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 FORNtA 
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 ^-- 

 
 UNDER THE LONE STAR.
 
 ^ 
 
 1 ' i. 
 
 v*^. 
 
 ■#
 
 THE 
 
 First Ascent of the Kasai 
 
 BEING SOME RECORDS OF SERVICE 
 
 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES SOMERVILLE LATROBE BATEMAN, 
 
 SOMETIME CAPTAIN AND ADJUTANT OF GENDARMERIE IN 
 THE CONGO FREE STATE. 
 
 WITH FIFTY-SEVEN ILLUSTRATIONS AND TWO MAPS REPRODUCED 
 FROM THE AUTHOR'S ORIGINAL DRAWINGS. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 DODD, MEAD & COMPANY. 
 
 7 53 AND 755 BROADWAY. 
 
 1889.
 
 TO 
 
 H. B. 
 
 IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF MUCH GENEROUS 
 SYMPATHY AND HELP 
 
 Xlbis MorF? 
 
 IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED 
 BY HEE NEPHEW 
 
 THE AUTHOR
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 At a time when so many narratives of African travel, 
 adventure, and discovery are before the reading world, the 
 appearance of a new volume, which must be classed with 
 works of that description, undoubtedly demands some few 
 words of apology and introduction. 
 
 It is necessary, therefore, for me to explain that the 
 following narrative, forming, in point of fact, a monograph 
 on the Bashilange-Baluba nation, is the record of my later 
 experiences in the service of the Congo State : a service 
 which I had entered shortly before the A.I. A. obtained full 
 political recognition in its consolidated form as the Free 
 State of the Congo. 
 
 Were my object in making public any portion of my 
 African life merely the gratification of the love of adventure 
 or of the marvellous, or were it the exhibition of myself as 
 an actor in scenes of tragic incident, I should have selected 
 for publication the story of the first few months of my 
 service under the State. But although the object of this 
 work precludes my giving the detail of those occurrences.
 
 viii PREFACE. 
 
 yet, as they introduced me to the country and the life I 
 am about to describe, I feel that at least the outline of 
 them, 60 far as it shapes my story, must be presented to my 
 readers. 
 
 For several years previous to my engagement with the 
 State, I had resided on the south-west coast of Africa, chiefly 
 at Mayumba, where I represented a Liverpool trading firm, 
 and was consequently prepared for many of the difficulties 
 with which, on accepting service early in 1884 under Captain 
 Grant-Elliott, I almost immediately found myself environed. 
 These difficulties were occasioned mainly by the presence 
 upon the coast of an European and semi-European popu- 
 lation of mixed nationality but almost unmixed villainy : 
 a population consisting for the most part of Portuguese 
 criminals and British outcasts, with a fair sprinkling of un- 
 fortunate people of various nations and all ranks. Their 
 entire immunity from all control of law, the license of their 
 lives, and their relations with the natives, naturally disposed 
 them against the introduction of anything resembling regular 
 government, and the circumstances of the inevitable collision 
 with these people are indelibly burnt into my memory. I 
 began my work at Mayumba by annexing to the then Kwilo 
 Province of the State (since ceded to France) the country 
 in the immediate neighbourhood, and thereafter proceeding 
 to the Upper Nyanga, concluded in that hitherto unexplored 
 district treaties of annexation wdth the chiefs. 
 
 Appointed in July 1884 to the adjutancy of gendar-
 
 PREFA CE. ix 
 
 merie at Grantville, I saw some active service in troubles 
 arising from the conflict of jurisdiction between the French 
 and Congo authorities, and, in company with the late Lieut. 
 Hurt, R.N., made a complete route survey of the country 
 between the Mayumba lagoon and the Kwilo-Niadi at 
 Franktown, the chief features of which have become known 
 to the public, and are incorporated in the most recent maps. 
 After moving to Massabe in the November following, I was 
 appointed (on the cession of the Kwilo Province) to the 
 adjutancy of the camp of instruction then in course of for- 
 mation at Lutet^, in the basin of the Lower Congo. It was 
 while I was in command there that Dr. Wolf arrived, having 
 left at Leopoldville the main body of Lieut. Wissmann's expe- 
 dition. At Lutete he met Sir Francis de Winton, K.C.M.G., 
 at that time commanding the Province, and as a result of 
 their meeting I was despatched under Dr. Wolfs command 
 in charge of the Bashilange-Baluba auxiliaries of the German 
 expedition on their return to their own country : the nar- 
 rative of which return and its immediate sequel form the 
 subject-matter of these pages. 
 
