
feeding shows progress after Tuckey's day (p. 360). We were not
asked to join him: an African, when upon a journey, will beg for
everything he sees you eat or drink, but there is no return in
kind. I have read of negro hospitality, but it has never been my
fate to witness an approach to that virtue. The chief will, it is
true, quarrel with you if his house be passed without a visit;
but his object in taking you in is to make all he can of you. If
a purse be pulled out, he waxes wroth, because he wishes to
secure at once the reputation of generosity and the profits of a
present doubling the worth of a regular "addition." When Gidi
Mavunga rose from his meal, the elder dependants took his place;
the junior bipeds followed, and the remnants were thrown to the
quadrupeds. It was a fair copy in black of a baronial and
mediæval life.

The dogs were not neglected during the meal; but over-eagerness
was repressed by a stout truncheon lying handily near the old
negro Jarl. The animals are small and stunted, long-nosed and
crooked-limbed, with curly tails often cut, sharp ears which show
that they have not lost the use of the erecting muscles, and so
far wild that they cannot bark. The colour is either black and
white or yellow and white, as in Stambul and India. Overrun with
ticks and foul with mange, they are too broken-spirited to rob,
except by secretly sneaking into the huts, and, however often
beaten off, they return to the charge like sitting hens. The
people prize these wretched tikes, because they are ever ready to
worry a stranger, and are useful in driving game from the bush.
Yet they barbarously ill-treat them. The hungry cats are as poor
a breed as the pure English, and, though no one feeds them, these
domesticated tigerkins swarm. The only happy pets are the
parrots. Every village swarms with hogs, the filthy wealth of the
old Saxon proprietor, and their habits are disgusting as their
forms are obscene. Every Anglo-Indian will understand what I
mean.

My memory of "Congo chop" is all in its favour: I can recommend
it even to "Fin Bee." The people of S'a Leone declare that your
life is safe when you can enjoy native food. Perhaps this means
that, during the time required to train the palate, strangers
will have escaped their "seasoning" fevers and chills. But
foreigners will certainly fare better and, cæteris paribus,
outlive their brother whites, when they can substitute African
stews for the roast and boiled goat and cow, likest to donkey-
meat, for the waxy and insipid potato and for heavy pudding and
tart, with which their jaded stomach is laden, as if it had the
digestion of north latitude 50°. It is popularly believed that
the Germans, who come from the land of greatest extremes, live
longer at the White Man's Grave than the English, whereas the
Spaniards are the most short-lived, one consul per annum being
the normal rate. Perhaps the greater "adaptability" of the Teuton
explains the cause.

The evening began with a game of ball in the large open space
amongst the houses forming the village square. The implement was
a roll of palm-coir tightly bound with the central fibre of the
plantain-leaf. The players, two parties of some twenty slaves, of
all ages and sizes, mingled, each side striving to catch the
ball, and with many feints and antics to pass it on to a friend.
When it fell out of bounds, the juniors ran to pick it up with
frantic screams. It was interesting, as showing the difference
between the highlander and the lowlander; one might pass years on
the Congo plains without seeing so much voluntary exertion: yet a
similar game of ball is described by the Rev. Mr. Waddell
("Twenty-nine years in the West Indies and Central Africa," chap.
xvii. London, Nelsons, 1863). The evening ended, as it often does
before a march, when rest is required, with extra hard work, a
drinking bout deep as the Rhineland baron's in the good old time,
and a dance in which both sexes joined. As there were neither
torches nor moon, I did not attend; the singing, the shouting,
and the drumming, which lasted till midnight, spoke well for the
agility and endurance of the fair montagnardes.

What lightens Gidi Mavunga's steps is the immediate prospect of
the Munlola or preliminary showers, which, beginning in mid-
September, last, with a certain persistence of fall, till
October. During the Munlola, the sea-breeze is silent, and the
sky is clad with a very thin mist, which, however, supplies
abundant downfalls. The year in the Lower Congo corresponds with
that of the Gaboon in practice, if not in theory, and the storms
are furious as those of Yoruba, where the seasons are, of course,
inverted, the great rains extending from May to August. The
climate is capricious, as everywhere about the equator, and the
nearer the river the heavier are the showers. The people double
their lives by reckoning the rains as one year, and the dries as
another: when the old missionaries wished to explain that the
Saviour offered Himself for the sins of man at the age of thirty-
three, they said that he was sixty-six seasons old.

After the light rains of the autumnal equinox, come the Mvula za
Chintomba, the "Chuvas grandes" of the Portuguese, lasting to the
end of November. They are heavy, accompanied by violent tornadoes
and storms, greatly feared by the people. The moisture of the
atmosphere, not being gradually condensed by forests, must be
precipitated in violent downfalls, and this is perhaps the
principal evil of clearing the country. December begins the
"little dries," which extend to February and March; then set in
the rains of the vernal equinox, with furious discharges of
electricity; June is the wettest month on the highlands, but not
on the lower river. In mid-July commence the "middle-dries," here
called Ngondi Asivu (Tuckey's "Gondy Assivoo"); upon the upper
river this Cacimbo lasts between April and September; when it
passes over the bush is burned, and the women hoe the ground to
receive its seed. Carli well describes this season when he says:-
-"The winter of the kingdom of Congo is the mild spring or autumn
of Italy; it is not subject to rains, but every morning there
falls a dew which fertilizes the earth." This meteor was not
observed on the highlands of Banza Nokki and Nkulu; it is
probably confined to the low country, where I found it falling
heavily.





                         Chapter XIII.

                   The March to Banza Nkulu.



But revelry at night brings morning headache, and we did not set
out, as agreed, at dawn. By slow degrees the grumbling, loitering
party was mustered. The chiefs were Gidi Mavunga, head guide, and
his son Papagayo, a dull quiet body; Chico Mpamba, "French
landlord" of Banza Nokki, and my interpreter Nchama Chamvu.
Fourteen armed moleques carried our hammocks and our little
viaticum in the shape of four bottles of present-gin, two costa-
finas, (= twenty-four yards of fancy cotton), and fourteen
fathoms of satin-stripe, the latter a reserved fund. The boy
"Lendo," whose appropriate name means "The Go," bore a burden of
his own size all day, and acted as little foot-page at the halt.
The "gentlemen" were in full travelling costume. Slung by a thong
to the chief guide's left shoulder were a tiger-cat skin,
cardamom-sheaths and birds' beaks and claws clustering round a
something in shape like the largest German sausage, the whole
ruddled with ochre: this charm must not be touched by the herd; a
slave-lad, having unwittingly offended, knelt down whilst the
wearer applied a dusty big toe between his eyebrows. Papagayo had
a bag of grass-cloth and bits of cane, from which protruded
strips of leather and scarlet broadcloth.

At 6.45 A.M. on Saturday, September 12, we exchanged the fields
surrounding Banza Chinguvu for a ridge or narrow plateau trending
to the north-east and bending to the magnetic north. A few
minutes led to a rock-slope, fit only for goat-hoofs or nude-
footed natives. Winding along the hill-sides, we passed out of
the Nokki territory into that of Ntombo, the property of Mfumo
Nelongo: here we descended into a little vale or gorge bright as
verdure could make it--

                   "arborets and flowers
          Imborder'd on each bank"

of a bubbling brook, a true naiad of the hills, which ran to the
embrace of the mighty stream; it characteristically stained its
bed with iron. On our right was a conspicuous landmark, Zululu ke
Sombe, a tall rock bearing the semblance of an elephant from the
north-east, visible from the Congo's right bank and commanding a
view of all the hills. Banza Vivi, our first destination,
perching high on the farther side of the blue depression, bore
due north. We then struck the roughest of descents, down broken
outcrops and chines of granite--no wonder that the women have
such grand legs. This led us into a dark green depression where
lay Banza Chinsavu, the abode of King Nelongo. Our course had
been three miles to the north-north-east.

Nothing can be more charming than the site, a small horseshoe
valley, formed by a Wady or Fiumara, upon whose raised left bank
stands the settlement, sheltered by palms, plantations, and wild
figs. Eastward is a slope of bare rock polished by the rain-
torrents; westward rise the grassy hills variegated with bush and
boulder. We next crossed a rocky divide to the north and found a
second basin also fertilized by its own stream; here the cactus
and aloes, the vegetation of the desert, contrasted with half-a-
dozen shades of green, the banana, the sycamore, the egg-plant,
the sweet potato, the wild pepper, and the grass, whose colours
were paling, but not so rapidly as in the lower lands.

We dismounted in state from our tipoias at the verandah of an
empty house, where a chair had been placed; and we prepared for
the usual delay and display. The guides will not leave these
villages unvisited lest a "war" result; all the chiefs are
cousins and one must not monopolize the plunder. A great man
takes an hour to dress, and Nelongo was evidently soothing the
toils of the toilette with a musical bellows called an accordeon.
He sent us some poor, well-watered Msámbá (palm toddy), and
presently he appeared, a fat, good-natured man, as usual,
ridiculously habited. He took the first opportunity of curtly
saying in better Portuguese than usual, "There is no more march
to-day!" This was rather too much for a somewhat testy traveller,
when he changed his tone, begged me not to embroil him with a
powerful neighbour, and promised that we should set out that
evening. He at once sent for provisions, fowls, and a small
river-fish, sugar-cane, and a fine bunch of S. Thomé bananas.

About noon appeared Chico Furano, son of the late Chico de Ouro,
in his quality of "English linguister;" a low position to which
want of "savvy" has reduced him. His studies of our tongue are
represented by an eternal "Yes!" his wits by the negative; he
boasts of knowing how to "tratar com o branco" and, declining to
bargain, he robs double. He is a short, small, dark man with
mountaineer legs, a frightful psora, and an inveterate habit of
drink. He saluted his superior, Nelongo, with immense ceremony,
dating probably from the palmy times of the Mwani-Congo. Equals
squat before one another, and shaking hands crosswise clap palms.
Chico Furano kneels, places both "ferients" upon the earth and
touches his nose-tip; he then traces three ground-crosses with
the Jovian finger; again touches his nose; beats his "volæ" on
the dust, and draws them along the cheeks; then he bends down,
applying firstly the right, secondly the left face side, and
lastly the palms and dorsa of the hands to mother earth. Both
superior and inferior end with the Sakila or batta-palmas,[FN#26]
three bouts of three claps in the best of time separated by the
shortest of pauses, and lastly a "tiger" of four claps. The
ceremony is more elaborate than the "wallowings" and dust-
shovellings described by Ibn Batuta at the Asiatic courts, by
Jobson at Tenda,by Chapperton at Oyo,by Denham amongst the
Mesgows, and by travellers to Dahome and to the Cazembe. Yet the
system is virtually the same in these distant kingdoms, which do
not know one another's names.

Chico Furano brought a Mundongo slave, a fine specimen of
humanity, some six feet high, weighing perhaps thirteen stone,
all bone and muscle, willing and hard-working, looking upon the
Congo men as if they were women or children. He spoke a few words
of Portuguese, and with the master's assistance I was able to
catechize him. He did not deny that his people were "papagentes,"
but he declared that they confined the practice to slain enemies.
He told a number of classical tales about double men, attached,
not like the Siamese twins, but dos-à-dos; of tribes whose feet
acted as parasols, the Plinian Sciapodæ and the Persian Tasmeh-
pa, and of mermen who live and sleep in the inner waters--I also
heard this from M. Parrot, a palpable believer. He described his
journey down the great river, and declared that beyond his
country's frontier the Nzadi issues from a lake which he
described as having a sea-horizon, where canoes lose sight of
land, and where they are in danger from violent storms; he
described the latter with great animation, and his descriptions
much reminded me of Dibbie, the "Dark Lake." Probably this was
genuine geography, although he could not tell the name of the
inner sea, the Achelunda of old cosmographers. Tuckey's map also
lays down in N. lat. 2° to 3° and in E. long. (G.) 17° to 18° a
great swamp draining to the south; and his "Narrative" (p. 178)
tells us that some thirty days above Banza Mavunda, which is 20
to 24 miles above the Yellala, "the river issues by many small
streams from a great marsh or lake of mud." This would suggest a
reservoir alternately flooded and shrinking; possibly lacustrine
bays and the bulges formed by the middle course of the Lualaba.

Despite the promise, we were delayed by King Nekorado, whose
town, Palabala, lies at some distance, and who, negro-like, will
consult only his own convenience. In the afternoon we were
visited by a royal son, who announced that his royal father
feared the heat, but would appear with the moon, which was
equivalent to saying that we might expect him on the morrow. He
is known to be a gueux, and Gidi Mavunga boasts of having harried
and burned sundry of his villages, so he must make up by
appearance for deficient reality. His appearance was announced by
the Mpungi, the Egyptian Zagharit, the Persian Kil; this
"lullilooing" in the bush country becomes an odd moaning howl
like the hyaena's laugh. Runners and criers preceded the hammock,
which he had probably mounted at the first field; a pet slave
carried his chair, covered with crimson cloth, and Frédérique his
"linguister" paced proudly by its side.

After robing himself in Nelongo's house, King Nekorado held a
levee under the shadiest fig, which acted bentang-tree; all the
moleques squatting in a demi-lune before the presence. A short
black man, with the round eyes, the button-like nose, the fat
circular face, and the weakly vanishing chin which denote the
lower type of Congoese, he coldly extended a chimpanzee's paw
without rising or raising his eyes, in token that nothing around
him deserved a glance. I made him au-fait as to my intentions,
produced, as "mata-bicho," a bottle of gin, and sent a dash of
costa-fina, to which a few yards of satin-stripe were thrown in.

The gin was drunk with the usual greed, and the presents were
received with the normal objections.

"Why should not I, a king like Nessudikira, receive a ‘dash'
equal to his?"

"He is my host, I pay him for bed and board!"

"We are all cousins; why shall one be treated better than the
other?"

"As you please! you have received your due, and to-day we march."

After this I rose and returned to my hut ready for the inevitable
"row."

It was not long coming; the new arrivals set up the war-song, and
Gidi Mavunga thought it time to make a demonstration. Drawing an
old cutlass and bending almost double, he began to rush about,
slashing and cutting down imaginary foes, whilst his men looked
to their guns. The greenhorn would have expected a regular stand-
up fight, ending in half-a-dozen deaths, but the Papagayo
snatched away his father's rusty blade, and Chico Furano, seizing
the warrior's head, despite the mildest of resistance, bent it
almost to the ground. Thus valour succumbed to numbers. "He is a
great man," whispered my interpreter, "and if they chaunt their
battle-song, he must show them his bravery." The truly
characteristic scene ended in our being supplied with some
fourteen black pots full of flesh, fowl, beans, and manioc,
together with an abundance of plantains and sugar-cane; a select
dish was "put in fetish" (set aside) for Gidi Mavunga, and the
friendly foes all sat down to feast. The querelle d'Allemand
ended with a general but vain petition for "t'other bottle."

Fahrenheit showed 90° in the shade, as we bade adieu to the
little land-bay, and made for the high rugged wall to the north-
north-east separating the river valley from the inner country. On
the summit we halted to enjoy the delicious sea-breeze with its
ascending curve, and the delightful prospect far below. Some
1,300 feet beneath us appeared the Nzadi, narrowed to a torrent,
and rushing violently down its highly inclined bed, a straight
reach running east and west, in length from four and a half to
five miles. As we fronted north, the Morro (cliff) Kala fell
bluff towards its blue bight, the Mayumba Bay of the chart, on
our left; to the right a black gate formed by twin cliffs shut
out the upper stream from view. The panorama of hill-fold and
projection, each bounded by deep green lines, which argued
torrents during the rains; the graceful slopes sinking towards
the river and indenting the bed and the little tree-clad isle,
Zun gáchyá Idí (Tuckey's "Zunga Tooly Calavangoo") hugging the
northern side, where the Lufu torrent adds its tribute to the
waters, convinced me that the charms of Congo scenery had not
been exaggerated. Yet the prospect had its element of sadness;
the old ruffian, Gidi Mavunga, recounted how he had burned this
place and broken that, where palm-clumps, grass-clearings, and
plantations lying waste denoted the curse of Ham upon the land.

