HENRY M. STANLEY was not the man to be indifferent
to the
fate of Livingstone or the objects he had in view. Our
young
hero thought, and the world thought so too, that his
mission
was to complete, as far as possible, the marvellous discoveries
which Livingstone had attempted to make. If his life
had been spared
he would have crowned all previous successes with triumphs
greater
still. Stanley having been once in the wilds of Africa,
and having learned
by actual observation the great fertility of the soil,
the channels of com-
merce which might be opened, the importance of bringing
the country
into close relations with other parts of the world, the
moral needs of the
savage races whose history has been lost in oblivion
and whose future it is
impossible as yet to determine, thought he would discover,
if possible,
the sources of the Nile, open new avenues in a land almost
unknown,
and, having found Livingstone, the lost explorer, he
resolved to find a
path from sea to sea.
In this marvellous undertaking we are now to trace him.
He is the
same strong, heroic soul that he was on his first expedition
; the same
enterprising man, possessed of the same iron will, the
same abounding
energy and perseverance, the same tact in dealing with
hostile tribes, and
the same unswerving resolution to accornplish his object
at any cost.
Before we begin his journey, it will be interesting to
the reader to have
some account of the Congo region through which Stanley
passed, and also
a description of the Congoese, the people dwelling in
that part of Africa.
At one time there was no more famous kingdom in all Africa
than that
of Congo. It was established on even a grander scale
than the modern
Ashanti or Dahomey, which have sprung up within the last
200 years,
during which the empire of Congo has been broken up into
many petty
chieftaincies. The writings of the old Jesuit and Capuchin
Fathers teem
with tales of its grandeur.
When the king was elected he came out of the palace, glorious
in
trinkets, to give the benediction to his people, assembled
from far and
near in the palace square, for this important event.
The priests and
nobles arranged themselves around him. The king exhorted
the people
to be faithful and obedient, and, after the manner of
monarchs generally,
assured his subjects of his profound consideration. "
He rises, and all
the people prostrate themselves before hmi. He stretches
his hands over
them, and makes gestures with his fingers without uttering
a Word."
Shouts of joy, followed by firing of muskets and a "jubilee
of banquets,"
close this initiatory event of the Congo monarch's reign.
Whims of a Tyrant.
The king was a despot, secretly controlled by his ministers.
His civil
list consisted of tribyte paid him by the sub-chiefs
or vassal -lords, who in
their turn ground it out of the people. When he found
it necessary to
levy a special tax, he would go out of thfe palace with
his cap loosely
placed on his head. When the wind blew it off, he would
rush into the
house as if in a great passion, and immediately order
the levy of goats,
fowls, slaves, and palm-wine. The Negro is a systematic
creature in
some things; he does nothing without a reason, and the
Congoese
monarch, therefore, considered that he had justified
his acts in the eyes
of his subjects by his dignity being offended owing to
his cap blowing off.
One of the taxes was levied on beds a slave for every
span's breadth
being the rate at which the impost was made. This tax
was devoted to
the support of the king's concubines, and as a broad
bed entailed consid-
erable expense on its owner, the possession of this piece
of chamber fur-
niture was in Congo looked upon as the sign of a man
of wealth. Writers
describe the Muata-Yanvo another powerful West African
monarch,
very little known to literature as wearing a bracelet
of human sinews
on his left wrist, to denote his royal rank. His empire
is as large as all
Germany, and about three hundred chiefs owe him allegiance,
though
his subjects do not number more than two millions, and
his despotism is
shared and tempered by a queen.
When the king desired a fresh companion, a married woman
was
selected, her husband and the lovers whom she confessed
to (for it seems
they all had them, married or single) being put to death.
These little
preliminaries being completed, she entered the royal
seraglio, where much
more liberty than would be granted in Mohammedan kingdoms
was
allowed to her. On the king's death all his wives were
buried with him.
Peculiar Customs.
No man dare see the king eat or drink. All this must be
done in
privacy. If a dog even entered the house while the august
sovereign
was at food it was killed ; and a case is recorded by
English authorities
in which the king ordered the execution of his own son,
who had acci-
dently seen him drink palm-wine.
The large army supported by the Congoese monarch was officered
by
their own chiefs, and apparently fought under a kind
of feudal system.