 Doubtless the chief claim to novelty and interest that 
 my little work may be held to possess is a superficial one, 
 and lies in the fact that it is less a record of discovery than 
 of life in a newly discovered land, and is a fair illustration 
 of the raison cVetre and practical working of the Congo 
 State. But in transcribing the bare jottings of my diary 
 have had more than one object in view — aims which
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 sharply differentiate my work from those of African travellers 
 properly so called, and which constitute the best apology 
 for its existence. 
 
 I have, in the first place, wished, without being tiresomely 
 statistical and technical, to give, in the broad interests of 
 science, as exact and lively a representation of places and 
 things, climate, scenery, and people, as my ability allowed ; 
 and to achieve this end the better, I have been careful to 
 describe as best I might, not merely the outward appear- 
 ance of things, but the impression produced on my own 
 mind and heart by the circumstances occurring around me 
 and by the scenery through which I passed. 
 
 In the next place, in the interests of trade, as well as of 
 my class, I have endeavoured to make my remarks as to 
 house-building, planting, and some few processes, game and 
 hunting, and administrative and military routine, as full, 
 explicit, and practical as without prolixity I could. 
 
 In the cause of humanity and philanthropy, of the mis- 
 sionary and honest trader, I have endeavoured to expose 
 the covert slave-trade carried on by the Angolese subjects 
 of Portugal. It is, however, but right that I should draw 
 attention to the difference existing between slave -own- 
 ing and slave-dealing. So far as I can see, slavery must 
 exist in the regions watered by the Congo and its tributaries 
 for a very long period to come : its suppression, were it 
 possible, would lead to anarchy and misery without con- 
 ceivable limits. But slave-dealing is quite another matter.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 and it is practically suppressed in the limits of the Congo 
 State, except where, at its east and north-eastern extremity, 
 the Arab invasion carries with it the curses of murder, 
 misery, and devastation. In the same interests, too, I 
 devote considerable space to the description of several in- 
 teresting races in addition to the Bashilange-Baluba, and 
 have given accounts more or less minute of such singular 
 characters as Chilunga Meso, and of such organisations of 
 evil as the Lubuku brotherhood. 
 
 I have ventured thus to point out the practical value I 
 have sought to impart to the following narrative, because 
 works of the kind are too apt to be looked upon as enter- 
 taining reading merely, and where they fail to arnuse they 
 fail altogether. I wish to amuse, but I wish also to 
 instruct. 
 
 I have viewed the story, too, as a portion of my own 
 experiences : it is but fair that I should note that it is 
 possessed of a much higher claim to public attention. It 
 gives in a succinct form no inconsiderable section of the 
 discoveries of the German expedition under Lieut. Wiss- 
 mann and Dr. Wolf, in which the paths of other explorers, 
 Livingstone and Cameron, Stanley and others, are crossed 
 and united. 
 
 I have but few literary or artistic obligations to acknow- 
 ledge, but I have to thank Lieut. Massari of the Royal Italian 
 Navy for the gift of a rough chart of the lower portion of the 
 Kasai, which has been of service to me. My eldest brother,
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 the Rev. J. H. Latrobe Bateman, has acted as my amanuensis 
 throughout, and has undertaken the superintendence of my 
 work in the press. I trust I have not misrepresented the 
 opinions of any traveller, but I must confess that to arrive at 
 an exact estimate of their precise scope and value has not 
 been in every instance an easy task. 
 