Our course now wound north-eastwards along hill-shoulders, rich
in flowery plants and scented mimosa. After two hours' walking,
we came suddenly upon the Morro or cliff of the river-trough, now
about 1,000 feet deep. Here the prospect again shifted; the black
gate opened, showing the lowest of the long line of rapids called
Borongwa ya Vivi, with the natives and their canoes, like flies
upon bits of straw.

On the southern bank was a small perennial influent, lined with
bright green above, and with chocolate brown below, within some
twenty yards of its mouth. It arises, they say, near S. Salvador,
and is not navigable, although in places it bears canoes. The
people call it Npozo, possibly it represents the S. Salvador
River of old travellers. The distance was three direct or five
indirect miles north of the stony cone, Zululu ke Sombe.

The descent was a malevoie, over slabs and boulders, loose stones
and clayey ground, slippery as ice after rain. The moleques
descended like chamois within twenty minutes: Selim and I, with
booted feet, took double the time, but on return we ascended it
in forty-five minutes. Viewed from below, the base rests upon
cliffs of gneiss, with debris and quartz in masses, bands and
pebbles, pure and impure, white and rusty. Upon it rises a
stratum of ferruginous clay, with large hard-heads of granite,
gneiss, and schist, blocks of conglomerate, and nodules of
ironstone. Higher still is the bank of yellow clay, capped with
shallow humus. The waving profile is backed by steep hills, with
rocky sides and long ridges of ground, the site of the palm-
hidden Banzas.

Reaching the base, a heap of tumbled boulders, we crossed in a
canoe the mouth of the Npozo to a sandy cove in the southern
bank, the terminus of river navigation. The people called it
Unyenge Assiku: I cannot but suspect that this is the place where
Tuckey left his boats, and which he terms "Nomaza Cove." The name
is quite unknown, and suggests that the interpreters tried to
explain by "No majia" (water) that here the voyage must end.

Off this baylet are three rocky islets, disposed in a triangle,
slabs collected by a broken reef, and collectively known as Zunga
Nuapozo; the clear-way is between them and the southern bank,
which is partly provided with a backwater; the northern three
quarters of the bed show something like a scour and a rapid.
Zunga chya Ingololo, the northernmost and smallest, bears a
single tree, and projects a bar far into the stream: the central
and westernmost is a rock with a canoe passage between it and the
southern and largest, Zunga chya Tuvi. The latter has three tree-
clumps; and a patch of clean white sand on its western side
measures the daily rise of the water, eight inches to a foot, and
shows the highest level of the flood, here twelve to thirteen
feet. The fishermen use it as a drying-ground for their game.
They also crowd every day to two sandy covelets on the southern
bank, separated by a tongue of rough boulders. Here naked urchins
look on whilst their fathers work, or aid in drying the nets, or
lie prone upon the sand, exposing their backs to the broiling
sun. The other denizens of the place are fish-eagles, who sit en
faction upon the topmost branches of withered trees. I saw only
two kinds of fish, one small as a minnow, and the other
approaching the size of a herring. Up stream they are said to be
much larger. They are not salted, but smoked or sun-dried when
the weather serves: stuffed with chillies and fried with oil,
they are good eating as the Kinnam of the Gold Coast.

We prepared to bivouac under a fine shady Saffu, or wild fig, a
low, thick trunk whose dark foliage, fleshy as the lime-leaf, so
often hangs its tresses over the river, and whose red berries may
feed man as well as monkey. The yellow flowers of hypericum,
blooming around us, made me gratefully savour our escape from
mangrove and pandamus. About sunset a gentle shower, the first of
the season, caused the fisher-boys to dance with joy; it lasted
two good hours, and then it was dispersed by a strong westerly
breeze. Canoes and lights flashed before our eyes during half the
night; and wild beasts, answering one another from rock to rock,
hundreds of feet above us, added a savage, African feature to the
goodly mise-en-scène.

Arising early next morning, I was assured that it is necessary to
cross the stream in order to reach the Cataracts. Tuckey did so,
but further inquiry convinced me that it is a mistake to march
along the northern bank. Of course, in skirting the southern
side, we should not have approached so near the stream, where
bluffs and débris rendered travelling hopeless. The amiable
ichthyophagi agreed for two fathoms of fancy cloth to ferry us
across the river, which is here half a mile broad. The six-knot
current compels canoes to run up the left shore by means of its
backwater, and, when crossing, to make allowance for the drift
downwards. The aneroid now showed 860 feet of absolute altitude,
and about sixty-five feet above the landing-place of Banza Nokki;
the distance along the stream is fourteen miles, and thus the
fall will be about five feet per mile below the Borongwa ya Vivi.
We could see from a level the "smaller rapids of Vivi" bursting
through their black gate with angry foam, flashing white from
side to side. No canoe could shoot this "Cachoeira," but I do not
think that a Nile Dahabiyah or a Brazilian Ajôjô would find great
difficulty. Between us and the rapids, the concavity of the
southern bank forms a bight or bay. The vortices, in which
Tuckey's sloop was whirled round despite oars and sails, and in
whose hollow the punt entirely disappeared, "so that the
depression must have been three or four feet deep," were nowhere
seen at this fuller season. The aspect of the surface is that of
every large deep stream with broken bottom; the water boils up in
ever widening domes, as though a system of fountains sprang from
below. Each centre is apparently higher than its circle; it
spreads as if a rock had been thrown into it, and the outer rim
throws off little eddies and whirls no larger than a thimble. The
mirrory surface of the lower river thus becomes mottled with
light and shade, and the reflected image of the trough-cliff is
broken into the most fantastic shapes.

Fifteen minutes of hard paddling landed us at Selele, a stony
point between two sandy baylets: amongst the mass of angular
boulders a tree again showed the highest flood-mark to be 13
feet. Here for the first time I remarked the black glaze
concerning which so much has been written.[FN#28] The colour is a
sunburnt black, tinted ferruginous red like meteoric stones, and
it is generally friable, crumbling under the nails. It tastes
strongly of iron, which flavours almost every spring in the
country, yet the most likely places do not show this
incrustation. Sometimes it looks like a matrix in which pudding-
stone has been imbedded; it may be two or three lines in
thickness and it does not colour the inside. At other times it
hardly measures the thickness of paper, coating the gneiss slabs
like plumbago. Humboldt tells us ("Personal Narrative," ii. 243,
Bohn), that the "Indians" of the Atures declare the rocks to be
burnt (carbonized) by the sun's rays, and I have often found the
same black glaze upon the marly sandstones that alternate with
calcareous formations where no stream ever reached them--for
instance, on the highlands of Judea, between Jerusalem and the
Dead Sea; in inner Istria, and in most countries upon the borders
of the Mediterranean.

Leaving Selele, we ascended a steep hill with many glissadès, the
effect of last night's rain. These hammock-journeys are mostly
equivalent to walking and paying for carriage; it would be
cruelty to animals were one to ride except when entering the
villages. After threading for half an hour lanes of grass, we
were received in a little village of the Banza Vivi district by
Nessala, linguistère to King Luvungungwete. The guest room was
furnished with every luxury; hides of a fine antelope described
as the Kudu; cruets, basins, bottles, and other vases; "lustre
mugs," John Andersons and Toby Philpots. A good calabash, full of

                    "Freshening wine
          More bounteous far than all the frantic juice
          Which Bacchus pours,"

was produced, although the drought and scarcity of June rain had
dried the palms. Before I outstretched myself, the fairer half of
the population sent a message to say that they had never seen a
white man: what less could be done than to distribute a few beads
and pat the children, who screamed like sucking pigs and
"squirmed" like young monkeys?

The Chrononhotonthologus of a king came in the afternoon with a
tail of a hundred vertebræ: he was a milder specimen than usual;
he had neither Mambrino's helmet nor beadle's cloak, and perhaps
his bashfulness in the presence of strangers arose from a
consciousness that his head-gear and robes were not in keeping
with his station. But he did not fail to grumble at his "dash;"
indeed, he must be more than African who shall say, "Hold!
enough." He vouchsafed a small return in fowls and "beneficent
manioc," and sent with us three slaves, to serve, not as guides,
but as a basis for a separate charge.

After sunset all was made ready for the Batuque. The ball-room
was the village square; the decorations were the dense trees; the
orchestra consisted of two drums, a grande caisse eight feet and
a half long, placed horizontally, and a smaller specimen standing
on a foot like that of an old-fashioned champagne-glass; the
broader ends were covered with deer skins, upon which both hands
perform; and the illuminations were flaming heaps of straw,
which, when exhausted, were replaced by ground-nuts spitted upon
a bamboo splint. This contrivance is far simpler than a dip-
candle, the arachis is broken off as it chars, and, when the lamp
dims, turning it upside down causes a fresh flow of oil. The
ruder sex occupied one half of the ring, and the rest was
appropriated to dame and damsel. The Batuque is said to be the
original Cachucha; Barbot calls it a danse des filoux, and it has
the merit of perfectly expressing, as Captain Cook's companions
remarked of the performances in the South Sea Islands, what it
means.

The hero of the night was Chico Mpamba; he must have caused a
jealous pang to shoot through many a masculine bosom. With
bending waist, arms gracefully extended forwards, and fingers
snapping louder than castanets; with the upper half of the body
fixed as to a stake, and with the lower convulsive as a scotched
snake, he advanced and retired by a complicated shuffle, keeping
time with the tom-tom and jingling his brass anklets, which
weighed at least three pounds, and which, by the by, lamed him
for several days. But he was heroic as the singer who broke his
collar-bone by the ut di petto. A peculiar accompaniment was a
dulcet whistle with lips protruded; hence probably the fable of
Pliny's Astomoi, and the Africans of Eudoxus, whose joined lips
compelled them to eat a single grain at a time, and to drink
through a cane before sherry-cobblers were known. Others joined
him, dancing either vis-à-vis or by his side; and more than one
girl, who could no longer endure being a wall-flower, glided into
the ring and was received with a roar of applause. In the
feminine performance the eyes are timidly bent upon the ground;
the steps are shorter and daintier, and the ritrosa appears at
once to shun and to entice her cavalier, who, thus repulsed and
attracted, redoubles the exciting measure till the delight of the
spectators knows no bounds. Old Gidi Mavunga flings off his upper
garment, and with the fire of a youth of twenty enters the
circle, where his performance is looked upon with respect, if not
with admiration. Wilder and wilder waxeth the "Devil's delight,"
till even the bystanders, especially the women, though they keep
their places in the outer circle, cannot restrain that wonderful
movement of haunch and flank. I laughed till midnight, and left
the dancers dancing still.

At 5 A.M. the strayed revellers found to their disgust a thick
fog, or rather a thin drizzle, damping grass and path, and
suggesting anything but a pleasant trudge. They declared that
starvation awaited us, as the "fancy cloths" were at an end, but
I stopped that objection by a reference to the reserved fund.
After an hour of sulky talk we set out towards the upper part of
Banza Vivi, passing a small but pretty hill plain, with manioc-
fields, gum-trees, and the bombax very symmetrical. We saw no
animals: here and there appeared the trail of a hyaena, the only
larger carnivor that now haunts the mountains. The song of Mkuka
Mpela, the wild pigeon, and Fungú, the cuckoo, were loud in the
brake: the Abbé Proyart makes the male cuculus chant his coo,
coo, coo; mounting one note above another with as much precision
as a musician would sound his ut, re, mi: when he reached the
third note, his mate takes it up and ascends to the octave. After
this both recommence the same song.

The stiff ascent gave us lovely views of the lake-like river and
both its banks: after three quarters of an hour we reached Vivi
of Banza Simbo. The people vainly called to us, "Wiza!"-- "Come
thou!" and "Luiza! luiza kwenu!"-- "Come, come here!" Our
moleques, disliking the dangerous proximity, advanced at a walk
which might be called a canter.

Presently we reached the dividing ridge, 1,394 feet high, between
Banza Vivi and Nkulu, whose palm-trees, thrown out against the
sky, bore 82° (M.) Looking to the north with easting, we had a
view of no less than six distinct distances. The actual
foreground, a hollow between two land-waves, could not conceal
the "Crocodile's Head:" the latter, five miles off and bearing
65° (M.), forms the southern staple of the Yellala Gate, whose
rapids were not visible, and it fronts the Quoin, which hems in
the stream on the other side. The key-stone of the inverted arch
between them was a yellow-flanked, tree-topped hill, rising
immediately above the great rapids: beyond if waved, in far
succession, three several swells of ground, each flatter and
bluer than its nearer neighbour, and capping the whole stood
Kongo de Lemba, a tall solitary sugarloaf, bearing 75° (M.), with
its outlying conelets concealing like a mass of smoke the world
that lay beyond.

The ridges appeared to trend north and south, and to approach the
river's bending bed at different angles; their sides were steep,
and in places scarped where they fell into the intervening
hollows. The valleys conducted many a water to the main drain,
and during the wet season they must be well-nigh impassable. At
the end of the dries the only green is in the hill-folds and the
basin-sinks, where the trees muster strong enough to defend
themselves from the destructive annual fires. These bush-burnings
have effectually disforested the land, and in some places
building timber and even fuel have become scarce. In the Abrus,
barely two feet high, I could hardly recognize the tall tree of
Eastern Africa, except by its scarlet "carats," which here the
people disdain to use as beads. The scorching of the leaves
stunts the shrubs, thickens the bark, and makes the growth
scrubby, so that the labourer has nothing to do but to clear away
the grass: I afterwards remarked the same effects on the
Brazilian Campos.

We descended the dividing ridge, which is also painfully steep,
especially near the foot, and crossed the rolling hollow with its
three chalybeate brooks, beyond which lay our destination. Tuckey
describes the hills between Boma and Nkulu as stony and barren,
which is perhaps a little too strong. The dark red clay soil,
dried almost to the consistency of laterite, cannot be loosened
by rain or sun, and in places it is hardened like that of
Brazilian Porto Seguro, where the people complain that they
cannot bury their dead. All the uplands, however, grow grass
which is sometimes ten to twelve feet tall, and in places there
are shrubs and trees. About Nkulu the highlands are rightly
described as "steep hills of quartz, ferruginous earth, and
syenite with fertile tops:" rocks and stones are rare upon the
plateaux: they are rich enough to produce everything from wheat
to coffee, and hardly a hundredth part is cultivated. Thin and
almost transparent lines of palms denote the several Banzas on
the ridges, and in the valley are rock circles like magnified and
prostrated Stonehenges.

The "termes arborum" is universal, and anthills form a prominent
feature. It has been remarked that these buildings are the most
conspicuous architectural efforts of the country, and the Abbé
Proyart observes that here more effectually than in any other
land man ought to be sent to the ant school. The material is of
dark and sometimes black earth as in the Gaboon, and the shape is
the umbrella, rarely double or pagoda-roofed. The column may be
twelve to eighteen inches high, and the diameter of the capital
attains two feet: I never saw, however, a "gigantic toadstool as
high as a one-storied house."[FN#28] Nor are the mushroom tops
now used as chafing-dishes.

The grateful tamarind grows everywhere, but nowhere so gloriously
as on the lower elevations. The only true sycomores which I saw
were stunted specimens near the Yellala. They contrasted poorly
with the growth of the Ugogi Dhun, a noble patriarch, whose
circle of shade under a vertical sun was 500 feet, and which I
thought worthy of a portrait in "Lake Regions of Central Africa"
(p. 195, vol. i.). I need hardly warn the reader that, properly
speaking, it is the "Sycamine which produces the fruit called
Syconwrus or fig-mulberry;" but we apply the term "Sycomore" to
the tree as well as to its fruit.

After three hours of actual marching (= seven miles) in an east-
north-easterly direction, we ascended a path greasy with drizzle,
parquetted by negro feet and infested with "drivers," which now
became troublesome. It led to Banza Nkulu, a shabby settlement of
unclean plantations and ragged huts of far inferior construction:
stacks of grass were piled upon the ground, and this new thatch
was greatly wanted. Here the lands of the "bush-men" begin:
instead of marching directly to the chief's house, we sat in our
wet clothes under a friendly wild fig. The women flocked out at
the cry of the hammock-bearers and, nursing their babies, sat
down to the enjoyment of a stare; they had lost, however, the
merriment of their more civilized sisters, and they hardly ever
vouchsafed a laugh or a smile. The curiosity of the "Zinkomba"
knew no bounds; all were unusually agitated by the aspect of a
man coloured like themselves; they jerked out their leafy
crinolines by forward movements of the lower body, swayed
violently from side to side, and cried "Ha-rr-rr-rr-rr!" and
"Jojolo! jojolo!" till they were hoarse. As usual, the adults
would not allow me to approach them, and I was obliged to rest
contented with sketching their absurdities. To punish this
daring, the Jinkomba brought a man masked like a white, with
beard and whiskers, who is supposed to strike the stranger with
awe: it was all in vain, I had learned to trill the R as roundly
as themselves, and they presently left me as a "perdido," an
incorrigible.