As in most parts of Africa, the old Congo kings, before
the decay of
the slave trade ruined them, monopolized, as far as they
could, the com-
merce of the country. This is still the fashion of the
Muata-Yanvo of
the Kanoko Empire, east of the Congo country. When traders
arrive at
the capital, their goods are deposited in the capital
until the king's mes-
sengers,who are sent into the neighboring countries,
can collect the slaves
and ivory he is willing to give in exchange.
No stranger is allowed to proceed into these interior
regions, the
inhabitants of which are described as cannibals, or as
dwarfs. When Dr.
Buchner was at the Muato-Yanvo's in 1 879 he was threatened
by the
Kioko, a nation famous as smiths, elephant hunters, and
man stealers,
who are gradually spreading from the Upper Quango to
the northward,
and from the latest accounts are endangering the very
existence of this
secluded empire.
The civil judges sat under trees, each having a large
staff in his hand,
as an insignium of office. Incorruptible they were not,
but still no one
ever appealed against their decisions, and it is said
never even com-
plained of their injustice; but this is not in human
nature, and must only
mean that no one was ever heard to do so in public, and
that for very
special private reasons of his own.
As in more civilized nations, war is the great parent
of taxation, the
Icing being obliged to maintain a large standing army,
and to keep it in
good humor by constant largesses, for a large standing
army is much
like fire a useful servant, but a terrible master.
The army is divided
into regiments, each acting under the immediate command
of the chief
in whose district they live, and they are armed, in a
most miscellaneous
fashion, with any weapons they can procure. In these
times the trade
guns are the most valued weapons, but the native swords,
bows and
arrows, spears, and knives, still form the staple of
their equipment. As
to uniform, they have no idea of it, and do not even
distinguish the men
of the different regiments, as do the Kaffirs of Southern
Africa.
The ancient religion of the Congo Negro is simply polytheism,
which
they have suffered to degenerate into fetishism. There
is one jnonothe-
istic sect, but they have gained very little by their
religion, which is in
fact merely a negation of many deities, without the least
understanding
of the one whom they profess to worship a deity to
whom they attri-
bute the worst vices that can degrade human nature.
Shrewd Tricks to Get Rid of Husbands.
The fetish men or priests are as important here as the
marabouts
among the Mandingoes, and the chief of them, who goes
by the name
of Chitome, is scarcely less honored than the king, who
finds himself
obliged to seek the favor of this spiritual potentate,
while the common
people look on him as scarcely less than a god. He is
maintained by a
sort of tithe, consisting of the first-fruits of the
harvest, which are
brought to him with great ceremony, and are offered with
solemn chants.
The Congo men fully believe that if they were to omit
the first-fruits of
one year's harvest, the next year would be an unproductive
one.
A sacred fire burns continually in his house, and the
embers, Avhich are
supposed to be possessed of great medicinal virtues,
are sold by him at a
high price, so that even his fire is a constant source
of income to him.
He has the entire regulation of the minor priests, and
every now and
then makes a progress among them to settle the disputes
which contin-
ually spring up. As soon as he leaves his house, the
husbands and wives
throughout the kingdom are obliged to separate under
pain of death. In
case of disobedience, the man only is punished, and cases
have been
known where wives who disliked their husbands have accused
them of
breaking this strange law, and have thereby gained a
double advantage,
freed themselves from a man whom they did not like, and
established a
religious reputation on easy terms.
In fact, the Chitome has things entirely his own way,
with one excep-
tion. He is so holy that he cannot die a natural death,
for if he did so
the universe would immediately be dissolved. Consequently,
as soon as
he is seized with a dangerous illness, the Chitome elect
calls at his house,
and saves the universe by knocking out his brains with
a club, or strang-
ling him with a cord if he should prefer it. That his
own death must be
of a similar character has no effect upon the new Chitome,
who, true to
the Negro character, thinks only of the present time,
and, so far as being
anxious about the evils that will happen at some future
time, does not
trouble himself even about the next day.
Next to the Chitome comes the Nghombo, a priest who is
distin-
guished by his peculiar gait. His dignity would be impaired
by walking
like ordinary mortals, or even like the inferior priests,
and so he always
walks on his hands with his feet in the air, thereby
striking awe into the
laity. Some of the priests are rain-makers, who perform
the duties of
their office by building little mounds of earth and making
fetish over
them. From the centre of each charmed mound rises a strange
insect
which mounts into the sky, and brings as much rain as
the people have
paid for. These priests are regularly instituted, but
there are some who
are born to the office, such as dwarfs, hunchbacks, and
albinos, all of
whom are highly honored as specially favored individuals,
consecrated to
the priesthood by Nature herself
Poison and Red-Hot Iron.