 In conclusion, I have to observe that there is one sub- 
 ject conspicuous by its almost entire absence from my 
 narrative : I allude to the progress of religious effort in 
 ameliorating the social and intellectual condition of the 
 people. For my own part, although a member of the Church 
 of England, I am content to view religion as a personal 
 rather than an ecclesiastical question, and can be perfectly, 
 and, shall I say ? cheaply, tolerant of all who dissent from 
 that form to which I from habitude assent. Had I therefore 
 seen anything that interested me or struck me as being 
 specially hopeful in the composition or conduct of the 
 Baptist and other Reformed Missions in the State, I would 
 gladly have recorded it ; but I did not. Beyond Mr. 
 Darling's (Baptist) devotion to his work, and his extreme 
 kindness to me when I was ill and helpless, and the exist- 
 ence of the Baptist missionary steamer Peace — an admir- 
 able boat, which they contrived to launch on the Upper 
 Congo for a tithe of what the Stanley cost — I saw nothing 
 that calls for comment or acknowledgment. I would not, 
 however, be misunderstood on this point. An earnest 
 pioneer of religion has a much better chance in his isolation
 
 PREFACE. xiii 
 
 of acting also as a pioneer of civilisation than has the 
 secular trader. I state that which is within my own expe- 
 rience, when I say that whenever an European is settled 
 amongst savages one of two processes immediately begins : 
 either he raises them towards his level or they drag him 
 down to theirs. The European is constantly confronted with 
 the cheapness and utter insecurity of human life on the one 
 hand, while on the other he observes the ease with which the 
 means of living and of merely animal gratification are ob- 
 tained. To live — eating, drinking, sleeping, becomes to him 
 the whole of life ; it unconsciously sinks into his heart that 
 nothing higher need be thought of, and if he looks around 
 on what, so far, the introduction of government stations and 
 the like has done for the negro, he is encouraged to ask 
 indeed cui hono ? But a religious missionary has at all 
 events within himself the ever-abiding conviction that — 
 
 " 'Tis not the whole of life to live, 
 Nor all of death to die." 
 
 C. S. LATKOBE BATEMAN. 
 
 Carlisle, January 1889.
 
 NOTE ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 The whole of the Illustrations are produced from the 
 Author's original sketches in pencil, water-colour, pen and 
 ink, or sepia, either made on the spot, or from views finished 
 at leisure from rapidly drawn outlines accompanied by 
 written directions entered in his sketch-book : none are 
 derived directly or indirectly from photographs ; the photo- 
 graphic apparatus belonging to the expedition having be- 
 come useless during transit. The principal sketches — origi- 
 nally made in pencil or sepia — are represented in this work 
 by six etchings, whose beauty has been greatly enhanced 
 by the exquisite art and skill displayed in the process by 
 Mr. S. Myers (a fact which the Author desires here grate- 
 fully to acknowledge), while five water-colours have been 
 most carefully printed as nearly as possible in the original 
 colours : the engraved vignettes, &c., represent indiscrimi- 
 nately sketches originally made in colour and in black and 
 white, but are much reduced in size. With regard to the 
 view of Leopoldville, the Author desires to remark that it 
 represents exactly that station as it appeared when the 
 expedition started for the Kasai in 1885 : it has since been 
 very greatly changed.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PACK 
 
 The Preface vii 
 
 Note on the Illustrations • . xiv 
 
 The Argument i 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The personnel of the party — Stanley Pool described — Start from Kiiichasa — 
 Wrecked — ^Yretched night and day — Recrinuiiations — Nocturnal ahxrm — 
 We contrive to communicate with Leopoldville — Repairs — The fresli start — 
 The skipper's parrot— Congo scenery — The tropical forest — Msuata . . 3 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Kwamouth and the Kwa — Narrative of Wissmann's discovery and descent of 
 the Kasai — The Baluba and their neighbours — Our departure — Scenery on 
 the Kwa — Deserted Wabuma village and heronry — Castellated rocks— Tlie 
 Musjie villages and their Queen — The Nzali Mpini — Woodcutting— The 
 Kwango 15 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Huts at Bosjie — River nomenclature — Forest villages and market-places — 
 Excellent native iron-work — Mount Pogge — Probable embouchure of the 
 Lukenye — Curious luits — Timidity of inliabitants — An uncomfortable night 
 — Hippopotami, 1)nfraIoc3, and cowbirds — xVccident to tlie Sfcoi/c;/ — Hostility 
 of Basongo-Meno — Their towns and jiunishment — A jovial chief — Repairs 
 to Stanlei/ — Tlie expedition nearly blown up^The Luangi — An unknown 
 tribe — A night upon the river
 