In the days of the Expedition, Nkulu had but one ruler, of whom
Tuckey says (p. 148), that he found less pomp and noise, but much
more civility and hospitality than from the richer kings he had
visited. Now there are three who require their "dashes," and each
has his linguister, who must not be passed by without notice.
Moreover, as population and luxury have increased on the line of
route, bark-cloth has disappeared and even the slaves are dressed
in cottons. We waited, patiently hungry, till 4 P.M. because the
interpreters had gone on some "fish palaver" to the river. At
that hour a procession of some two hundred and fifty men headed
by a drum and Chingufu (cymbal-bells) defiled before us, crowding
round three umbrellas, trade-articles in the last stage of
"seediness." These comforts protected from the sun, which was
deep hid behind a purple nimbus, an equal number of great men in
absurd red nightcaps or old felt wideawakes, shirts of coloured
cotton, and second-hand waistcoats of silk or satin. The only
signs of luxury were here and there a well-carved ebony stick,
and a gunstock resplendent with brass tacks. All sat down in a
semi-circle before us, six or seven deep in front and four or
five at the sides: the women and children took their places in
the rear, and one of them fondled a prick-eared cur with an
attempt at a ribbon round its neck.

The head linguister, who, like "Persian interpreters" to
commanders in chief of India during my clay, could not speak a
word of any language but his own, after clapping hands,
congratulated us in the name of the great king Nekulu; he lives,
it appears, in a Banza at some distance to the north or north-
east, out of sight of the river, and he cannot be visited without
great outlay of gunpowder and strong waters. We returned
compliments, and after the usual complications we came to the
main point, the "dash." I had privily kept a piece of satin-
stripe, and this was produced as the very last of our viaticum.
The interpreter, having been assured that we had nothing else to
give, retired with his posse to debate; whilst we derided the
wild manners of these "bush-folk," who feared to shake hands with
us. After an hour or so the council returned, clapped palms, sat
clown, grumbled at the gift and gave formal leave to see the
Yellala--how the word now jarred in my ears after its abominable
repetition! Had these men been told a month before that a white
would have paid for permission to visit what they considered
common property, they would have refused belief: with
characteristic readiness, however, the moment they saw an
opportunity of "making money," they treated the novelty as a
matter of course.

This palaver settled, the chiefs danced within a ring formed by
their retainers; the speeches were all sung, not spoken; and
obeisances and dustings of elaborate complexity concluded the
eventful meeting, which broke up as it began with drum and
Chingufu. There was not a symptom of hospitality; we had
preserved some provaunt from our last station, or we should have
been famished. My escort forgot their disappointments in a
"ball," which lasted through the cool, clear and dewy night till
nearly dawn. It is evidently a happy temperament which can dance
off hunger and fatigue.





                          Chapter XIV.

                   The Yellala of the Congo.



At dawn (September 16), I began the short march leading to the
Yellala.[FN#29] By stepping a few paces south of Nkulu, we had a
fine view of the Borongwa ya Vivi, the lowest rapids, whose
foaming slope contrasted well with the broad, smooth basin
beyond. Palabala, the village of Nekorado on the other side of
the stream, bore south (Mag.), still serving as a landmark; and
in this direction the ridges were crowned with palm orchards and
settlements. But the great Yellala was hidden by the hill-
shoulder.

We at once fell into a descent of some 890 feet, which occupied
an hour. The ground was red iron-clay, greasy and slippery; dew-
dripping grass, twelve to fifteen feet tall, lined the path; the
surface was studded with dark ant-hills of the mushroom shape;
short sycomores appeared, and presently we came to rough
gradients of stone, which severely tried the "jarrets." After an
hour, we crossed at the trough-foot a brook of pure water, which,
uniting with two others, turns to the north-east, and, tumbling
over a little ledge, discharges itself into the main drain. An
ascent then led over a rounded hill with level summit, and
precipitous face all steps and drops of rock, some of them six
and seven feet high, opposed to the stream. Another half hour,
and a descent of 127 feet placed us under a stunted calabash, 100
feet above the water, and commanding a full view of the Yellala.

On the whole, the impression was favourable. Old Shimbah, the
Linguister at Porto da Lenha, and other natives had assured me
that the Cataracts were taller than the tallest trees. On the
other hand, the plain and unadorned narrative of the "Expedition"
had prepared me for a second-rate stream bubbling over a strong
bed. The river here sweeps round from the north-west, and bends
with a sharp elbow first to the south-west and then to the south-
east, the length of the latter reach being between four and five
miles. As far as the eye can see, the bed, which narrows from 900
to 400 and 500 yards, is broken by rocks and reefs. A gate at the
upper end pours over its lintel a clear but dwarf fall, perhaps
two feet high. The eastern staple rises at first sheer from the
water's edge to the estimated altitude of a thousand feet,--this
is the "Crocodile's Head" which we saw on the last march, and
already the thin rains are robing its rocky surface with tender
green. The strata are disposed at angles, varying from 35° to
45°, and three streaks of bright trees denote Fiumaras about to
be filled. Opposite it is the "Quoin Hill," bluff to the stream,
and falling west with gradual incline. The noise of this higher
fall can hardly be heard at Nkulu, except on the stillest nights.

Below the upper gate, the bed, now narrowing to 300 yards, shows
the great Yellala; the waters, after breaking into waves for a
mile and a half above, rush down an inclined plane of some thirty
feet in 300 yards, spuming, colliding and throwing up foam, which
looks dingy white against the dull yellow-brown of the less
disturbed channel--the movement is that of waves dashing upon a
pier. The bed is broken by the Zunga chya Malemba, which some
pronounced Sanga chya Malemba, an oval islet in mid-stream, whose
greater diameter is disposed along the axis of the bed. The
north-western apex, raised about fifty feet above the present
level of the waters, shows a little bay of pure sand, the
detritus of its rocks, with a flood-mark fifteen feet high,
whilst the opposite side bears a few wind-wrung trees. The
materials are gneiss and schist, banded with quartz--Tuckey's
great masses of slate. This is the "Terrapin" of the Nzadi. The
eastern fork, about 150 yards broad, is a mountain-torrent,
coursing unobstructed down its sandy trough, and, viewed from an
eminence, the waters of the mid-channel appear convex, a shallow
section of a cylinder,--it is a familiar shape well marked upon
the St. Lawrence Rapids. The western half is traversed by a reef,
connecting the islets with the right bank. During August, this
branch was found almost dry; in mid-September, it was nearly
full, and here the water breaks with the greatest violence. The
right bank is subtended for some hundred yards by blocks of
granite and greenstone, pitted with large basins and pot-holes,
delicately rounded, turned as with a lathe by the turbid waters.
The people declare that this greenstone contains copper, and
Professor Smith found particles in his specimens. The Portuguese
agents, to whom the natives carefully submit everything curious,
doubt the fact, as well as all reports of gold; yet there is no
reason why the latter should not be found.

The current whirls and winds through its tortuous channels, which
are like castings of metal, in many distinct flows; some places
are almost stagnant, suggesting passages for canoes. Here the
fishermen have planted their weirs; some are wading in the pools,
others are drying their nets upon the stony ledges. During the
floods, however, this cheval-de-frise of boulders must all be
under water, and probably impassable. Tuckey supposes that the
inundation must produce a spectacle which justifies the high-
flown description of the people. I should imagine the reverse to
be the case; and Dr. Livingstone justly remarked[FN#30that, when
the river was full, the Yellala rapids would become comparatively
smooth, as he had found those of the Zambeze; and that therefore
a voyage pittoresque up the Congo should be made at that season.

Before leaving the Yellala, I wandered along the right bank, and
found a cliff, whose overhanging brow formed a fine cavern; it
remarkably resembled the Martianez Fountain under the rock near
the beautiful Puerto de Orotava. Here the fishermen were
disporting themselves, and cooking their game, which they
willingly exchanged for beads. All were of the Silurus family,
varying from a few inches to two feet. Fish-eagles sat upon the
ledges overhanging the stream, and a flight of large cranes
wheeled majestically in the upper air: according to the people,
they are always to be seen at the Yellalas.

The extent of a few hundred feet afforded a good bird's eye view
of the scene. The old river-valley, shown by the scarp of the
rocks, must have presented gigantic features, and the height of
the trough-walls, at least a thousand feet, gives the Yellala a
certain beauty and grandeur. The site is apparently the highest
axis of the dividing ridge separating the maritime lowlands from
the inner plateau. Looking eastward the land smoothens, the dorsa
fall more gently towards the counter-slope, and there are none of
the "Morros" which we have traversed.

With the members of the Congo Expedition, I was somewhat startled
by the contrast between the apparently shrunken volume of waters
and the vast breadth of the lower river; hence Professor Smith's
theory of underground caverns and communications, in fact of a
subterraneous river, a favourite hobby in those days. But there
is not a trace of limestone formation around, nor is there the
hollow echo which inevitably would result from such a tunnel.
Evidently the difference is to be accounted for by the rapidity
of the torrent, the effect of abnormal slope deceiving the eye.
At the Mosî-wa-tunya Falls the gigantic Zambeze, from a breadth
of a thousand yards suddenly plunges into a trough only forty-
five to sixty feet wide: the same is the case with the Brazilian
São Francisco, which, a mile wide above the Cachoeira de Paulo
Affonso, is choked to a minimum breadth of fifty-one feet. At the
Pongo (narrows) de Manseriche also, the Amazonas, "already a
noble river, is contracted at its narrowest part to a width of
only twenty-five toises, bounded on each margin by lofty
perpendicular cliffs, at the end of which the Andes are fairly
passed, and the river emerges on the great plain."[FN#31] Thus
the Yellala belongs to the class of obstructed rapids like those
of the Nile, compared with the unobstructed, of which a fine
specimen is the St. Lawrence. It reminded me strongly of the Búsa
(Boussa) described by Richard Lander, where the breadth of the
Niger is reduced to a stone-throw, and the stream is broken by
black rugged rocks arising from mid-channel. It is probably a
less marked feature than the Congo, for in June, after the
"Malka" or fourteen days of incessant rain, the author speaks of
whirlpools, not of a regular break.

I thus make the distance of the Yellala from the mouth between
116 and 117 miles and the total fall 390 feet, of which about one
half (195) occurs in the sixty-four miles between Boma and the
Yellala: of this figure again 100 feet belong to the section of
five miles between the Vivi and the Great Rapids. The Zambeze,
according to Dr. Livingstone ("First Expedition," p. 284), has a
steeper declivity than some other great rivers, reaching even 7
inches per mile. With 3 to 4 inches, the Ganges, the Amazonas,
and the Mississippi flow at the rate of three knots an hour in
the lowest season and five or six during the flood: what, then,
may be expected from the Nzadi?

According to the people, beyond the small upper fall where
projections shut out the view, the channel smoothens for a short
space and carries canoes. Native travellers from Nkulu usually
take the mountain-path cutting across an easterly bend of the bed
to Banza Menzi, the Manzy of Tuckey's text and the Menzi Macooloo
of his map. It is situated on a level platform 9 miles north of
Nkulu, and they find the stream still violent. The second march
is to Banza Ninga, by the First Expedition called "Inga," an
indirect line of five hours = 15 miles. The third, of about the
same distance, makes Banza Mavunda where, 20 to 24 miles above
the Yellala, Tuckey found the river once more navigable, clear in
the middle and flowing at the rate of two miles an hour--a
retardation evidently caused by the rapids beyond: I have
remarked this effect in the Brazilian "Cachoeiras."[FN#32] Above
it the Nzadi widens, and canoeing is practicable with portages at
the two Sangallas. The southern feature, double like the Yellala,
shows an upper and a lower break, separated by two miles, the
rapids being formed as usual by sunken ledges of rock. Two days'
paddling lead to the northern or highest Sangalla, which
obstructs the stream for 22 miles: Tuckey (p. 184) makes his
Songo Sangalla contain three rapids; Prof. Smith, whose
topography is painfully vague, doubles the number, at the same
time he makes Sanga Jalala (p. 327) the "uppermost fall but one
and the highest." Finally, at Nsundi (on the map Soondy N'sanga),
which was reached on Sept. 9, a picturesque sandy cove at the
opening of a creek behind along projecting point, begins a lake-
like river, three miles broad, with fine open country on both
banks: the explorer describes it as "beautiful scenery equal to
anything on the banks of the Thames."

Here the Nzadi is bounded by low limestone hills already showing
the alluvial basin of Central Africa; and the land is well
populated, because calcareous districts are fertile in the
tropics and provisions are plentiful. Prof. Smith (p. 336) was
"so much enraptured with the improved appearance of the country
and the magnificence of the river, that it was with the greatest
difficulty he was prevailed on to return." Of course, the coaster
middle-men report the people to be cannibals.

From the Vivi Rapids to Nsundi along the windings of the bed is a
total of 115 miles, about the distance of Vivi to the sea; the
direct land march was 75 miles. Captain Tuckey heard nothing of
the Lumini River entering 43 leagues above the Yellala, and he
gives no professional opinion touching the navigability of the
total of six greater rapids which, to judge from what I saw, can
hardly offer any serious obstruction to the development of the
Nzadi.

At Nkulu an intelligent native traveller whom I examined through
the interpreters, strongly advised the line of the southern bank:
five stages would lead to Nsundi, and the ten "kings" on the road
are not such "rapacious gentlemen" as our present hosts. A glance
at Tuckey's map shows that this southern line cuts across a long
westerly deflection of the bed.

I had been warned when setting out that a shipful of goods would
not take me past Nkulu. This was soon confirmed. On the evening
after arrival I had directed my interpreter to sound the "bush-
kings" touching the expense of a march to Nsundi. They modestly
demanded 100 lbs. of beads, fifty kegs of powder, forty demijohns
of rum, twelve uniforms, ten burnuses, a few swords, and 200
whole pieces of various expensive cloths, such as Costa Finas,
Riscados, and satin stripes,--briefly, about £300 for three days'
march. It suggested the modest demand made by King Adooley of
Badagry, from the brothers Lander.

The air of Nkulu was a cordial; the aspect of the land suggested
that it is the threshold to a country singularly fertile and
delicious, in fact, the paradise which Bishop Berkeley (Gaudentio
di Lucca) placed in Central Africa. The heat of the lowlands had
disappeared,--

                    "The scorching ray
          Here pierceth not, impregnate with disease."

The thermometer, it is true, did not sink below 67° (F.), whilst
the "Expedition" (p. 118) had found it 60° in August, even at
Boma during the dewy nights. The lowest temperature of the water
was 75°, and the highest 79°, whereas at the mouth it is
sometimes 83°; Tuckey gives 76°-77°; 74° in the upper river above
the Falls, and 73° where there are limestone springs. The
oxydization of iron suddenly ceased; after a single day's drying,
the plants were ready for a journey to England, and meat which
wrill hardly keep one day in the lowlands is here eatable on the
fifth.

Whilst the important subject of "dash" was being discussed I set
out in my hammock to visit a quitanda or market held hard by. As
we started, the women sang,

          "Lungwá u telemene ko
           Mwanza Ko Yellala o kwenda."

"The boat that arrives at the Mwanza (the River) the same shall
go up to the Yellala" (rapids). It is part of a chant which the
mothers of men now old taught them in childhood, and the sole
reminiscence of the Congo Expedition, whose double boats, the
Ajôjôs of the Brazil, struck their rude minds half a century ago.

These quitandas are attended by people living a dozen miles off,
and they give names to the days, which consequently everywhere
vary. Thus at Boma Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday are
respectively called "Nkenge," "Sona," "Kandu," and "Konzo." This
style of dividing time, which is common throughout Pagan West
Africa, is commonly styled a week: thus the Abbé Proyart tells us
that the Loango week consists of four days, and that on the
fourth the men "rest" by hunting and going to market. Tuckey also
recognizes the "week of four days," opposed to the seven days'
week of the Gold Coast.