The priests have, as usual, a system of ordeal, the commonest
mode
being the drinking of the poison cup, and the rarest
the test of the red-
hot iron, which is applied to the skin of the accused,
and burns him if he
be guilty. There is no doubt that the magicians are acquainted
with,
some preparation which renders the skin proof against
a brief applica-
tion of hot iron, and that they previously apply it to
an accused person
who will pay for it.
The Chitome has the privilege of conducting the coronation
of a king..
The new ruler proceeds to the house of the Chitome, attended
by a host
of his future subjects, who utter piercing yells as he
goes. Having
reached the sacred house, he kneels before the door,
and asks the Chi-
tome to be gracious to him. The Chitome growls out a
flat refusal from
within. The king renews his supplications, in spite of
repeated rebuffs,
enumerating all the presents which he has brought to
the Chitome
which presents, by the way, are easily made, as he will
extort an equal
amount from his subjects as soon as he is fairly installed.
At last, the door of the hut opens, and out comes the
Chitome in his-
white robe of office, his head covered with feathers,
and a shining mir
ror on his breast. The king lies prostrate before the
house, while the
Chitome pours water on him, scatters dust over him, and
sets his feet on
him. He then Hes flat on the prostrate monarch, and in
that position
receives from him a promise to respect his authority
ever afterward. The
king is then proclaimed, and retires to wash and change
his clothes.
A King in Gorgeous Apparel.
Presently he comes out of the palace, attended by his
priests and
nobles, and gorgeous in all the bravery of his new rank,
his whole person
covered with glittering ornaments of metal, glass, and
stone, so that the
eye can scarcely bear the rays that flash on every side
as he moves in
the sunbeams. He then seats himself, and makes a speech
to the people.
When it is finished, he rises, while all the people crouch
to the ground,
stretches his hands over them, and makes certain prescribed
gestures,
which are considered as the royal benediction. A long
series of ban-
quets and revelry ends the proceedings.
At the present day, the Congo king and great men disfigure
themselves
with European clothing, such as silk jackets, velvet
shoes, damask coats,
and broad-brimmed hats. But in the former times, they
dressed becom-
ingly in native attire. A simple tunic made of very fine
grass cloth, and
leaving the right arm bare, covered the upper part of
the body, while a
sort of petticoat, made of similar material, but dyed
black, was tied
round the waist, and an apron, or " sporran," of leopard
skin, was fas-
tened to the girdle and hung in front. On their heads
they wore a sort
of hood, and sometimes f)referred a square red and yellow
cap. Sandals
made of the palm tree were the peculiar privilege of
the king and nobles,
the common people being obliged to go bare-footed.
Wives Who Receive Vigorous Attention.
The wives in Congo are tolerably well off, except that
they are severely
beaten with the heavy hippopotamus-hide whip. The women
do not
resent this treatment, and indeed, unless a woman is
soundly flogged
occasionally, she thinks that her husband is neglecting
her, and feels
offended accordingly. The king has the power of taking
any woman
for his wife, whether married or not, and, when she goes
to the royal
harem, her husband is judiciously executed.
The people of Congo are probably on account of the enervating
cli-
mate a very indolent and lethargic race, the women
being made to do all
the work, while the men lie in the shade and smoke their
pipes and drink
their palm-wine, which they make remarkably well, though
not so well
as the Bube tribe of Fernando Po. Their houses are merely
huts of the
simplest description ; a few posts with a roof over them,
and twigs woven
between them in wicker-work fashion by way of walls,
are all that a
Congo man cares for in a house. His clothing is as simple
as his lodg-
ing, a piece of native cloth, tied round his middle being
all that he cares
for; so that the ample clothes and handsome furs worn
by the king jnust
have had a very strong effect on the almost naked populace.
The Jagas are a race now settled in Cassange country,
into which they
seem originally to have entered as marauders or conquerors.
In the
early state of the kingdom they were ruled by Tembandumba
a queen
whose excesses, if not exaggerated in the narrative,
seem demoniacal in
their extent. She soon, by her exploits in war, made
herself feared and
respected by enemies and subjects ; but so terrible were
her cruelties and
tyranny, that only the awe in which she was held prevented
her subjects
rebelling. She had a host of lovers, all of whom, one
after the other,
she killed with the most cruel tortures as soon as she
had tired of them.