 xvi CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Sankoro — River nomenclature again discussed — Tlie relative magnitude of 
 the Sankoro and the Kasai — A picnic— Aquatic birds — Bakuba country- 
 reached — A theft and quarrel — The En Avant constantly aground — Price 
 of provisions — Friendly natives — The Lulua described — Its fish and fisher- 
 men — The end of our voyage .50 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Luebo— Its environs and our neighbours — The station site — Departure of the 
 Stanley — The log-house — Calemba leaves for Kashia-Calemba followed by 
 Dr. Wolf — Clearing, levelling, and building — Kassenge and its j^lantations — 
 Habits and customs of the Bakfet^ — Their preparations of tobacco and 
 cassava — Christmas festivities — Daily routine in station — i\Iy hospitalities — 
 Sunday in Central Africa— Return of Dr. Wolf for the New Year — His 
 departure in En Avant for further exploration of Sankoro — Tragic deatli 
 of native girl 63 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Portuguese traders— Senhores Saturnino, Carvalho, y Custodio — Their history 
 and trade — Custodio's advice to Dr. Pogge — Carvalho's letter — The partner's 
 api)lication at Luebo — Saturnino and the Zingas — The dispute arranged — 
 Zingas and their country — Progress of the station buildings — The Krupp 
 howitzer— Dr. Wolf's return and the results of his voyage — An agreeable (?) 
 surprise 81 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Dr. Wolf attempts to ascend the Kasai — The En Avant disabled — A perilous 
 project — The Peace arrives 'svith Lieut. Wissmann on board, and departs 
 towing the En Avant down to Leopoldville — Vander Felson's farewell — 
 Wissmann and Wolf go to Luluaburg, and thereafter explore the Kas.ai up 
 to its first falls — -The Stanley arrives at Luebo — Adventure of the Baron 
 de Schwerin — Results of Messrs. Wissmann and Wolf's excursion to the 
 Kasai — Our journey to Luluaburg— The neighbouring natives — Incidents 
 of the march — Accident at the Miaw — Luluaburg — Congolemosch — Kashia- 
 Calemba and the King — Lu])uku and Ihiamba-smoking . . . .99
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 PACK 
 
 Chilunga Meso and liis visions — Tiie burning brandy — Senhor Caxavalla — His 
 friendship with Chilunga Meso— Kasongo and tlie embassj'^ from Ulungu — 
 My return to Luebo — General description of the route — Duniba — Landslij)^ 
 Beni-Muamba — Midnight alarm and Limo's bravery — Silence in the 
 sunshine — Night in the forest — Awkward situation at Beui-Kashia — 
 Arrival at Luebo . . . . .117 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Senhor Carvalho's administration — The plantations and our crops— Misunder- 
 standing with the Bakuba — Our Baket^ allies — Fireworks — Boat accident 
 to Bakete hunters on the Luebo — Ingratitude — Luebo Falls — Bakete hunting- 
 parties — Game of district — Slave-dealers 139 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Visit to Lukenga INIanena — My namesake — Dislionesty of Jao Domingos — 
 Expedition against Biombe — Temporary imprisonment of the chief — Ground- 
 nut oil — Carvalho's boat-building and project — Arrival of the Stanley with 
 my successor — The Sanford expedition — I leave Luebo— Accident to tlie 
 Stanley — Sacred island of Kimeh — Kwamouth and the Catholic Mission 
 — The Abb^ Krafft — Kinchasa and Leopoldville once more . , , . 15S 
 
 APPENDIX 175 
 
 INDEX 187
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 CHROMO-LITHOGRAPHS. 
 
 I. The Southern Shore of Stanley Pool 
 II. Fisherman of the Lulua .... 
 
 III. On the Road to Kassenge .... 
 
 IV. The Homage of Congolemosch 
 
 V. LuEBO Station 
 
 Frontisjiiece 
 
 to face page 50 
 
 63 
 
 99 
 
 158 
 
 ETCHINGS. 
 