After half an hour's run to the north-west my bearers, raising
loud shouts of "Alii! vai sempre!" dashed into the market-place
where about a hundred souls were assembled. The women rose in
terror from their baskets and piles of vendibles; some began
hastily to pack up, others threw themselves into the bush. Order
was soon restored by the interpreter; both sexes and all ages
crowded round me with hootings of wonder, and, when they had
stared their fill, allowed me to sit down under a kind of ficus,
not unlike the banyan-tree (Ficus Indica). Tuckey (p. 181) says
that this fig is planted in all market-places and is considered
sacred; his people got into trouble by piling their muskets
against one of them: I heard of nothing of the kind. The scanty
supplies--a few fowls, sun-dried fish, kola-nuts, beans, and red
peppers--were spread upon skins, or stored in well-worked
baskets, an art carried to perfection in Africa; even the Somali
Bedawin weave pots that will hold water. The small change was
represented by a medium which even Montesquieu would not set down
as a certain mark of civilization. The horse-shoe of Loggun
(Denham and Clapperton), the Fán fleam, the "small piece of iron
like an ace of spades on the upper Nile" (Baker), and the iron
money of the brachycephalic Nyam-nyams described and drawn by
Schwein furth (i. 279), here becomes a triangle or demi-square of
bast-cloth, about 5 inches of max. length, fringed, coloured like
a torchon after a month of kitchen use, and worth one-twentieth
of the dollar or fathom of cloth. These money-mats or coin-clouts
are known to old travellers as Macuitas and Libonges (in Angolan
Libangos). Carli and Merolla make them equivalent to brass money;
the former were grass-cloth a yard long, and ten = 100 reis; in
1694 they were changed at Angola for a small copper coin worth 2
1/2 d., and the change caused a disturbance for which five
soldiers were shot. Silver was represented by "Intagas," thick
cottons the size of two large kerchiefs (=. Is. 6d.) and
"Folingas," finer sorts used for waist-cloths (=. 3s. 6d.); and
gold by Beirames (alii Biramis): Carli says the latter are coarse
Indian cottons 5 ells long and each = 200 reis; others describe
them as fine linen each piece worth 7s. 6d. to 8s. The bank-note
was the "Indian piece or Mulech, a young black about twenty years
of age, worth 20 Mil Keys (dollars) each." (Carli.) In the
Barbots' day each "coin-clout") was equivalent to 2d.; some were
unmarked, whilst others bore the Portuguese arms single or
double. The wilder Kru-men still keep up their "buyapart" (= 25
cents), a cloth 4 inches square and thickly sewn over with
cowries.

The only liquor was palm wine in huge calabashes. The smoking of
Lyamba (Bhang or Cannabis sativa) seems to become more common as
we advance. I did not find the plant growing, as did Dr.
Livingstone at Linyanti and amongst the Batoka ("First
Expedition," 198, 541). The pipe is the gourd of a baobab, which
here sometimes grows a foot and a half long; it is cleared,
filled with water and provided with a wooden tube fixed in the
upper part away from the mouth, and supporting a small "chillam"
or bowl of badly baked clay. The people when smoking affect the
bunched shoulders, the deep inhalation, and the loud and body-
shaking bark, which seems inseparable from the enjoyment of this
stimulant. I have used it for months together, and my conclusion
is, that mostly the cough is an affectation. Tobacco is smoked in
the usual heavy clay pipes, with long mouthpieces of soft wood,
quite as civilized as the best European. "Progress" seems unknown
to the pipe; the most advanced nations are somewhat behind the
barbarians, and in the matter of snuff the Tupi or Brazilian
savage has never been rivalled.

The greater part of the vendors seemed to be women, of the buyers
men; there was more difference of appearance than in any European
fair, and the population about Nkulu seemed to be a very mixed
race. Some were ultra-negro, of the dead dull-black type,
prognathous and long-headed like apes; others were of the red
variety, with hair and eyes of a brownish tinge, and a few had
features which if whitewashed could hardly be distinguished from
Europeans. The tattoo was remarkable as amongst the tribes of the
lower Zambeze.[FN#33] There were waistcoats, epaulettes, braces
and cross-belts of huge welts, and raised polished lumps which
must have cost not a little suffering; the skin is pinched up
between the fingers and sawn across with a bluntish knife, the
deeper the better; various plants are used as styptics, and the
proper size of the cicatrice is maintained by constant pressure,
which makes the flesh protrude from the wound. The teeth were as
barbarously mutilated as the skin; these had all the incisors
sharp-tipped; those chipped a chevron-shaped hole in the two
upper or lower frontals, and not a few seemed to attempt
converting the whole denture into molars. The legs were
undeniably fine; even Hieland Mary's would hardly be admired
here. Whilst the brown mothers smoked and carried their babies,
the men bore guns adorned with brass tacks, or leaned upon their
short, straight, conical "spuds" and hoes, long-handled bits of
iron whose points, after African fashion, passed through the
wood. I nowhere saw the handsome carved spoons, the hafts and
knife-sheaths figured by the Congo Expedition.

We left the quitanda with the same shouting and rushing which
accompanied my appearance.





                          Chapter XV.

                   Return to the Congo Mouth.



In the evening there was a palaver.

I need hardly say that my guide, after being paid to show me
Nsundi, never had the slightest intention to go beyond the
Yellala. Irritated by sleeping in the open air, and by the total
want of hospitality amongst the bushmen, he and his moleques had
sat apart all day, the picture of stubborn discontent, and

                    "Not a man in the place
          But had discontent written large in his face."

I proposed to send back a party for rum, powder, and cloth to the
extent of £150, or half the demand, and my factotum, Selim,
behaved like a trump. Gidi Mavunga, quite beyond self-control,
sprang up, and declared that, if the Mundele would not follow
him, that obstinate person might remain behind. The normal
official deprecation, as usual, made him the more headstrong; he
rushed off and disappeared in the bush, followed by a part of his
slaves, the others crying aloud to him, "Wenda!"-- get out!
Seeing that the three linguisters did not move, he presently
returned, and after a furious address in Fiote began a Portuguese
tirade for my benefit. This white man had come to their country,
and, instead of buying captives, was bent upon enslaving their
Mfumos; but that "Branco" should suffer for his attempt; no
"Mukanda" or book (that is, letter) should go down stream; all
his goods belonged of right to his guide, and thus he would learn
to sit upon the heads of the noblesse, with much of the same
kind.

There are times when the traveller either rises above or sinks to
the level of, or rather below, his party. I had been sitting
abstractedly, like the great quietist, Buddha, when the looks of
the assembly suggested an "address." This was at once delivered
in Portuguese, with a loud and angry voice. Gidi Mavunga, who had
been paid for Nsundi, not for the Yellala, had spoken like a
"small boy" (i.e., a chattel). I had no wish to sit upon other
men's heads, but no man should sit on mine. Englishmen did not
want slaves, nor would they allow others to want them, but they
would not be made slaves themselves. My goods were my own, and
King Nessala, not to speak of Mambuco Prata--the name told--had
made themselves responsible for me. Lastly, if the Senhor Gidi
Mafung wanted to quarrel, the contents of a Colt's six-shooter
were at his disposal.

Such a tone would have made a European furious; it had a contrary
effect upon the African. Gidi Mavunga advanced from his mat, and
taking my hand placed it upon his head, declaring me his
"Mwenemputo." The linguisters then entered the circle, chanted
sundry speeches, made little dances, then bent their knuckles to
earth, much in the position of boys preparing to jump over their
own joined hands, dusted themselves, and clapped palms. Very
opportunely arrived a present from the king of fowls, dried fish
and plantains, which restored joy to the camp. "Mwenemputo," I
must explain, primarily meaning "the King of Portugal," is
applied in East Central Africa to a negro king and chiefs ("The
Lands of the Cazembe," p. 17). In Loango also it is the name of a
high native official, and, when used as in the text, it is
equivalent to Mfumo, chief or head of family.

At night Gidi Mavunga came to our quarters and began to talk
sense. Knowing that my time was limited, he enlarged upon the
badness of the road and the too evident end of the travelling
season, when the great rains would altogether prevent fast
travel. Banza Ninga, the next stage, was distant two or three
marches, and neither shelter nor provisions were to be found on
the way. Here a canoe would carry us for a day (12 miles) to the
Sangala Rapids: then would come the third portage of two days (22
miles) to Nsundi. My outfit at Banza Nokki was wholly
insufficient; the riverine races were no longer tractable as in
the days of his father, when white men first visited the land. My
best plan was to return to Boma at once, organize a party, and
march upon Congo Grande (S. Salvador); there I should find
whites, Portuguese, Englishmen and their "Kru-men" the term
generally applied on the southern coast to all native employés of
foreign traders. If determined upon bring "converted into black
man" I might join some trading party into the interior. As
regards the cloth and beads advanced by me for the journey to
Nsundi, a fair proportion would be returned at Banza Nokki. And
so saying the old fox managed to look as if he meant what he
said.

All this, taken with many a grain, was reasonable. The edge of my
curiosity had been taken off by the Yellala, and nothing new
could be expected from the smaller formations up stream. Time
forbade me to linger at Banza Nkulu. The exorbitant demand had
evidently been made by express desire of Gidi Mavunga, and only a
fortnight's delay could have reduced it to normal dimensions. Yet
with leisure success was evident. All the difficulties of the
Nsundi road would have vanished when faced. The wild people
showed no feeling against foreigners, and the Nkulu linguisters
during their last visit begged me to return as soon as possible
and "no tell lie." I could only promise that their claims should
be laid before the public. Accordingly a report of this trip was
at once sent in to Her Majesty's Foreign Office, and a paper was
read before the British Association of September, 1864.

Early on Thursday morning (Sept. 17) we began the down march. It
was a repetition of the up march, except that all were bent upon
rushing home, like asses to their stables; none of those posés,
or regular halts on the line of march, as practised by well-
trained voyageurs, are known to Congo-land. There was some reason
for the hurry, and travellers in these regions will do well to
remember it, or they may starve with abundance around them. The
kings and chiefs hold it their duty to entertain the outward
bound; but when cloth, beads, and rum have been exhausted, the
returning wanderer sits under a tree instead of entering the
banza, and it is only an exceptional householder who will send
him a few eggs or plantains. They "cut" you, as a rule, more
coolly than ever town man cut a continental acquaintance.
Finally, the self-imposed hardships of the down march break men's
spirits for further attempts, and their cupidity cannot
neutralize their natural indolence thus reinforced.

We entered on the next afternoon Gidi Mavunga's village, where
the lieges received him with shouts and hand-clappings: at the
Papagayo's there was a dance which lasted through that night and
the next. I stayed three days at Chinguvu finishing my sketches,
but to have recovered anything from the guide would have required
three weeks. The old villain relaxed his vigilance over the
women, who for the first time were allowed to enter the doors
without supervision: Merolla treats of this stale trick, and
exclaims,--

          "Ah pereat! didicit fallere si qua virum."

I was reminded of the classical sentiment upon the Rio de S.
Francisco ("Highlands of the Brazil," ii. chap, xiv.), where,
amongst other sentiments, the boatmen severely denounce in song

          "Mulher que engana tropeiro."

As a rule throughout West Africa, where even the wildest tribes
practise it, the "panel dodge" served, as Dupuis remarked, to
supply the slave-trade, and in places like Abeokuta it became a
nuisance: the least penalty to which it leads is the confiscation
of the Lothario's goods and chattels. Foiled in his benevolent
attempt, the covetous senior presently entered the hut, and began
unceremoniously to open a package of cloth which did not belong
to him. Selim cocked his revolver, and placed it handy, so the
goods were afterwards respected.

At length, on Sept. 19, a piece of cloth (=48 yards) procured a
canoe. But calico and beads are not removed from an African
settlement without disturbance: my factotum has given a detailed
account of the scene.[FN#35] Gidi Mavunga so managed that the
porters, instead of proceeding straight to the stream, marched
upon Banza Nokki where his royal son was awaiting us. Worse
still, Nessudikira's royal mother was there, a large old virago,
who smoked like a steam-engine and who "swore awful." The
moleques were armed, but none liked proceeding to extremes; so,
after an unusually loud quarrel, we reached the river in three
hours, and at 9.45 A.M. we set out for Boma.

The down voyage was charming. Instead of hugging the southern
bank, we raced at a swinging pace down mid-stream. A few showers
had wonderfully improved the aspect of the land, where

          "Every tree well from his fellow grew
           With branches broad, laden with leaves new,
           That springen out against the sunny sheen,
           Some very red and some a glad light green;"

and the first breath of spring gave life to the queer
antediluvian vegetation--calabash and cactus, palmyra, bombax,
and fern. An admirable mirage lifted the canoes which preceded us
clean out of the river, and looking down stream the water seemed
to flow up hill, as it does, according to Mrs.---, in the
aqueducts of Madeira. Although the tide began to flow up shortly
after 10 A.M., and the sea-breeze wafe unusually strong, we
covered the forty-five miles in 7 hrs. 15 m. Amidst shouts of
"Izakula Mundeh,"--white men cum agen!--we landed at Boma, and
found that the hospitable Sr. Pereira had waited dinner, to which
I applied myself most "wishedly."

Once more in civilization, we prepared for a march upon S.
Salvador.

No white man at Boma knew anything of the road to the old
Capital; but, as a letter had been received from it after three
days' march, there was evidently no difficulty. I wrote to Porto
da Lenha for an extra supply of "black money," which was
punctually forwarded; both Chico Furano and Nihama Chamvu
volunteered for the journey, and preparations were progressing as
rapidly as could be expected in these slow-moving lands, when
they were brought to the abruptest conclusion. On the 24th Sept.
a letter from the Commodore of the station informed me that I had
been appointed H. M.'s Commissioner to Dahome, and that, unless I
could at once sail in H.M.S. "Griffon," no other opportunity
would be found for some time. The only step left was to apply for
a canoe, and, after a kindly farewell to my excellent host, I
left Boma on the evening of Sept. 25.

With a view of "doing" the mosquitoes, we ran down the Nshibul or
central arm of the Nzadi, and found none of the whirlpools
mentioned by the "Expedition" near Fetish Rock. The bright clear
night showed us silhouettes of dark holms, high and wooded to the
north, and southwards banks of papyrus outlying long straggling
lines of thin islands like a huge caterpillar. The canoe-men
attempted to land at one place, declaring that some king wanted
"dash," but we were now too strong for them: these fellows, if
allowed, will halt to speak every boat on the river. The wind
fell to a dead calm, and five hours and a half sufficed to cover
the thirty miles between Boma and Porto da Lenha. Here Mr. Scott
supplied me with a fine canoe and a fresh crew of seven paddles.

The noon was grey and still as we left the Whydah of the south,
but at 2 P.M. the sea-breeze came up stiff and sudden, the tide
also began to flow; the river roared; the meeting of wind and
water produced what the Indus boatmen call a "lahar" (tide rip),
and the Thalweg became almost as rough as the Yellala. Our canoe
was literally

          "Laying her whole side on the sea,
           As a leaping fish does."

Unwilling to risk swamping my instruments, I put into the
northern bank, where our friend, the palhabote Espérance, passed
under a tricolour, and manned only by Laptots. As we waved a
signal to them, they replied with a straggling fire of musketry
to what they considered a treacherous move on the part of
plundering Musurungus. At sunset a lump of scirrhus before the
sun was so dense that its dark shadow formed a brush like the
trabes of a comet. This soon melted away, and a beautifully
diaphanous night tempted us to move towards the dreary funnel of
darkness which opened ahead. The clouds began to pour; again the
stream became rough, and the swift upper or surface current
meeting the cross-tide below represented an agitated "Race of
Portland." Wet and weary we reached Banana Point on Sunday, Sept.
27, 1863, fortunately not too "late for the mail," and, next day,
I was on board "Griffon," ready for Dahome and for my late host
King Gelele.





                          Chapter XVI.

       The Slaver and the Missionary in the Congo River.