Breaking loose from all her relatives who had ventured
to remonstrate
with her she founded a constitution which only a woman,
and one will-
ing to proceed to those extremes of which the sex is
capable, could have
imagined.
Horrible Practices.
"She would turn," writes Mr. Winwood Reade, " the world
into a wil-
derness ; she would kill all living animals ; she would
burn all forests,
grass, and vegetable food. The sustenance of her subjects
should be the
flesh of man ; his blood should be their drink. She commanded
all male
children, all twins, and all infants whose upper teeth
appeared before their
lower ones, should be killed by their own mothers. From
their bodies
an ointment should be made, in the way she would show.
The female
children should be reared, and instructed in war ; and
male prisoners,
before being killed and eaten, should be used for the
purpose of pro-
creation.
" Having concluded her harangue, with the publication
of other laws of
minor importance, this young women seized her child,
which was feeding
at her breast, flung him into a mortar, and pounded him
to a pulp. She
flung this into a large earthen pot, adding roots, leaves,
and oils, and
made the whole into an ointment, with which she rubbed
herself before
them all, telling them that this would render her invulnerable,
and that
now she could subdue the universe. Immediately, her subjects,
seized
with a savage enthusiasm, massacred all their male children,
and immense
quantities of this human ointment were made ; and of
which, they say,
some is still preserved among the Jagas."
An empire of Amazons was apparently contemplated. Not
only were
male children to be massacred, but women's flesh was
forbidden to be
eaten. But she soon found it impossible to battle against
nature.
Mothers concealed their male infants ; and though officers
were appointed
to be present at every birth to see that the law was
carried out, yet, after
a time, she found it necessary to order that the invulnerable
ointment
might be made of the bodies of infants captured in war.
Whole terri-
tories were conquered and laid waste ; and disaffection
in her own army
she kept down by having the forces continually employed.
The Queen's Tragic End.
As age grew upon her she grew- worse and worse more
cruel to her
victims ; more abominable in all her dealings with her
subjects. At last
she was subdued. Falling desparately in love with a private
soldier in
her army, she publicly married him, and gave him half
her throne and
kingdom. As last she grew tired of him, as she had grown
tired of a
hundred before. But she had met her match. Calming, cajoling,
and
flattering his terrible queen, the king-consort managed
for a time to post-
pone his inevitable fate to be fondled to-day, to be
dined off to-morrow.
One day he entertained her at dinner with all the choice
viands which
the kingdom of Congo or the young Portuguese colonies
on the Coast
could supply. Her drink had been poisoned. Her husband
was saved,
and the kingdom freed from a tyrant, whose rule was beginning
to be too
heavy to bear. Yet he was never suspected ; or perhaps
his act was of
too meritorious a character to be taken notice of So,
after much wail-
ing over her funeral as subjects will wail over kings,
no matter how vile
Tembandumba slept with her fathers ; and Culemba, her
affectionate
husband, reigned in her stead.
Blood-curdling tales are told of the excesses of some
of the old sov-
ereigns. For instance, Shinga was the name of the Negro
queen who
came to power in the year 1640, but, through the intrigues
of the Jesuit
priests, to whose rites she did not choose to submit,
was forced to fly the
kingdom, after contending with her nephew in three pitched
battles,
which she lost. In 1646 she regained her kingdom, after
many vicissi-
tudes of fortune. But by this time Queen Shinga had got
so accustomed
to war, that she cared for nothing else. Her life was
spent in hostilities
against the neighboring kingdoms.
A Female Demon.
Before she undertook any new enterprise, she would sacrifice
the
handsomest man she could find. Clad in skins, with a
sword hanging
round her neck, an axe at her side, and bow and arrow
in her hand, she
would dance and sing, striking two iron bells. Then taking
a feather
she would put it through the holes in her nose, as a
sign of war, would
cut off the victim's head with her sword, and drink a
deep draught of
his blood. She had fifty or sixty male favorites ; and
while she always
dressed herself as a man, they were compelled to take
the names and
garments of women. If one of them denied that he was
a woman he
was immediately killed. The queen, however, was charitable
enough to
let them belie their words by their actions. They might
have as many
wives as they chose ; but if a child was born, the husband
was com-
pelled to kill it with his own hands.