 VI. Leopoldville in 1885 
 
 VII. The Expedition Steamers at Kwamouth 
 VIII. Mount Pogge 
 
 IX. The First Rapids on the Lulua . 
 X. Chinyampobo from Luluaburg 
 
 XI. The Eastern Falls of the Luebo 
 
 to face page i 
 
 81 
 117 
 139 
 
 FULL-PAGE ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 XII. KiNCHASA to face page 
 
 XIII. Lulua Fish ,, 
 
 XIV. Bakuba Cups and Knives ,, 
 
 XV. Looking Back Across the Musisi Valley . . ,, 
 
 XVI. Luluaburg ,, 
 
 XVII. Landslip at Beni-Muamba 
 
 3 
 
 59 
 
 97 
 
 106 
 
 109 
 
 128
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 XIX 
 
 SMALLER ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 1. "Dover Cliffs " 
 
 2. At tlie Gates of the Pool 
 
 3. A Miisjie Village . 
 
 4. A Basliilang^ Woman . 
 
 5. A Chiplumba INIan wearing INIatchioko 
 
 6. A Chiplumba Woman . 
 
 7. Wabunia Fishing-towu and Heronry 
 
 8. Hut near Mount Pogg^ . 
 
 9. Huts at Bosjie-Massari . 
 
 10. Basongo-Meno Woman . 
 
 11. Basongo-Meno Implements 
 
 12. Basongo-Meno Youth 
 
 13. Basongo-Meno Market-woman 
 
 14. Shammatuka Fishing-huts 
 
 15. Hippopotamus Trap 
 
 16. Bakuba Head-dress 
 
 17. The Lulua Rapids from the Station 
 
 1 8. In Kassfeng^ Village 
 
 19. The Log-house 
 
 20. A Bakete Girl 
 
 21. A Bakfet^ Man 
 
 22. Pounding Cassava . 
 
 23. Kafinga— a Portrait 
 
 24. Zingas .... 
 
 25. Chitabo on MiaAV . 
 
 26. Lhiamba [Cannabis Indica) 
 
 27. Beni-Ndumba 
 
 28. Kasongo— a Portrait 
 
 29. Senhora Caxavalla — a Portrait 
 
 Head-dress 
 
 PAGE 
 
 3 
 6 
 
 15 
 
 20 
 21 
 21 
 
 26 
 31 
 32 
 43 
 44 
 46 
 48 
 50 
 53 
 54 
 60 
 
 63 
 65 
 68 
 69 
 71 
 79 
 Si 
 
 99 
 i'3 
 117 
 124 
 125
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 SMALLER ENGRAVINGS— C\?«i/?(?/erf. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 30. Lianas at Beni-Kashia 134 
 
 31. Tevive (Gossijpimn) 137 
 
 32. Bakfete Chiefs 139 
 
 33. Mponde (Sorghum] 141 
 
 34. Mpinde nguba (Arachis) 142 
 
 35. Bakfete Hunters 148 
 
 36. The Western Falls of the Luebo 151 
 
 37. Bambangala 154 
 
 38. Ant-bear and Ant-hili 156 
 
 39. Ground-nut Oil-making 15^ 
 
 40. Kallina Point 174 
 
 MAPS. 
 
 LUEBO Station facing page 64 
 
 General Map showing Author's Routes {folded} . ,, 186
 
 I
 
 , '* n 
 
 4
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 When Stanley discovered the Upper Congo, in his great ex- 
 pedition through the Dark Continent, he carefully watched 
 for the embouchures of any rivers flowing from the south 
 which might be identified as the outlets of those great waters 
 which Livingstone had discovered, and made known to the 
 world as the Sankoro and Kasai. These outlets Stanley 
 believed he had found in the Lubiranzi, a magnificent river 
 which pours its flood into the Congo no great distance below 
 the Stanley Falls, and the Uruki, a stream joining the Congo 
 through a very wide embouchure at Equator. Subsequently, 
 having discovered the Kwa or Kwamuni, as the lower waters 
 of the Kasai were then exclusively known, and voyaging up 
 it, and by the Nzali Mpini to Lake Leopold IL, but neglect- 
 ing to explore the infinitely greater stream coming from 
 the opposite direction, he concluded that the waters of the 
 Kwamuni were mainly derived from the lake, and that no 
 other really great rivers entered the Congo from the south. 
 This view being taken as ascertained fact, the questions 
 which suggested themselves to geographers were, where do 
 the waters of the Kasai and Sankoro empty themselves if 
 not by the Lubiranzi and Uruki ? or, do they lose themselves 
 in some inland sea or marsh ? To solve this problem Lieu- 
 tenant Wissmann was despatched by the Geographical Society 
 of Berlin, and under special commission of the King of the 
 Belgians. In a previous journey across Africa, in conjunc-' 
 tion with Dr. Pogge, Lieutenant Wissmann had crossed the 
 Upper Kasai, and had experienced tlic friendly character of 
 