In the preceding pages some details have been given concerning
domestic slavery upon the Congo River. Like polygamy, the system
of barbarous and semi-barbarous races, it must be held
provisional, but in neither case can we see any chance of present
end. Should the Moslem wave of conquest, in a moral as well as a
material form, sweep--and I am persuaded that it will sweep--from
North Africa across the equator, the effect will be only to
establish both these "patriarchal institutions" upon a stronger
and a more rational basis.

All who believe in "progress" are socially anti-slavers, as we
all are politically Republicans. But between the two extremes,
between despotism, in which society is regimented like an army,
and liberty, where all men are theoretically free and equal,
there are infinite shades of solid rule and government which the
wisdom of nations adapts to their wants. The medium of
constitutional monarchy or hereditary presidentship recommends
itself under existing circumstances to the more advanced peoples,
and with good reason; we nowhere find a prevalence of those manly
virtues, disinterestedness and self-sacrifice to the
"respublica," which rendered the endurance of ancient republics
possible. Rome could hardly have ruled the world for centuries
had her merchants supplied Carthage with improved triremes or
furnished the Parthians with the latest style of weapons. We must
be wise and virtuous before we can hope to be good republicans,
and man in the mass is not yet "homo sapiens;" he is not wise,
and certainly he is not virtuous.

The present state of Africa suggests two questions concerning the
abolition of the export slave-trade, which must be kept
essentially distinct from domestic servitude. The first is, "Does
the change benefit the negro?" Into this extensive subject I do
not propose to enter, contenting myself with recording a negative
answer. But upon the second, "Is the world ready for its
abolition?" I would offer a few remarks. They will be ungrateful
to that small but active faction which has laboured so long and
so hard to misinform the English public concerning Africa, and
which is as little fitted to teach anything about the African as
to legislate for Mongolian Tartary. It has prevailed for a time
to the great injury of the cause, and we cannot but see its
effects in almost every step taken by the Englishman, civilian or
soldier, who lands his British opinions and prejudices on the
West Coast, and who, utterly ignoring the fact that the African,
as far as his small interests are concerned, is one of the
clearest sighted of men, unhesitatingly puts forth addresses and
proclamations which he would not think of submitting to
Europeans. But I have faith in my countrymen. If there be any
nation that deserves to be looked upon as the arbiter of public
opinion in Europe, it is England proper, which, to the political
education of many generations, adds an innate sense of
moderation, of justice, and of fair play, and a suspicion of
extreme measures however theoretically perfect, which do not
exist elsewhere. Heinrich Heine expressed this idea after his
Maccabean fashion, "Ask the stupidest Englishman a question of
politics, and he will say something clever; ask the cleverest
Englishman a question of religion and he will say something
stupid." Hence the well-wishers of England can feel nothing but
regret when they find her clear and cold light of reason
obscured, as it has been, upon the negro question by the mists
and clouds of sentimental passion, and their first desire is to
see this weakness pass away.


I unhesitatingly assert--and all unprejudiced travellers will
agree with me--that the world still wants the black hand.
Enormous tropical regions yet await the clearing and the draining
operations by the lower races, which will fit them to become the
dwelling-place of civilized man.

But slave-exportation is practically dead; we would not revive
it, nor indeed could we, the revival would be a new institution,
completely in disaccord with the spirit of the age. It is for us
to find something which shall take its place, and which shall
satisfy the just aspirations of those who see their industry and
energy neutralized by want of labour. I need hardly say that all
requirements would be met by negro-emigration; and that not only
Africa, but the world of the east as well as of the west, call
for some measure of the kind. The "cooly" from Hindostan may in
time become a valuable article, but it will be long before he can
be induced to emigrate in sufficient numbers: the Chinese will be
a mistake when the neglected resources of the mighty "Central
Empire," mineral and others, shall be ready to be developed, as
they soon must, under the supervision of Europeans. It remains
only for us to draw upon the great labour-bank of Negro-land.

A bonâ fide emigration, a free engagé system, would be a boon to
Western and Inner Africa, where the tribes live in an almost
continual state of petty warfare. The anti-slavers and the
abolitionists, of course, represent this to be the effect of the
European trade in man's flesh and blood; but it prevails, and has
ever prevailed, and long will prevail, even amongst peoples which
have never sent a head of negro to the coast. And there is a
large class of men captured in battle, and a host of those
condemned to death by savage superstition, whose lives can be
saved only by their exportation, which, indeed, is the African
form of transportation. "We believe," says the Abbé Proyart
(1776), "that the father sells his son and the prince his
subjects; he only who has lived among them can know that it is
not even lawful for a man to sell his slave, if he be born in the
country, unless he have incurred that penalty by certain crimes
specified by law."

It will be objected that any scheme of the kind must be so
involved in complicated difficulties that it cannot fail to
degenerate into the old export slave-trade. This I deny.
Admitting that such must at first be its tendency, I am persuaded
that the details can so be controlled as to secure the use
without the abuse. Women and children, for instance, should never
be allowed on board ship, unless accompanying husbands and
parents. Those who speak some words of a foreign tongue, English,
French, Spanish, or Portuguese, and on the eastern coast
Hindostani, might lead the way, to be followed in due time by the
wilder races. Probably the best ground for the trial would be the
Island of Zanzibar, where we can completely control its
operations. And what should lend us patience and courage to meet
and to beat down all difficulties is the consideration that
success will be the sole possible means, independent of El Islam,
of civilizing, or rather of humanizing, the Dark Continent. The
excellent Abbé Proyart begins his "History of Loango" with the
wise and memorable words: "Touching the Africans, these people
have vices,--what people is exempt from vice? But, were they even
more wicked and more vicious, they would be so much the more
entitled to the commiseration and good offices of their fellow-
men, and, should the missionary despair of making them
Christians, men ought still to endeavour to make them men."

The "Free Emigration" schemes hitherto attempted have been mere
snares and delusions; chiefly, I hold, because the age was not
ripe for them. In 1844 three agencies were established at Sierra
Leone for supplying hands to British Guiana, Trinidad and
Jamaica. As wages they offered per diem $0.75 to $1, with leave
to return at pleasure; the "liberated" preferred, however, to
live upon sixpence at home, suspecting that the bait was intended
as a lure to captivity. Nor were their fears lulled by the fact
that the agents shipped amongst 250 "volunteers" some seventy-six
wild slaves, fresh captives, who were not allowed to communicate
with their fellow-countrymen ashore. In 1850 certain
correspondents from Liverpool inquired of King "Eyo Honesty" if
he could provide for service in the West Indies 10,000 men,
women, and children, as the "quotum from the Old Calabar River,"
which would mean 100,000 from the West Coast. "He be all same ole
slave-trade," very justly remarked that knowing potentate: he
added, that he would respect the Suppression Treaty with England,
and that he personally preferred palm-oil, but that all the
"Calabar gentlemen" and the neighbouring kings would be glad to
supply slaves at a fixed price, four boxes of brass and copper
rods.

Followed, in 1852-3, the gigantic scheme of MM. Régis et Cie,
which began operations upon the East as well as the West Coast of
Africa. Having studied it on both sides of the continent, I could
not help forming the worst opinion of the attempt. The agents
never spoke of it except as a slave- trade; the facetiæ touching
"achat" and "rachat" were highly suited to African taste, and I
have often heard them declare before the people that "captives"
are the only articles which can profitably be exported from the
coasts--in fact, as old Caspar Barlé said, "precipuæ merces ipsi
Ethiopes sunt." I subjoin to this chapter the form of French
passport; it will serve, when a bonâ fide emigration shall be
attempted, to show "how not to do it." Happily this "emigration"
has come to an end": M. Régis, seeing no results, gave orders to
sell off all the goods in his factories, and to retain only one
clerk as housekeeper. The ouvriers libres deserted and fled in
all directions, for fear of being "put in a cannibal pot" and
being eaten by the white anthropophagi.

The history of missionary enterprise in the Congo regions is not
less interesting than the slave-trade. The first missioners
sailed in December, 1490, under Goncalo de Sousa; of the three
one were killed by the heat, and another having made himself
"Chaplain to the Congolan Army," by a "Giaghi" chief. The seed
sown by these friars was cultivated by twelve Franciscans of the
Order of Observants. The Right Reverend Fathers of the Company
appeared in 1560 with the Conquistador Paulo Dias de Novaes.
According to Lopez de Lima, who seems to endorse the saying, "Si
cum Jesuitis, non cum Jesu itis," they worried one captain-
general to death, and they attempted to found in Congo-land
another Uruguay or Paraguay. But here they totally failed, and,
as yet indeed, they have not carried out, either in East or West
Africa, the celebrated boast popularly attributed to their
general, Borgia (1572):

          "We shall come in like the lambs;
           We shall be driven out like the dogs,
           We shall rush like the wolves;
           We shall be icnewed like the eagles."

The baptism of D. Alvaro I. (1491), the founding of the cathedral
at S. Salvador (1534), the appointment of the Bishop and Chapter,
and their transfer to São Paulo de Loanda (1627), have already
been alluded to.

According to Fathers Carli and Merolla, Pope Alexander VII. sent
twelve to fifteen Capuchins and apostolic missioners, who
baptized the King and Queen of Congo and the Count of Sonho.
Between A.D. 1490 and 1690 were the palmy days of Christianity in
Congo-land, and for two centuries it was more or less the state
religion. After this great effort missionary zeal seems to have
waxed cold, and disestablishment resulted, as happens in such
cases, from unbelief within and violent assaults from without.
Under the attacks of the Dutch and French the Church seems to
have lost ground during the eighteenth century. In A.D. 1682 the
number of propagandists in Sonho fell from a father superior and
six missioners to two (Merolla). In A.D. 1700 James Barbot found
at Sonho only two Portuguese friars of the Order of Bernardins.
In A.D. 1768 the Loango Mission was established, and in A.D. 1777
the fathers were followed by four Italian priests sent by the
Propaganda for the purpose of re-christianizing Sonho. Embarking
at La Rochelle they entered the Nzadi, where one died of poison,
and the survivors escaped only by stratagem. Christianity fell
before the old heathenism, and in 1814 we find the King of Congo,
D. Garcia V., complaining to His Most Faithful Majesty that
missioners were sadly wanted. Captain Tuckey's "Expedition" (A.D.
1816) well sets forth the spiritual destitution of the land. He
tells us that three years before his arrival some missionaries
had been murdered by the Sohnese; the only specimen he met was an
ignorant half-caste with a diploma from the Capuchins of Loanda,
and a wife plus five concubines. In 1863 I found that all traces
of Christianity had disappeared.

These reverends--who were allowed to dispense with any
"irregularity" except bigamy or wilful murder, and "to read
forbidden books except Machiavel,"--took the title of Nganga
Mfumo[FN#35]--Lord Medicine-man. In the fulness of early zeal
they built at S. Salvador the cathedral of Santa Cruz, a Jesuit
College, a Capuchin convent, the residence of the father
superior, maintained by the King of Portugal; a religious house
for the Franciscans, an establishment for the Bishop and his
Chapter, and half-a-dozen stone churches. All these edifices have
long been in ruins.

Father Cavazzi da Monte Cuccoli, Denis de Carli, and Merolla,
themselves missioners, have left us ample accounts of the
ecclesiastical rule which, during its short tenure of office,
bore a remarkable family resemblance to that of the Jesuit
missions in South America. The religious despotism was complete,
a tyranny grossly aggravated by the credulity, the bigotry, and
the superstition,--I will not say of the age, because such things
are of all ages, but of the imperfect education which the age
afforded. There was no improvement, but rather a deterioration
from the days of Pliny. One father tells the converts that comets
forbode ill to the world. Another describes a bird not much
unlike a sparrow, at first sight it seems wholly black, but upon
a nearer view it looks blue; the excellency of its song is that
it harmoniously and articulately pronounces the name of Jesus
Christ. A third remarks, "they (the heathen) are excited by the
heavens forming a cross under the zone; they are excited by the
mountains which have the cross carved on them, without knowing by
whom; they are excited by the earth which draws the crucifix in
its fruit called Nicefo." Yet all these things are of little
force to move the hearts of those Gentiles who scoffingly cry,
"When we are sick, forsooth, the wood of this cross will cure
us!" Another father, resolving to denounce certain heathen
practices, placed on the Feast of Purification an image of the
Virgin in relievo upon the altar, and "with a dagger struck
through her breast on which the blood followed:" like Mark
Antony, he "improved the occasion," and sent home the fathers of
families to thrash their wives and daughters who were shut up in
the "paint houses." It is gravely related how a hungry friar
dines copiously on fish with an angel; how another was saved by
the "father of miracles, the glorious Saint Anthony of Padua,"
whom another priest, taking as his patron, sees before his
hammock. A woman, bearing a child in her arms and supposed to be
the Virgin, attends the Portuguese army, and she again appears in
the shape of a "beautiful beggar." The miraculous resurrection of
a boiled cock is gravely chronicled. A certain man lived 380
years "at the intercession of Saint Francis d'Assise." Of course,
the missioners saw water-monsters in the Congo River. A child
"came from his mother's womb with a beard and all his teeth,
perhaps to show he was born into the world grown old in vice." A
certain scoffer "being one day to pass a river with two
companions, was visibly taken up by an invisible hand into the
air. One of his companions, going to take hold of him by the
feet, had such a cuff given him that he fell down in the boat,
and the offender was seen no more." Father Merolla talks of a
breed in the Cabo Verde Islands "between bulls and she-asses,
which they compassed by binding a cow's hide upon the latter:" it
would be worth inquiring if this was ever attempted, and it might
add to our traditions about the "Jumart." And the tale of the
elephant-hunters deceiving the animals by anointing themselves
with their droppings deserves investigation. Wounds of poisoned
arrows are healed by that which produced them. A woman's milk
cures the venomous foam which cobras spit into the eyes. A snake
as big as a beam kills and consumes men with its look. An "ill
liver," reprimanded by his father for vicious inclinations, fires
a pistol at him; the rebound of the bullet from the paternal
forehead, which remains whole, severely wounds the would-be
parricide: the ablest surgeons cannot heal the hurt, and the
flesh ever continues to be sore and raw upon the forehead, acting
like the brand of Cain.

It is said that two of a trade never agree, and accordingly we
find the hottest wrath of the missioners vented upon their rival
brethren, the Ngangas or medicine-men in Africa, and the Pages or
Tupi doctors in South America. The priestly presence deprives an
idol of all its powers, the sacerdotal power annihilates all
charms and devices, "thereby showing that the performances of
Christ's ministers are always above those of the devil's." These
"Scinghili," or "Gods of the Earth" (magicians), can sink boats,
be ferried over rivers by crocodiles, and "converse with tigers,
serpents, lions and other wild animals." The "great ugly wizards"
are "sent martyrs to the devil" on all possible occasions. One
father soundly belabours one of these "wicked Magi" with the cord
of his order, invoking all the while the aid of Saint Michael and
the rest of the saints: he enters the "hellish tabernacle, arming
himself frequently with the sign of the cross," but he retreats
for fear of a mischief from the "poor deluded pagans,"--showing
that he is, after all, but an "unbelieving Thomas." On the other
hand, the wizards solidly revenged themselves by killing and
eating Father Philip da Salesia. And the deluded ones must have
found some difficulty in discovering the superiority of exotic
over indigenous superstitions. When there is a calm at sea the
sailors stick their patron against the mast, and kneeling before
him say, "Saint Antony, our countryman, you shall be pleased to
stand there, till you have given us a fair wind to continue our
voyage!" A certain bishop of Congo makes the sign of the cross
upon a "banyan-tree," whereupon it immediately died, like the
fig-tree cursed by our-Saviour. A ship is "sunk in a trice" for
not having a chaplain on board her. The missioners strongly
recommend medals, relics, Agni-Dei, and palm-leaves consecrated
on Palm Sundays. They rage furiously against and they flog those
who wear "wizards' mats," against magic cords fastened round
young children as amulets, and against the teeth and bones of
animals, and cloth made from the rind of certain trees carried as
preservatives from disease and supernatural influences: even
banners in burial-places are "superstitious and blamable." They
claim the power of stopping rain by cursing the air, and of
producing it by prayer, and by "a devout procession to Our Lady
of Pinda," a belief truly worthy of the Nganga; and a fast ship
is stranded that "men may learn to honour holidays better." When
the magicians swear falsely they either burst like Judas or
languish and die--"a warning to be more cautious how they jest
with God." An old hag, grumbling after a brutish manner, proceeds
to bewitch a good father to death by digging a hole and planting
a certain herb. The ecclesiastic resolved to defeat her object by
not standing long in one place. He remembers the saying of the
wise man, "Mulier nequam plaga mortis;" and at last by ordering
her off in the name of the Blessed Trinity and the Holy Virgin,
"withal gently blowing towards her," she all of a sudden giving
three leaps, and howling thrice, flies away in a trice. The
Bolungo or Chilumbo oath or ordeal is, of course, a "hellish
ceremony." Demons play as active a part in Africa as in China.
The Portuguese nuncio permits the people in their simplicity to
light candles before and to worship the so-called "Bull of the
Blessed Sacrament," that by which Urban VIII. allowed the Congo
kings to be crowned after the Catholic manner by the Capuchins,
because the paper bears the "venerable effigies."