Shinga obtained great power over her subjects. She, however,
was
wise in her generation, and, after she had fought the
Portuguese, and
been beaten by them, she concluded an humble peace, and
retained her
kingdom in safety.
At the present time the Congo kingdom has fallen from
its high
estate. The people are lethargic, and altogether given
over to palm-wine
and tobacco ; their houses are huts of grass fibres or
palm leaves, and
their clothing a piece of native cloth round the middle.
Their domestic
utensils are on a par with this primitive barbarism.
Baskets made of the
fibre of the palm-tree, bowls of gourds, earthen vessels
for boiling,
wooden spoons, and beds of grass on a raised platform
are about the
only furniture of their simple huts. Whatever magnificence
once existed
is now almost gone.
Universal Polygamy.
Though Portuguese, and latterly English, missions have
been estab-
lished among these tribes, fetishism is still to a great
extent the prevail-
ing semblance of worship, the Cross being regarded simply
as new fetish
introduced by the powerful white man. Polygamy is universal,
and the
marriage ceremony little more than buying the wife from
her parents,
and giving a feast to her family and friends. But if
the nuptial rites are
brief and simple, their sepulchral ceremonies are more
elaborate, for fre-
quently, in order to admit of all the relatives being
present, the interment
of the deceased will be delayed several months. The dead
are frequently
desiccated by roasting, and then buried in the huts which
they occupied
during life.
Of late years the natives of the Congo have received renewed
atten-
tion. Expeditions have often been despatched a little
up the river for the
purpose of trade and exploration, or in order to punish
the Mussurongo
pirates, who have frequently attacked the vessels engaged
in carrying
goods to or from the " factories " established below
the Yellala Falls.
However, since Mr. Stanley succeeded in proving that the
river commu-
nicated with the Tanganyika lake, and is the noblest
water-way to the
interior, numerous traders have settled on its lower
reaches, and the
posts of the International Association, presided over
by the King of the
Belgians, are pushing civilization and commerce towards
its upper waters.
Before leaving the customs of the Congoese, we must notice
that the
eating habits of some of the Congo tribes are very curious.
They are,
like all the Negro races, enormous feeders, as many as
300 oxen having
been known to be killed and eaten when a " soba" or chief
of the Mun-
dombes, dies, the feast lasting for several days, the
gluttons often rolling
on the ground in the agonies of indigestion, but only
to rise again and
resume eating, abstaining meanwhile from drink, lest
it should prevent
them from finding room for the solids. Among some of
the natives a
singular custom prevails. It consists in offering a visitor
a dish of
" infundi," or " pirao," and should there not be a bit
of meat in the
larder, they send out to a neighbor for " lent rat,"
as it is called. This
Mr. Monteiro describes as a field rat roasted on a skewer,
and which is
presented to the guest, who, holding the skewer in his
left hand, dabs bits
of " infundi " on the rat before he swallows them, as
if to give them a
flavor, but he is very careful not to eat the rat, or
even the smallest por-
tion of it, as that would be considered a great crime
and offence, and
would be severely punished by their laws. It is supposed
that the host
has by this hospitality duly preserved the dignity of
his house and posi-
tion, the entire sham being a curious instance of elaborate
politeness
without sincerity existing,among a race which might reasonably
be sup-
posed unsophisticated.
Singular Salutations.
The subject of salutations would afford a theme for many
chapters^
For example, when two Monbuttoos of the far Nile tributaries
meet they
join the right hands, and say, " Gassigy," at the same
time cracking the
joints of the middle fingers, while in Uguha, on the
western side of Lake
Tanganyika, Mr. Stanley describes the people saluting
each other as
follows : A man appears before a party seated ; he
bends, takes up a
bundle of earth or sand with his right hand, and throws
a little into his
left. The left hand rubs the sand or earth over the right
elbow and the
right side of the stomach, while the right hand performs
the same opera-
tion for the left part of the body, words of salutation
being rapidly uttered
in the meanwhile. To his inferiors, however, the new-comer
slaps his
hand several times, and after each slap lightly taps
the region of the
heart.
In like manner, the modes of taking an oath are so very
extensive that
a large space could very profitably be devoted to this
interesting phase
of African life. In many tribes on the West Coast the
common way
among blacks to affirm the truth of a statement is, according
to Monteiro
to go on their knees, and rub the forefinger of each
hand on the ground,
and then touch their tongues and foreheads with the dusty
tips. About
Loanda, they make the sign of the Cross on the ground
with a finger, for
the same purpose ; but this is evidently a remnant of
old missionary
teaching.