Priests may be good servants, but they are, mundanely speaking,
bad masters. The ecclesiastical tyranny exercised upon the people
from the highest to the lowest goes far to account for the
extinction of Christianity in the country where so much was done
to spread it. The kings of Congoland, who "tread on the lion in
the kingdom of their mothers" must abjectly address their
spiritual lords. "I conjure you, prostrate at your holy feet, to
hearken to my words." Whilst the friars talk of "that meekness
which becomes a missioner," their unwise and unwarrantable
interference extends to the Count of Sonho himself; whose
election was not valid unless published in the church, owning
withal that, "though a Black, he is an absolute Prince; and not
unworthy of a Crown, though he were even in Italy, considering
the number of his Servants and the extent of his Dominions." They
issue eight ordinances or "spiritual memorandums" degrading
governors of cities and provinces who are not properly married,
who neglect mass, or who do not keep saints' festivals. Flogging
seems to have been the punishment of all infractions of
discipline, for those who used "magic guards" to their fields
instead of "setting the sign of the Cross;" and for all who did
not teach their children "to repeat, so many times a day, the
Rosary or the Crown, in honour of the Blessed Virgin, to fast on
Saturdays, to eat no flesh on Wednesdays, and such things used
among Christians." One of the Mwanis (governors) refuses to grub
up and level with his own hands a certain grove where the
"hellish trade" (magic) was practised; he is commanded to
discipline himself in the church during the whole time of
celebrating mass. If the governor is negligent in warning the
people that a missioner has arrived, "he will receive a deserved
punishment, for we make it our business to get such a person
removed from his employment, even within his year,"--a system of
temporal penalties affixed to spiritual lâches not unknown
elsewhere. The following anecdote will show the style of reproof.
Father Benedict da Belvedere, a Neapolitan who had preached at
Rome and was likewise confessor to the nuns, heard the chief
elector, one of the principal nobles, asking the heretical
question, "Are we not all to be saved by baptism?" A "sound box
on the ear" was the reply, and it led to a tumult. The head of
the mission sent for the offended dignitary, and offered him
absolution if he would sincerely recant his words and beg pardon
of the churchman militant. The answer was, "That would be
pleasant indeed; he was the aggressor, yet I must make the
excuse! Must I receive a blow, and, notwithstanding, be thought
to have done wrong?" But the peace-maker explained that the blow
was given not to offend, but to defend from hearkening to
heresies; that it was administered, moreover, out of paternal
affection by a spiritual father, whom it did not mis-become, to a
son who was not dishonoured by receiving it. The unfortunate
elector not only suffered in the ear, but was also obliged to
make an abject apology, and to kiss the offender's feet before he
was re-admitted to communion. At Maopongo the priests lost favour
with the court and the women by whipping the queen, and, by the
same process they abated the superhuman pretensions of the
blacksmith.

When the chiefs and princes were so treated, what could the
subjects expect? The smallest ecclesiastical faults were punished
with fining and a Talmudic flogging, and for disobedience, a man
was sent "bound to Brazil, a thing they are more than ordinarily
afraid of." A man taking to wife, after the Mosaic law, a woman
left in widow-hood by his kinsman, is severely scourged, and the
same happens to a man who marries his cousin, besides being
deprived of a profitable employment. Every city and town in Sonho
had a square with a central cross, where those who had not
satisfied the Easter command or who died unconfessed were buried
without privilege of clergy. The missioners insist upon their
privilege of travelling free of expense, and make a barefaced use
of the corvée. The following is the tone of a mild address to the
laity: "Some among you are like your own maccacos or monkeys
amongst us who, keeping possession of anything they have stolen,
will sooner suffer themselves to be taken and killed, than to let
go their prey. So impure swine wallow in their filth and care not
to be cleansed."

A perpetual source of trouble was of course the slave-trade:
negroes being the staple of the land, and ivory the other and
minor item, the great profits could not fail to render it the
subject of contention. The reasons why the Portuguese never
succeeded in making themselves masters of Sonho are reduced by
the missioner annalists to three. Firstly, the opposition of the
people caused by fear; secondly, the objections of the Sonhese to
buying arms and ammunition; and, thirdly, the small price paid by
the Portuguese for "captives." The "Most Reverend Cardinal Cibo,"
writing in the name of the Sacred College, complained that the
"pernicious and abominable abuse of slave-selling" was carried on
under the eyes of the missioners, and peremptorily ordered them
to remedy the evil. Finding this practically impossible, the holy
men salved their consciences by ordering their flocks not to
supply negroes to the heretical Hollanders and English, "whose
religion is so very contrary to ours," but to the Portuguese, who
would "withdraw the poor souls out of the power of Lucifer." One
father goes so far, in his fear of heretical influences, as to
remunerate by the gift of a slave the dealer Ferdinando Gomez,
who had supplied him with "a flask of wine for the sacrament and
some other small things," yet he owns F. Gomez to be a rogue.

As the Portuguese would not pay high prices like the heretics,
disturbances resulted, and these were put down by the desperate
expedient of shutting the church-doors--a suicidal act not yet
quite obsolete. Whereupon the Count of Sonho, we are told,
"changed his countenance almost from black to yellow," and
complained to the bishop at Loanda that the sacraments were not
administered: the appeal was in vain, and, worse, an extra aid
was sent to the truculent churchmen. Happily for them, the small-
pox broke out, and the ruler was persuaded by his subjects to do
the required penance. Appearing at the convent, unattended, with
a large rope round his neck, clad in sackcloth, crowned with
thorns, unshod, and carrying a crucifix, he knelt down and kissed
the feet of the priest, who said to him, "If thou hast sinned
like David, imitate him likewise in thy repentance!"

The schismatics caused abundant trouble Captain Cornelius Clas
"went about sowing heretical tares amidst the true corn of the
Gospel;" amongst other damnable doctrines and subtleties, this
nautical and volunteer theologian persuaded the blacks, whom he
knew to be desirous of greater liberty in such matters, that
baptism is the only sacrament necessary to salvation, because it
takes away original sin, as the blood of the Saviour actual sin.
He furthermore (impudently) disowned the real presence in the
consecrated Host; he invoked Saint Anthony, although his tribe
generally denies that praying to saints can be of any use to man;
and he declared that priests should preach certain doctrines
(which, by the way, were perniciously heretical). Thus in a
single hour he so prevailed upon those miserable negroes that
their hearts became quite as black as their faces. An especially
offensive practice of the Hollanders, in the eyes of the good
shepherds, was that of asking the feminine sheep for a whiff of
tobacco--it being a country custom to consider the taking a pipe
from a woman's mouth a "probable earnest of future favours." When
an English ship entered the river, the priests forbade by
manifesto the sale of slaves to the captain, he being a Briton,
ergò a heretic, despite the Duke of York. The Count of Sonho
disobeyed, and was excommunicated accordingly: he took his
punishment with much patience, although upon occasions of reproof
he would fly into passions and disdains; he was reconciled only
after obliging 400 couples that lived in concubinage to lawful
wedlock, and thus a number of "strayed souls was reduced to
matrimony."

We can hardly wonder that, under such discipline, a large
ecclesiastical body was necessary to "maintain the country in its
due obedience to the Christian faith," and that, despite their
charity in alms and their learning, no permanent footing was
possible for the strangers. Nor can we be astonished that the
good fathers so frequently complain of being poisoned. On one
occasion a batch of six was thus treated near Bamba. In this
matter perhaps they were somewhat fanciful, as the white man in
India is disposed to be. One of them, for instance cured himself
with a "fruit called a lemon" and an elk-hoof, from what he took
to be poison, but what was possibly the effect of too much pease
and pullet broth. In "O Muata Cazembe "(pp. 65-66), we find that
the Asiatic Portuguese attach great value to the hoof of the
Nhumbo (A. gnu), they call it "unha de grãbesta," and use it even
in the gotta-coral (epilepsy).

And yet many of these ecclesiastics, whom Lopez de Lima justly
terms "fabulistas," were industrious and sensible men, where
religion was not concerned. They carefully studied the country,
its "situation, possessions, habitations, and clothing." They
formed always outside their faith the justest estimate of their
black fellow-creatures. I cannot too often repeat Father
Merolla's dictum, "The reader may perceive that the negroes are
both a malicious and subtle people that spend the most part of
their time in circumventing and deceiving."

Nor has spiritual despotism been confined to the Catholic
missions in West Africa: certain John Knoxes in the Old Calabar
River have repeated, especially in the case of the king "young
Eyo," whom they excluded from communion, all the abuses and the
errors of judgment of the seventeenth century with the
modifications of the nineteenth. And we must not readily endorse
Dr. Livingstone's professional opinion. "In view of the desolate
condition of this fine missionary field, it is more than probable
that the presence of a few Protestants would soon provoke the
priests, if not to love, to good works." Such is not the history
of our propagandism about the Cape of Good Hope. Dr. Gustav
Fritsch ("The Natives of South Africa," 1872), thus speaks of the
missionary Livingstone, who must not be confounded with the great
explorer Livingstone: "A man who is borne onward by religious
enthusiasm and a glowing ambition, without our being able to say
which of these two levers works more powerfully in his soul.
Certain it is that he endured more labours and overcame more
geographical difficulties than any other African traveller either
before or after him; yet it is also sure that, on account of the
defective natural-historical education of the author, and the
indiscreet partisanship for the natives against the settlers, his
works have spread many false views concerning South Africa."
This, I doubt not, will be the verdict of posterity. See
"Anthropologia," in which are included the Proceedings of the
London Anthropological Society (inaugurated 22 January, 1873. No.
1, October, 1873. London: Baillière, Tindall, and Co.) The Review
(pp. 89-102), bears the well-known initials J. B. D., and it is
not saying too much that no man in England is so well fitted as
Dr. Davis to write it. I quote these passages without any feeling
of disrespect for the memory of the great African explorer. Truth
is a higher duty even than generous appreciation of a heroic
name, and the time will come when Negrophilism must succumb to
Fact.





                         Chapter XVII.

                      Concluding Remarks.



I have thus attempted to trace a picture of the Congo River in
the latter days of the slave-trade, and of its lineal descendant,
"L'Immigration Africaine." The people at large are satisfied, and
the main supporters of the traffic--the chiefs, the "medicine-
men," and the white traders--have at length been powerless to
arrest its destruction.

And here we may quote certain words of wisdom from the "Congo
Expedition" in 1816: "It is not to be expected that the effects
of abolition will be immediately perceptible; on the contrary, it
will probably require more than one generation to become
apparent: for effects, which have been the consequence of a
practice of three centuries, will certainly continue long after
the cause is removed." The allusion in the sentence which I have
italicized, is of course, to the American exportation--domestic
slavery must date from the earliest ages. These sensible remarks
conclude with advocating "colonization in the cause of
civilization;" a process which at present cannot be too strongly
deprecated.

That the Nzadi is capable of supplying something better than
slaves may be shown by a list of what its banks produce. Merolla
says in 1682: "Cotton here is to be gathered in great abundance,
and the shrubs it grows on are so prolific, that they never
almost leave sprouting." Captain Tuckey ("Narrative," p. 120)
declares "the only vegetable production at Boma of any
consequence in commerce is cotton, which grows wild most
luxuriantly, but the natives have ceased to gather it since the
English have left off trading to the river," I will not advocate
tobacco, cotton and sugar; they are indigenous, it is true, but
their cultivation is hardly fitted to the African in Africa.
Copper in small quantities has been brought from the interior,
but the mineral resources of the wide inland regions are wholly
unknown. If reports concerning mines on the plateau be
trustworthy, there will be a rush of white hands, which must at
once change, and radically change, all the conditions of the
riverine country. Wax might be supplied in large quantities; the
natives, however, have not yet learnt to hive their bees. Ivory
was so despised by the slave-trade, that it was sent from the
upper Congo to Mayumba and the other exporting harbours; demand
would certainly produce a small but regular supply.

The two staples of commerce are now represented by palm-oil,
which can be produced in quantities over the lowlands upon the
whole river delta, and along the banks from the mouth to Boma, a
distance of at least fifty direct miles. The second, and the more
important, is the arachis, or ground-nut, which flourishes
throughout the highlands of the interior, and which, at the time
of my visit, was beginning to pay. As the experience of some
thirty years on different parts of the West Coast has proved,
both these articles are highly adapted to the peculiarities of
the negro cultivator; they require little labour, and they
command a ready, a regular, and a constant sale.

When time shall be ripe for a bonâ fide emigration, the position
of Boma, at the head of the delta, a charming station, with
healthy air and delicious climate, points it out as the head-
quarters. Houses can be built for nominal sums, the neighbouring
hills offer a sanatorium, and due attention to diet and clothing
will secure the white man from the inevitable sufferings that
result from living near the lower course.

With respect to the exploration of the upper stream, these pages,
compared with the records of the "First Congo Expedition," will
show the many changes which time has brought with it, and will
suggest the steps most likely to forward the traveller's views.
At some period to come explorers will follow the line chosen by
the unfortunate Tuckey; but the effects of the slave-trade must
have passed away before that march can be made without much
obstruction. When Lieutenant Grandy did me the honour of asking
my advice, I suggested that he might avoid great delay and
excessive outlay by "turning" the obstacle and by engaging
"Cabindas" instead of Sierra Leone men. At the Royal Geographical
Society (Dec. 14th, 1874) he thus recorded his decision: "For the
guidance of future travellers in the Congo country, I would
suggest that all the carriers be engaged at Sierra Leone, where
any number can be obtained for 1s. 3d. a day. From my experience
of them I can safely say they will be found to answer every
requirement, and the employment of them would render an
expedition entirely independent of the natives, who, by their
cowardice and constant desertion, entailed upon us such heavy
expenses and serious delays. My conviction, after nearly four
years of travel upon the West African coast, is this: if Sierra
Leone men be used, they must be mixed with Cabindas and with
Congoese "carregadores," registered in presence of the Portuguese
authorities at S. Paulo de Loanda.

I conclude with the hope that the great Nzadi, one of the
noblest, and still the least known of the four principal African
arteries, will no longer be permitted to flow through the White
Blot, a region unexplored and blank to geography as at the time
of its creation, and that my labours may contribute something,
however small, to clear the way for the more fortunate explorer.




                                        Appendix


                                           I.

                                      METEORLOGICAL



Instruments used for altitudes:--
          Pocket aneroid, corrected  +0.55, "R.G.S"
          Casella's Alpine Sympiesometer, corrected to 67° (F.).

N.B.--    Returning to Fernando Po, found that part of the liquid has lodged in upper
          bulb, and therefore corrected index error by standard aneroid 1.15 (Symp. =
          29.258, and standard, 30.400).

Observations at the Congo mouth in February, 1863 (from log of H.M.S. "Griffon").

    Thermometer    Barometer           Winds               Place
Engine     in sea.                 Force & Direction
Room.                              A.M.      P.M.


86°       76°       29.90     (1)  S.E. (1)  N.N.W.    Loanda.
92°       77°       29.92     (1)  S.W. (2)  W.N.W.    En route to Congo.
108°      76°       29.90     (1)  S.   (3)  S.S.W.    En route to Congo.
86°       78°       29.90     (2)  S.   (3)  W.        En route to Congo.
88°       78°       29.90     (2)  S.W. (2)  S.S.W.    En route to Congo.
94°       80°       29.90     (2)  S.E. (2)  S.W.      En route to Congo.
90°       83°       29.90     (2)  S.   (2-3)S.        Congo.
90°       80°       29.90     (0)  Calm (1)  W.        Congo.