Titles the love for them, and the endless variety of
designations in-
tended to express dignity might equally be enlarged
on, without the
subject being at all exhausted, while the multiplicity
of fashions adopted
in dressing their woolly hair, filing their teeth, splitting
their ears, or
generally improving upon nature, will be touched, as
far as so extensive
a theme admits of, in the chapters which follow. We may,
however,
note in this place a few singular customs, which give
a better idea of
African characteristics than more labored analyses of
their mental traits.
How Wives Manage Husbands.
One custom said to be universal in Oriental Africa is
that of a woman
tying a knot in anyone's turban, thereby placing herself
under his pro-
tection in order to be revenged upon her husband, who
may have beaten
her for some offence. In due time, when the husband comes
to claim
her, he is compelled to pay a ransom, and to promise,
in the presence of
his chief, never again to maltreat her. In nearly every
village in Unyam-
wesi there are two or three public-houses, or perhaps
they might be
called clubs. One is appropriated to the women, and another
to the
men, though at the one frequented by the men all travellers
of distinction
are welcomed by the chiefs and elders. As soon as a boy
attains the
age of seven or eight years, he throws off the authority
of his mother,
and passes most of his time at the club, usually eating
and often sleeping
there. On the death of a Wagogo chief, the son is supposed
to look
upon his father's eldest surviving brother as his new
and adopted father,
but only in private and not in public affairs.
There is another point connected with the black races
of Africa to
which a few lines may be devoted. The hair of most Africans
and
universally of the Negro and Negroid tribes is short,
inclined to split
longitudinally, and much crimped. In South Africa the
Hottentot's hair
is more matted into tufts than that of the Kaffir, while
it is not uncom-
mon to find long hair, and even considerable beards,
among some of the
tribes inhabiting the central plateau of the continent.
Black is the almost
universal color of their hair. In old age it becomes
white ; but accord-
ing to Walker there are cases among the Negroes of the
Gaboon in
which red hair, red eyebrows and eyes are not uncommon,
and Schwein-
furth speaks of Monbuttoos with ashy fair hair, and skin
much fairer
than that of their fellow-tribesmen.
It may also be mentioned that individuals with reddish
hair are by no
means rarely seen among the mountaineers of the Atlas.
Whiskers are
rare, though not unknown, and long beards are said to
be found among
Niam-niam, and among the papers left by Miani, the unfortunate
Italian
traveller, there is a notice of a man with a beard half
as long as his own,
which. Dr. Schweinfurth remarks, was of " a remarkable
length." The
color of the Negro's skin passes through every gradation
from ebony
black to the copper color.
Famous King' and Queen.
Speaking of the Gaboon, we must notice the celebrated
king who
ruled many years in that region, and possessed many traits
in common
with the savage tribes around him. A traveller makes
the following
reference to him :
" When I was up this river a few years since, an aged
king was then
reigning, whom the English called King William and the
French Roi
Denis ; a somewhat remarkable character in his way. He
had made a
voyage to Europe, but his contact with civilization had
no effect upon his
manner of life, his liking for rum, and plurality of
wives. At one time he
derived large revenue from the slave trade, the Gaboon
being the river
from the mouth of which the slaves were embarked for
the English,
French and American colonies ; but when the trade was
checked his
income decreased very much, and his riches then seem
to have con-
sisted of an amazing number of suits of clothes, old
uniforms, gaily deco-
rated coats, and other fanciful .attire, with which he
decked his black
person. When I saw him with his principal wife he was
most gorgeously
arrayed in a scarlet coat "vyith an epaulet on each shoulder,
and the breast
elaborately braided; a medal was swung around his neck,
and in his
hand he held a cane. That was the only time I ever saw
him."
The tribes on the banks of the Congo are of the most ferocious
descrip-
tion, and treacherous beyond anything with which African
travellers
have hitherto had much experience. Mr. Stanley, with
a kindly enthusi-
asm fully appreciated, proposed to call the river the
Livingstone. But as
this would have been an innovation on all the established
rules of geo-
graphical names, it has not been adopted.
The country on either side of the Congo is remarkably
different.