(Signed)          F. F. Flynne,
                     Assistant-Surgeon in Charge.








Place and Date.     Time of Day.   Thermometer.   Symp.               Remarks.

9th September  6 a.m.          65°    28.00 cor. 29.12 Cold morning, light wind from N.N.E.,
   Banza nokki 9 a.m.          72°    27.70 cor. 28.82   threatened rain, 8 a.m.; noon misty,
on hills above Noon.           78°    27.90 cor. 29.02   day hazy; 3 p.m., sun hot, wind cooler
river          3 p.m.          80.5°  27.85 cor. 28.97   from west; evening, stiff sea-breeze,
               6 p.m.          72°    27.90 cor. 29.02   people complain of cold; night, heavy
                                                         dew.

10th Sept.     6 a.m.          67°    27.90 cor. 29.02 Misty morning, warm at 9 a.m., wind; noon,
   Same place, 9 a.m.          75°    27.75 cor. 28.87   hot sun, high sea-breeze; 3 p.m., hot
Nokki.         Noon.           83°    27.85 cor. 28.97   sun, cool west wind; cloudy evening;
               3 p.m.          85°    27.75 cor. 28.87   windy night, dew cold and heavy.
               6 p.m.          74°    27.85 cor. 28.97
          Altitude of Nokki above sea, 1,430 feet.

11th Sept.     9 a.m.          77°    27.70 cor. 28.82 Misty morning, warm but clouding over;
   Banza       Noon.           87°    27.55 cor. 28.67   at noon high sea-breeze, glare and hot
Chingufu       3 p.m.          83°    27.45 cor. 28.57   sun, when clouds break 97° in sun,
above Nokki;   6 p.m.          73°    27.50 cor. 28.62   2 p.m.; 3 p.m., high sea-breeze up
see also 18th                                            river; 6 p.m., cold sea-breeze, cloudy
and 19th Sept.                                           sky.
          Altitude of Chingufu, 1,703 feet.

          Chingufu

12th Sept.          6 a.m.     65°    27.70 cor. 28.82 Clear fine morning; high west wind
  First observation      Nekolo.                         at 6 a.m.; pocket aneroid 29.00
  Chingufu,         9 a.m.     76°    28.50 cor. 29.62 Shady verandah facing to west; at
others at Nekolo    Noon.      84°    28.35 cor. 29.47   noon aneroid 30.05; 3 p.m., hot
lower down & near   3 p.m.     85°    28.40 cor. 29.52   sun, westerly breeze, few clouds;
river.              6 p.m.     77°    28.30 cor. 29.42   6 p.m., very clear, east wind
                                                         strong; no dew at night.

                         Negolo Nkulu.
13th Sept.          6 a.m.     70°    28.45 cor. 29.57 Close cloudy morning; 9 a.m.,
  Negolo and near   9 a.m.     77°    28.50 cor. 29.62 alternately clear and cloudy,
  Congo River.      Noon.      90°    28.45 cor. 29.57 glare, no wind; noon bright and
                                                       sultry, no clouds; 3 p.m., in shady
                                                       cove 10 feet above river; rain at
                                                       5.30 p.m., lasted two hours;
                                                       dispersed by westerly breeze.
                         Cove near river.
                    3 p.m.     94°    29.10 cor. 30.22
                         Height of Negolo, 828 feet.

                         Left bank.
14th Sept           6 a.m.     74°    29.30 cor 30.50  Dull, warm, and cloudy.
                         Right bank.
Banza Vivi on       9 a.m.     84°    29.35 cor. 30.57 Aneroid 30.60, dull day.
  hills above right Noon.      80°    28.95 cor. 30.07 Anerodi 30.10 dull day, very little
  bank.             3 p.m.     84°    28.35 cor. 29.47   breeze, village shut in, clouds
                    6 p.m.     79°    28.85 cor. 29.97   from west

                         Banza Vivi.
15th Sept.          6 a.m.     74°    29.15 cor. 30.25 Thick drizzle from west, no wind.
                         At Banza Simbo, half way up Vivi range, aneroid 29.42.
Banza Nkulu         Noon       78°    28.10 cor. 29.22 Under tree facing north; puffs of
  above rapids.                                          west wind, threatened rain, none
                                                         came.
                    6 p.m.     75°    28.10 cor. 29.22 In veranda facing north-east; clear
                                                         night, heavy dew.

                         Banza Nkulu.
16th Sept.          6 a.m.     69°    28.20 cor. 29.32 Grass wet, heavy dew, rain
                                                         threatened, aneroid 29.50.
                         100 feet above rapids.
                    7.30 a.m.  73°    29.25 cor. 30.37 Aneroid 30.55.
Banza Nkulu again   Noon.      80°    28.10 cor. 29.22 Aneroid 29.55, dull, cloudy, rain
                                                         threatened.
                    3 p.m.     75°    28.00 cor. 29.12 Dull day, clearer towards evening,
                    6 p.m.     75°    28.00 cor. 29.12   very heavy dew.
                         Altitude of Nkulu, 1212 feet.
                         Altitude of Yellala Rapids, 390 feet.

                         Nkulu.
17th Sept.          5.30 a.m.  67°    28.15 cor. 29.27 Grey, cool; threatens sunny day.
                         Right bank of river.
                    9.20 a.m.  77°    29.30 cor. 30.42 Cool west wind.
                         In canoe on river below Little Rapids.
                    10.50 a.m. 81°    20.20 cor. 30.32 Aneroid 30.57(59)
                         Left bank 20 feet above water, under fig-tree facing north.
                    Noon.      81°    29.20 cor. 30.32 Aneroid 30.50.
  Negolo Town       3 p.m.     83°    28.30 cor. 29.42 Day hot, aneroid in verandah 30.50.
                         Banza Chingufu.
                    6 p.m.     71°    27.55 cor. 28.67 Clear evening, misty towards night,
                                                         young moon with halo.
                         Height of river below Vivi Fall, 195 feet.

18th Sept.          6 a.m.     65°    27.60 cor. 28.72 Cool, grey, no wind.
  At Chingufu as    9 a.m.     76°    27.65 cor. 28.77 Strong land wind, from east, no
  before.                                                sun, heavy clouds N.E.
                    Noon.      90°    27.50 cor. 28.62 High west wind, hot sun.
                    3.30 p.m.  88°    27.35 cor. 28.47 Clear at 1 p.m., thermometer 100°
                                                         little wind, sun hot.
                    6 p.m.     77°    27.45 cor. 28.57 Clear evening, no dew, misty moon,
                                                         high sea-breeze at night.

19th Sept.          6 a.m.     67°    27.70 cor. 28.82 Still grey morning, no wind.
  At Chingufu.      9.30 a.m.  76°    27.65 cor. 28.77 Lighter, wind from west.
                    Noon.      81°    27.60 cor. 28.72 Dull, light west wind.
                    3 p.m.     88°    27.45 cor. 28.57 Cloudy and sunny, west wind.
                    6 p.m.     72°    27.50 cor. 28.62 Clear, fine, little wind.
                         How do these agree with September 11?

                         Chingufu.
20th Sept.          6 a.m.     69°    27.70 cor. 28.82 Fine, clear, and still morning.
                         On river.
  Down river        9 a.m.     82°    29.35 cor. 30.47 Hot day, aneroid 30.55; at 10 a.m.
                                                         29.85.
                         Off Chacha village on river.
                    Noon.      87°    29.35 cor. 30.47 Sea-breeze, sun hot, but obscured
                                                         by smoke of bush fires.
                         On river.
                    3 p.m.     86°    29.20 cor. 30.32 Aneroid 30.40, stiff sea breeze.
                         Last observation taken about 5 miles above Boma.

21 Sept.            9 a.m.     76°    29.30 cor. 30.42 Cool, cloudy, pleasant.
  At Boma.          Noon.      81.5°  29.25 cor. 30.37 Dull, threatens rain.
                    3 p.m.     86°    29.25 cor. 30.37 Dull, muggy, cloudy.

22nd Sept.          6 a.m.     77°    29.10 cor. 30.22 Dull, cloudy, cool; instrument in
  Boma.                                                  verandah facing south-west.
                    9 a.m.     76°    20.30 cor. 30.42
                    Noon.      84°    29.30 cor. 30.42 Dull and warm.
                    3 p.m.     84°    29.10 cor. 30.22 Very dull, strong sea-breeze comes
                                                         up in afternoon, and lasts till
                                                         9 p.m.
                    6 p.m.     79°    29.20 cor. 30.32 Dull night.
                         Mean altitude of Boma (commonly called Embomma), 73 feet.

23rd Sept.          6 a.m.     70.5°  29.20 cor. 30.32 Dull morning
  Boma.             9 a.m.     81.75° 29.25 cor. 30.37 Clear and sunny.
                    3 p.m.     92°    29.10 cor. 30.22 Clear, hot, and sunny.
                    6 p.m.     79°    29.15 cor. 30.27 High wind, sun.

24th Sept.          6 a.m.     74°    29.20 cor. 30.32 Cool and clear.
  Boma.             9 a.m.     81°    29.30 cor. 30.42 Hot and clear.
                    12.30 p.m. 93.75° 29.10 cor. 30.22 Hot and clear.
                    3 p.m.     93.57° 29.05 cor. 30.17 Very strong sea-breeze till late at
                                                         night.
                    6 p.m.     79.5°  29.15 cor. 30.27 Very strong sea-breeze till late at
                                                         night.

25th Sept.          6 a.m.     74°   29.20 cor. 30.32  Dull, no sun, rain threatened.
                    Noon.      81°   29.20 cor. 30.32
                    3 p.m.     83°   29.19 cor. 30.31  Aneroid 30.15.
                    6 p.m.     78°   29.10 cor. 30.22  Dull, no sun, wind subsided at
                                                         night.

                         Porto da Senha at factory.
26th Sept.          6 a.m.     78°    29.25 cor. 30.37 Aneroid 30.62, day clear.
                    9 a.m.     76°    29.30 cor. 30.42 Aneroid 30.40, hot sun.
                         On passage in canoe down river.
                    Noon.      87°    29.20 cor. 30.32 Aneroid 30.45.
                    3 p.m.     95.5°  29.00 cor. 30.12 Aneroid 30.52.
                         Mean altitude of Porto da Lenha, 38 feet.

28th Sept.          6 a.m.     71.25° 29.15 cor. 30.27 Dry, cloudy morning.
  Banana factory,   9 a.m.     75°    29.20 cor. 30.32 Calm, land and sea breezes very
  mouth of river,                                        regular.
  60 feet above     Noon.      81°    29.10 cor. 30.22 At noon thermometer at seaside in
  sea level.                                             sun (overcast) 83.5°.
                    3 p.m.     75.5°  29.05 cor. 30.17
                    6 p.m.     74°    29.05 cor. 30.17 Symp. (corrected) 30.32°.

29th Sept.          6 a.m.     73°    29.20 cor. 30.32 Weather calm; at seaside in sun
  same place.       9 a.m.     80°    29.20 cor. 30.32   (overcast) thermometer 74.5°.
                    Noon.      83°    29.10 cor. 30.22
                    3 p.m.     80°    29.15 cor. 30.27 Symp. (corrected) 30.32°.
                    6 p.m.     74°    29.05 cor. 30.17 Night cold and windy.

30th Sept.          6 a.m.     71°    29.20 cor. 30.32 Clear weather, high wind.
  same place.       9 a.m.     79°    29.15 cor. 30.27








                              II.

  Plants Collected in the Congo, at Dahome, and the Island of
                 Annabom, by Mr. Consul Burton.

         Received at the Herbarium, Royal Gardens, Kew,
                        September, 1864.