North of it are lagoons and swamps covered with the sickly
mangrove
and backed by dense forests. South of the great river
we come into a
country covered with coarse grass, and scattered with
occasional baobab-
trees, while little forest can be seen from the ocean
; and inside of feverish
lagoons we have long stretches of sandy, bays, such as
prevail on to the
Cape of Good Hope. But as we travel back from the shore
the country
rises terrace, by terrace, with corresponding changes
of vegetation, the
climate getting moister as the more densely-clothed interior
is ap-
proached, until on the third and highest terrace great
plains, covered with
gigantic grasses, make their appearance.
Traders and Tlieir Wares.
At the mouth of the river there are several foreign trading
stations, or
factories, established on a sandy strip of coast, called
Banana. Some
forty-five miles further up are the stations of Punta
da Lenha (Wooded
Point) ; and at Em-bomma, or as the traders call it,
Bomma, sixty miles
from the mouth of the river, there are the highest of
all the foreign settle-
ments. Here are Portuguese, English, French, Dutch, and
St. Helena
traders. The neighboring country is singularly sterile.
According to Mr,
Stanley, it is bleak in the extreme. " Shingly rocks
strewed the path
and the waste, and the thin sere grass waved mournfully
on level
and spine, on slope of ridge and crest of hill ; in the
hollows it was some-
what thicker ; in the bottoms it had a slight tinge of
green."
The six factories at Bomma are all constructed of wooden
boards,
roofed in the generality of cases with corrugated zinc.
Business is trans-
acted in the ample court-yard attached to each factory.
This consists in
bartering calico, glass-ware, crockery, iron-ware, gin,
rum, arms, and gun-
powder, for palm-oil, ground-nuts and ivory. The merchants
live toler-
ably comfortably. Some of them have fruit and garden
vegetables, and
little vineyards, while pineapples and limes may be obtained
from the
market, which is held on alternate days behind the European
settlement.
In earlier times Bomma was a great seat of the slave trade
; and to
this day Tuckey's description of the people, though written
more than
half a century ago, is still perfectly applicable. They
are as rude, super-
stitious, and pagan as ever they were, the efforts of
the missionaries
having as yet scarcely impressed the solid mass of primeval
barbarism.
They still distrust strangers as much as ever, are still
as intolerant of any
innovation in their customs, and their lust after rum
and idleness is as
marked to-day as half a century ago. It may be added
that were slaves
salable the Congoese would not be wanting in alacrity
in obtaining them,
and we may be perfectly certain that barracoons for their
reception, and
smart skippers for their shipment, would speedily reappear
on the scene
of the old though it is affirmed, so far as the Portuguese
and Spanish
isles and colonies are concerned, not altogether extinct
traffic.
In early days the Congo country extended far south of
the river, and
in the capital of the then kingdom the Jesuits resided
and reared a cathe-
dral, the remains of which still exist, and owing to
the priestly influence
obtained great power throughout the country. The monarch
was often
ruled by females, the tales of whose ferocity were stock
subjects for the
early chroniclers. The empire of Congo is, however, now
a something of
the past, though in the neigborhood of Ambassi the nominal
king still
exercises sufficient control over the people to be able
to annoy the cara-
vans passing to and from the interior ; but a score of
local chieftains have
as much authority as he.
Though the Portuguese claim the coast from a point considerably
north
of the Congo, they have never actually occupied it north
of eight degrees
of south latitude ; and here the reader must note that
we are getting
south of the equator. The elephant is not now met with
in the maritime
region, but in the less populous regions antelopes, zebras,
buffalos not,
it need scarcely be remarked, the American bison, which
is popularly
known by that name hyaenas, jackals, leopards, and
the monkey.
As for the monkey tribe, a description of the guereza
must suffice.
The general color of this monkey is black. The sides
of the body and
top of the loins are ornamented with long, pendant, white
hairs, forming
a fringe-like mantle. The face is encircled by white,
and the tail ends in
a white tuft. The guereza lives, according to Riippell,
in small families,
tenanting the lofty trees in the neighborhood of running
waters. It is
active and lively, and at the same time gentle and inoffensive.
It is the
prettiest of all the monkeys, and our illustration gives
an idea of its
striking appearance. It is an excellent climber. Formerly
the skin of
the guereza was used by the natives for decorating their
shields, but with
the introduction of fire-arms the demands for shields
and for this coveted
decoration ceased, and this is undoubtedly a fact to
be glad of, because
there exists no more instigation to hunt this beautiful
and entirely harm-
less animal.
It has the head, face and neck, back, limbs and part of
tail covered
with short, black velvety hair, the temples, chin, throat
and a band over
the eyes white, and the sides, flanks, from the shoulders
downward, and
loins clothed with white hair.
Like all the others, these monkeys are pre-eminently a
sylvan race ;
they never abandon the forests, where they live in society
under the
guidance of the old males. They seem to be much attached
to partic-
ular localities. Each tribe or family has its own particular
district, into
which individuals of other tribes or species are never
allowed to intrude,
the whole community uniting promptly to repel any aggression,
either on
their territory or their individual right. So strongly
is this propensity
implanted within them that they carry it into our manageries.
Noth-
ing is more common than to see monkeys of the same species
unit-
ing to defend one qf their kind against the tyranny of
a powerful
oppressor, or to resent any insult offered to a member
of their little
community.
These animals generally take up their quarters in the
vicinity of a run-
ning stream, and seldom approach the habitations of men,
or invade the
cultivated grounds of the gardener and husbandman. No
doubt it is their
spirit of union and mutual defence which prompts them
to collect round
travellers, and, by their chattering, grimace, and other
means in their
power, endeavor to prevent an intrusion into the spot
which they regard
as their own.
There are no domestic animals in Congo except goats, swine,
dogs
cats, and a few sheep, with hair instead of wool. The
goats are very
beautiful, but the other quadrupeds are rather woe-begone
specimens of
their kind. The natives do not use beasts of burden,
and the horses,
asses, mules, and camels introduced by the Portuguese
have died out.
The Congoese have never kept horned cattle, though they
thrive well
enough in the few places on the coast where they are
reared
under the
care of the whites.
The natives in some parts of the country still retain
traces of the civil-
ization and even of the literary culture introduced among
them by the
Jesuits, but south of the Coanza River the land is left
almost solely to
wild hunting tribes, who, in their .taste for the ownership
of cattle, and in
the use of the spear and war-club, resemble the Kaffir
race, with whom
they live in close proximity. The country abounds in
many natural re-
sources, including gum-copal, iron, and copper, and is
capable of growing:
coffee and many other crops.
Cannibals on the Warpath.
Mr. Stanley describes the tribes amongst whom he ran the
gauntlet
during his descent of the river as cannibals of the fiercest
description^
bold, athletic, and numerous, and in time likely to furnish
ample work
both for the missionary and the merchant, though, except
that the ener-
getic explorer has preserved some of their names, we
are still at sea
regarding their relationship to the Central Africans
and to the tribes nearer
the mouth of the river.
The shores of both the Congo and the Aruwimi resounded
with the
din of the everlasting war-drums, and from every cove
and island swarmed
a crowd of canoes, that began forming into line to intercept
and attack
the travellers. These crafts were larger than any that
had yet been
encountered. The leading canoe of the savages was of
portentous length,,
with forty paddlers on each side, while on a platform
at the bow were
stationed ten redoubtable young warriors, with crimson
plumes of the
parrot stuck in their hair, and poising long spears.
Eight steersmen were
placed on the stern, with large paddles ornamented with
balls of ivory ;
while a dozen others, apparently chiefs, rushed from
end to end of
the boat directing the attack.
Fifty-two other vessels of scarcely smaller dimensions
followed in its
wake. From the bow of each waved a long mane of palm
fibre ; every
warrior was decorated with feathers and ornaments of
ivory ; and the
sound of a hundred horns carved out of elephants' tusks,
and a song of
challenge and defiance chanted from two thousand savage
throats, added
to the wild excitement of the scene. Their wild war-cry
was " Yaha-
ha-ha, ya Bengala."
The assailants were put to flight after a series of charges
more deter-
mined and prolonged than usual.
In the centre of the village was found a singular structure
a temple
of ivory, the circular roof supported by thirty-three
large tusks, and
surmounting a hideous idol, four feet high, dyed a bright
vermillion
color, with black eyes, beard and hair. Their cannibal
propensities were
plainly shown in the rows of skulls that grinned from
poles, and the
bones and other grisly remains of human feasts scattered
about the
village streets.
CONTINUED IN CHAPTER XVII.
STANLEY'S GREAT JOURNEY FROM SEA TO SEA.
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