Argemone Mexicana                         Dahome.
Cleome Guineensis, Hf.                    Congo.
Gynardropsis pentaphylla, D. C.           Ditto.
Ritcheia fragrans. Br.                    Dahome.
Alsodeia sp.                              Congo.
Flacourtia sp.                            Dahome.
Polygala avenaria, Willd.                 Congo.
Polycarpæa linearifolia                   Dahome (not laid in).
Seda cordifolia, L.                       Congo.
Seda an S. humilis (?)                    Ditto.
Seda urens, L.                            Ditto.
Abutilon sp.                              Ditto.
Urena lobata, L.                          Annabom and Congo.
Hibiscus cannabinus, L.                   Dahome.
Hibiscus vitifolius, L.                   Congo.
Hibiscus (Abelmoschus) Moschatus, Moench  Ditto.
Hibiscus aff. H. Sabdariffæ               Dahome.
Gossypium sp.                             Congo.
Walthenia Indica, L.                      Dahome.
Walthenia (?)                             Congo.
Triumfetta rhomboidea (?)                 Congo, Annabom, Dahome.
Acridocarpus sp.                          Congo.
Citrus Aurantium (?)                      Annabom (not laid in).
Citrus sp.                                Annabom (not laid in).
Cardiospermum Helicacabum, L.             Annabom.
Anacardium occidentale, L.                Congo and Annabom.
Spondias dubia? Reich.                    Annabom.
Cnestis(?) sp.                            Dahome.
Cnestis(?) sp.                            Congo.
(?)Spondias sp. (very young)              Ditto (not laid in).
(?)Soindeia sp. fl. ft.                   Congo.
Rosa sp.                                  Ditto (not laid in).
Jussieua acuminata, Jno.                  Congo.
Jussieua linifolia(?) Vahl.               Ditto.
Mollugo Spergula, L.                      Ditto.
Combretum spinosum(?)                     Dahome (fl. only).
Combretum sp.                             Congo.
Quisqualis ebracteata(?)                  Ditto.
Combretum sp. (fruct.)                    Ditto (not laid in).
Combretum sp.                             Congo.
Modeeca tamnifolia(?), Kl.                Annabom.
Syzygium Avariense, Kth.                  Congo.
Melothria triangularis(?), Kth.           Ditto.
Melothria(?) sp.                          Ditto.
Cucurbitaceæ               (3 other spp. very imperfect and not laid in).
Umbelliferæ                               Congo.
Desmodium Mauritianum(?), D.C.            Ditto, Annabom(?)
Desmodium do. v. adscendens               Congo.
Desmodium latifolium, D.C.                Dahome.
Desmodium Gargeticum (?), D. C.           Annabom.
Cajanus Indicus, L.                       Congo.
Eniosema cajanoides                       Ditto.
Eniosema aff. id.                         Ditto.
Eniosema aff. glomerata                   Ditto.
Abrus precatorius(?)                      Annabom.
Pisum sativum                             Congo.
Phaseolus sp.                             Annabom.
Rhynchaesia sp.                           Congo.
Tephrosia sp.                             Ditto.
Milletia(?) sp.                           Ditto.
Milletia(?)                               Ditto.
Milletia or Lonchocarpus (?)              Congo.
Indigofera af. I. endeeaphylla. Jacq.     Annabom.
Indigofera sp.                            Congo.
Indigofera sp.                            Dahome.
Indigofera sp.                            Ditto.
Sesbania sp.                              Congo.
Crotalaria sp.                            Dahome.
Glycine labialis (?)                      Annabom.
Erythrina sp. (?)                         Dahome.
Berlinia sp. (?)                          Congo.
Cassia occidentalis, L.                   Ditto (not laid in)
Cassia mimosoides (?), L.                 Congo.
Dichrostachys nutans (?)                  Ditto.
Mimosa asperata (?), L.                   Congo (not laid in)
Zygia fastigiata (?) Ela                  Dahome.
Vernonia (Decaneuron), Senegalensis       Ditto, Annabom.
Vernonia                                  Congo.
Vernonia an V. pandurata (?)              Ditto.
Vernonia cinerea                          Ditto.
Ethulia conyzoides                        Ditto.
Vernonia an V. pauciflora (?)             Dahome.
Vernonia stæchadifolia, Sch.              Ditto.
Ageratum conyzoides, L.                   Annabom, Congo.
Mikania chenopodiifolia, Wild.            Ditto.
Grangea, sp.                              Congo.
Bidens pilosa, L.                         Ditto.
Coronocarpus (?)                          Dahome.
Blumea (?) sp.                            Ditto.
Blumea sp.                                Ditto.
Blumea sp.                                Ditto.
Chrysanthellum Sengalense (?), D.C.       Dahome.
Verbesinoid. dub.                         Congo.
Gnaphalium an luteo-album (?)             Ditto.
Hedyotis corymbosa, L.                    Ditto.
Otomeria Guineensis (?), Kth.             Ditto.
Randia longistyla, D. C.                  Dahome.
Borreria ramisparsa (?), D. C. var.       Ditto.
Octodon (?) sp.                           Dahome.
Spermacoce Ruelliæ (?), D. C.             Ditto.
Baconia Corymbosa, D. C.                  Ditto.
Baconia aff. d.                           Annabom.
Rubiaceæ, dub.                            Congo.
Rubiaceæ                                  Ditto.
Rubiaceæ                                  Annabom.
Diospyros (?) sp.                         Congo.
Cynoctonum (?) aff.                       Ditto.
Ipomæa sp. (?).                           Ditto.
Ipomæa sp.                                Ditto.
Ipomæa sp.                                Ditto.
Ipomæa sp.                                Dahome.
Ipomæa filicaulis, Bl.                    Congo.
Ipomæa sp.                                Ditto.
Ipomæa involucrata.                       Dahome.
Ipomæa sessiliflora (?) Clius (?)         Ditto, Congo.
Leonotis nepetifolia. Bil.                Congo.
Ocymum an O. gratissimum (?)              Ditto (not laid in).
Moschoesma polystachya (?)                Ditto (ditto).
Heliophytum Indicum, D. C.                Ditto.
Heliotropium strigosum (?), Willd.        Dahome.
Brillantaisia an B. patula, P. A. (?)     Congo.
Dicliptera verticillaris (?), Juss.       Ditto.
Asystasia Coromandeliana (?)              Dahome.
Justicia Galeopsis                        Ditto.
Lycopersicum esculentum                   Congo.
Capsicum an C. frutescens (?)             Ditto (ditto).
Solanum                                   Ditto (ditto).
Solanum                                   Annabom (ditto).
Solanum                                   Congo (ditto).
Schwenckia Americana, L.                  Ditto.
Scoparia dulcis, L.                       Congo (not laid in).
Spathodea lævis (?)                       Dahome.
Sesamum Indicum, var.                     Ditto.
Plumbago Zeylanica, L.                    Congo (ditto.)
Clerodendron multiflorum (?), Don.        Ditto, imp., Ditto.
Clerodendron sp.                          Congo.
Lippia sp.                                Ditto.
Lippia an L. Adoensis?                    Ditto.
Stachytarphita Jamaicensis, V.            Dahome.
Celosia trigyna (?), L.                   Congo.
Erua lanata                               Ditto (ditto).
Pupalia lappacea, Moq.                    Annabom.
Achyranthes involucrata, Moq.             Dahome.
Achyranthes argentea (?), Lam.            Congo.
Celosia argentea, L.                      Dahome (ditto).
Amaranthus paniculatus, L.                Congo.
Euxolus irridis                           Congo.
Phyllanthus pentandrus (?)                Dahome.
Phyllanthus Nivari, L.                    Congo.
Acalypha sp.                              Ditto.
Manihot utilissima (?)                    Ditto.
Antidesma venosum                         Ditto.
Euphorbia pilulifera, L.                  Annabom.
Croton lobatum                            Dahome.
Phytolacca an P. Abyssinica (?)           Congo (bad, not laid in).
Ricinus communis (?)                      Congo (not laid in).
Phyllanthus sp.                           Ditto.
Cannabis sativa, L.                       Ditto (ditto).
Boerhaavia paniculata                     Ditto (ditto).
Polygonum Senegalense, Meiss              Ditto.
Castus Afch.                              Ditto (ditto).
Aneilema adhærens (?)                     Ditto.
Aneilema an A. ovato-oblongeum            Ditto.
Aneilema Beninense                        Congo.
Commolyna (?)                             Dahome.
Fragts. Commolyneæ                        (not laid in).
Phœnix (?) spadix                         Congo.
Canna Indica (?)                          Congo and Annabom.
Chloris Varbata (?), Sw.                  Congo (not laid in).
Andropogon (Cymbopogon) sp. (?)           Ditto.
Andropogon, an Sorghum (?)                Ditto (ditto).
Panicum an Oplismenus (?)                 Ditto (ditto).
Panicum sp.                               Congo and Annabom.
(?) Eleusine Indica                       Annabom (not laid in).
Eragrostis megastachya, Lk.               Congo.
Leptochloa sp (?)                         Ditto.
Pennisetum sp.                            Ditto.
Pennisetum sp.                            Dahome.
Pennisetum sp.                            Congo.
Mariscus sp.                              Annabom.
Cy. flagellatus (?) Hochst                Congo.
Cy. sphacelatus                           Annabom.
Scleria an S. racemosa                    Congo.





                              III.

Heights of Stations, West Coast of Africa, Computed from Observations Made by
                         Capt. Burton.



1863.                              feet.
Sept. 9.--     On route to Banza
          Nokki                    1322
Sept. 11.      Nokki               1553
Sept. 9.--     Nokki, on hills     1577\
            above river.           1347 |
                "                  1393 |
                "                  1379 |
Sept. 10.       "                  1404 |- Mean = 1430 feet.
                "                  1517 |
                "                  1371 |
                "                  1467 |
                "                  1415/
Sept. 11.--    Chingufu above      1656\
            Nokki                  1775 | Mean 1703 feet:
                "                  1769 | See Sept. 18., &c.
Sept. 12.       "                  1613/

Nelongo's Village, lower down      781-\
  and nearer village.              872 |
                "                  818 |
                "                  961 |-Mean = 828 feet.
Sept. 13.       "                  861 |
                "                  766 |
                "                  736-/
Sept. 13.--    Cove near Congo  River   78 feet.
Sept. 14.--    Hills above Banza   315
              River.               411
                "                  865
Sept. 15.--    Banza River         179 at level of river.
            Banza Nkulu above      1149 \
            rapids.                1172 |-Mean = 1140.
Sept. 16.       "                  1099 /
          Banza Nkulu              1144 \
                "                  1270 |-Mean = 1212.
                "                  1270 |
Sept. 17.       "                  1162 /
          Nelongo's Village–
                 Negolo            923
              Banza Chingufu      1732
Sept. 18.--    Chingufu.          1711 \
                "                 1611 |
                "                 1697 |
                "                 1854 |
                "                 1804 |
Sept. 19.       "                 1600 |-Mean = 1694 feet.
                "                 1609 | See Sept. 11.
                "                 1636 |
                "                 1751 |
                "                 1775 |
Sept. 20.       "                 1586 /
Sept. 21.        Boma.               9 \
                 "                   9 |
                 "                  19 |
                 "                 189 |
Sept. 22.        "                   9 |
                 "                  57 |
                 "                 135 |
                 "                  76 |
Sept. 23.        "                 140 |
                 "                  19 |
                 "                  78 |-Mean = 73 feet.
                 "                 124 |
Sept. 24.        "                 113 |
                 "                  29 |
                 "                  59 |
                 "                 107 |
                 "                 124 |
Sept. 25.        "                 113 |
                 "                  67 |
                 "                  58 |
                 "                 180 /
Sept. 26.--    Porto de Lenha.      38
Sept. 28.--    Banana factory.      94 \
                 "                  18 |
                 "                  67 |
                 "                 150 |
                 "                 160 |
Sept. 29.        "                  28 |-Mean = 56 feet.
                 "                  19 |
                 "                  48 |
                 "                  29 |
                 "                  16 |
Sept. 30.        "                  47 |
                 "                  29 /







                              IV.

                   (Form of French Passport.)

                     Immigration Africaine.



Ce jourd'hui _______________ mil huit cent soixante _______________ par devant
nous  _______________ Commissaire du Gouvernement Français, Agent
d'émigration, conformément à l'article 8 du décret du 27 Mars 1852, assisté de
_______________ témoins requis, a comparu le nommé _______________ noir libre,
né au village de _______________ côte de _______________ âgé de
_______________ lequel nous a déclaré consentir librement et de son plein gré
à partir pour une des Colonies Françaises d'Amérique pour y contracter
l'engagement de travail ci-après détaillé et présenté par M _______________ au
nom de M. Régis, au profit de l'habitant qui sera désigné par l'Administration
locale à son arrivée dans la Colonie.

Les conditions d'engagement de travail sont les suivantes:

                            ART. 1.

Le nommé ______________________________ s'engage, tant pour les travaux de
culture et de fabrication sucrière &c. que pour tous autres d'exploitation
agricole et industrielle auxquels l'engagiste jugera convenable de l'employer
et généralement pour tous les travaux quelconques de domesticité.

                            ART. 2.

Le présent engagement de travail est de dix années à partir du jour de
l'entrée au service de l'engagiste. L'engagé doit 26 jours de travail
effectifs et complets par mois; les gages ne seront dus qu'après 26 jours de
travail. La journée de travail ordinaire sera celle établie par les règlements
existant dans la Colonie. A l'époque de la manipulation l'engagé sera tenu de
travailler sans augmentation de salaires suivant les besoins de
l'établissement où il sera employé. (The employer can thus overwork his slaves
as much as he pleases.)

                            ART. 3.

L'engagiste aura le droit de céder et transporter à qui bon lui semblera, sous
le contrôle de l'Administration le présent engagement de travail contracté à
son profit. (N.B.--The owner can thus separate families.)

                            ART. 4.

L'engagé sera logé sur l'établissement où il sera employé; il aura droit, de
la part de l'engagiste aux soins médicaux, à sa nourriture, laquelle sera
conforme aux règlements et à l'usage adopté dans la Colonie pour les gens de
travail du pays. Bien entendu que toute maladie contractée par un fait
étranger, soit à ses travaux, soit à ses occupations, sera à ses frais. (Thus
bed and board are at the discretion of the employer, and the gate of fraud is
left open.)

                            ART. 5.

Le salaire de l'engagé est de:     12 francs pour les hommes,
                                   10 francs pour les femmes,
                                    8 francs pour les enfants de 10 à 14 ans.,
par mois de 26 jours de travail, comme il est dit à l'article 2, à partir de 8
jours après son débarquement dans la colonie. Moitié de cette somme lui sera
payée fin chaque mois, l'autre moitié le sera fin de chaque année. (Not even
festivals allowed as holidays.)

                            ART. 6.

L'engagé reconnait avoir reçu en avance, du représentant de M. Régis, la somme
de DEUX CENTS FRANCS dont il s'est servi pour sa libération et pour divers
frais à son compte, Ces avances seront retenues sur ses salaires à raison de
par mois.

                            ART. 7.

L'engagé déclare par avance se soumettre aux règlements rendus dans la Colonie
pour la police du travail et de l'immigration.

                            ART. 8.

A l'expiration de son temps d'engagement le rapatriement sera accordé à
l'immigrant pour lui, sa femme, et ses enfants non adultes, à la condition par
celui-ci de verser mensuellement à la Caisse d'immigration le dixième de son
salaire.

Si l'engagé renonce à son rapatriement, toute somme versée par lui lui sera
remboursée.

En cas de réengagement les conditions en seront débattues de gré-à-gré entre
l'engagé et le propriétaire engagiste.

Fait et signé de bonne foi, le

Certifié par le délégué de
l'administration faisant fonctions
d'Agent d'émigration.





[FN#1]   "Die Deutsche Expedition an der Loango Küuste, nebst
älteren Nachrichten über die zu erforschenden Länder." Von Adolf
Bastian. Jena and London (Trübner and Co.), 1874.

[FN#2]   See "The Lands of the Cazembe," p. 15, Royal
Geographical Society, London, 1873.

[FN#3]   See "The Lands of the Cazembe" (p. 25, note), where,
however, the word has taken the form of "Impaçeiro." At p. 27,
line 6, a parenthesis has been misplaced before and after
"Impalancas," a word differently interpreted by Portuguese
writers.

[FN#4]   The Directory and Charts.

[FN#5]   That of the Hydrographic Office, dated 1863, assigns it
to S. Lat. 7° 44', and E. Long. 13° 5'; and the Granite Pillar to
S. Lat. 7° 36' 15", and E. Long. 13° 6' 30".

[FN#6]   Duarte Lopez, the Portuguese Captain, whose journals
were used by Pigafetta. He went to the Congo regions in 1578, and
stayed there ten years. "Philipp's Voyages," vol. iii. p. 236.

[FN#7]   "Philipp's Voyages," vol. iii. p. 236.

[FN#8]   Appendix to Tuckey's "Expedition," No. 6.

[FN#9]   See the note of the learned Robert Brown, p. 472,
Appendix V., Tuckey's "Congo."

[FN#10]  "Relazione del Reame di Congo, e delle circonvicine
contrade, tratta dagli Scritti e Raggionamenti di Odoardo Lopez,
Portogheze, per Philippo Pigafetta." Roma, 1591, fol.

[FN#11]  "Historia de Etiopia," p. 65.

[FN#12]  "Geography of N'yassi," note, p. 51.

[FN#13]  See "Zanzibar City, Island, and Coast," vol. i. p. 5.
"Marinus of Tyre" became by misprint "mariners of Tyre."

[FN#14]  Chap. xvii. of the Rev. Mr. Waddell's "Twenty-nine Years
in the West Indies and Central Africa."

[FN#15]   "Narrative of a Voyage of Discovery to Africa and
Arabia," by Captain Thomas Boteler. London: Bentley, 1835;
repeated from Owen's "Voyages to Africa, Arabia," &c. London:
Bentley, 1833. Lt. Wolf, R.N., has given an able analysis of this
great surveying undertaking in the "Journal of the Geographical
Society," vol. iii. of 1833.

[FN#16]  See chap. v.

[FN#17]  Of this lake I shall have something to say in chap. xii.

[FN#18]  See "The Lands of the Cazembe," p. 24.

[FN#19]  Petermann's "Geog. Mitt." of 1860, pp. 227-235. I have
duly obtained at Pest the permission of Professor Hunfálvy, who
in 1859 edited the Hungarian and German issues, to translate into
English the highly interesting volume, the only remains of
Ladislaus Magyar, the traveller having died, Nov. 19, 1864, after
visiting large and previously unknown tracts of south-western
Africa. The work has been undertaken by the Rev. R. C. G.
O'Callaghan, consular chaplain, Trieste, and I hope that it will
soon appear with notes by myself. It will be a fitting pendant to
Dr. de Lacerda's "Journey to the Lands of the Cazembe."

[FN#20]  "Geog. Mitt." 1857, p. 190.

[FN#21]  Proofs of the identity of the Lualaba with the Congo;"
translated by Mr. Keith Johnston from the "Geogr. Mittheilungen,"
i. 18, Bund, 1872, and published in the "Proceedings of the Royal
Geographical Society," No. i, vol. xviii. of Feb. 24, 1873.

[FN#22]  "The Lands of the Cazembe," p. 47.

[FN#23]  "Daily Telegraph," Sept. 6, 1869.

[FN#24]  "Erläuterungen," &c. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer, 1874.

[FN#25]  Tuckey (p. 214), and the General Observations prefixed
to the Diaries.

[FN#26]  This palm-clapping is often alluded to in "O Muata
Cazembe" (pp. 223 et passim).

[FN#27]  "Highlands of the Brazil," vol. ii. chap. xv. The red
clay of the Congo region is an exact copy of what is found on the
opposite side of the Atlantic.

[FN#28]  "Journal of an African Cruiser," by an Officer of the
United States Navy, p. 173. London, 1848. Tuckey ("Narrative,"
132) gives a sketch of the building.

[FN#29]  See frontispiece.

[FN#30]  At the memorable Bath meeting of the British
Association, Sept. 1864.

[FN#31]  Mr. Richard Spruce, "Ocean Highways," August, 1873, p.
213.

[FN#32]  "Lowlands of the Brazil," chap. xvii. Tinsleys, 1875.
II.

[FN#33]  "Journal of the Royal Geographical Society," vol. iii.
p. 206, 1833.

[FN#34]  In the "Geographical Magazine" for February, 1875.

[FN#35]  In Carli Gramga and Fomet, evident cacography.





End of Volume 2 of Two Trips to Gorilla Land.






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