 A*
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 the natives in its vicinity. He now conceived the happy 
 idea of entering the country from the province of Malange 
 in Angola, and making overland to the head-waters of the 
 Kasai, to obtain tliere the assistance of the natives, and 
 thence to descend the river to whatever bourne its course 
 might cany him. His project was completely successful : 
 he met Math the most cordial and efficient assistance at the 
 hands of Calemba, the intelligent and noble-minded king of 
 the Baluba, wlio personally and together with a sufficient 
 force of warriors embarked upon the waters of the Kasai, 
 to share whatever vicissitudes and dangers might await his 
 guest in sailing down them to their ultimate and unknown 
 goal. In due course the expedition reached the Congo, and 
 proceeding to Leopoldville, were there received by Mr. Troup, 
 in the absence of Captain Saulez. Thus his immediate ob- 
 ject accomplished, Lieutenant Wissmann returned to Europe, 
 leaving the further conduct of the expedition to Dr. Wolf. 
 Under his charge the king, Calemba, and the faithful Baluba, 
 were now to be escorted on their return home up the Kasai, 
 Avhither it was determined to send on the expedition, with 
 the view of establishing a station at the coniluence of the 
 Lulua with the Luebo, as a port for the station of Lulua- 
 burg, founded by Lieutenant Wissmann when in the Baluba 
 country, and left by him in charge of Mr. Bugslag. I was 
 permitted to accompany this expedition as second in com- 
 mand. The stern-wheel steamer Stanlei/ and the steam- 
 launch En Arant, together with a large whaleboat, were to 
 convey the Baluba and members of the expedition to their 
 destination. The ascent of the Kasai and the subsequent 
 establishment of Luebo station form the subject of the follow- 
 ing narrative.
 
 " nOVEll CLIFFS. 
 
 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The personnel of the party — Stanley Poul described — Start from Kinchasa — Wrecked — 
 Wretched night and day — Recriminations — Nocturnal alarm — We contrive to com- 
 municate with Leopoldville — Repairs — The fresh start — The skijtper's parrot — Congo 
 .scenery — Tiie tropical forest — Msuata. 
 
 On the morning of the 30th of September 1885, soon after 
 7 A.M., I went on board the En Avant, then lying oft' the 
 landing-place at Kinchasa. We had on board fifteen 
 Zanzibaris and Angolese, three Balnba, and my two ser- 
 vants.* Mr. ■ Vander Felson had charge of the navigation 
 of the vessel, and Mr. Walker was the engineer. The 
 
 * Vide Appendix A.
 
 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 Stanley, having on board the main body of the expedition, 
 under command of Dr. Wolf, was to follow us a few days 
 later from Leopoldville, which is distant some six miles 
 from Kinchasa, and is at the extreme end coastwards of 
 the navigation of the Middle and Upper Congo, which, at 
 the point immediately beyond that station, plunges down 
 the Livingstone Falls in awful and indescribable grandeur 
 — for well nigh 200 miles a frightful descent of cataracts 
 and rapids infinitely the wildest and grandest in all the 
 world. The JEn Avant was to precede the Stanley as her 
 avant courier, but, as things turned out, this detail of 
 our operations had to be abandoned. Owing to the large 
 number of persons, including women and children belong- 
 ing to the Baluba, whom the steamers had to convey, it 
 was necessaiy for us every night to find some suitable camp- 
 ing-ground whereon our living freight might find sleep- 
 ing quarters. The king, Calemba, and Sir F. de Winton, 
 K.C.M.G., who accompanied the expedition, though not in 
 command, were also accommodated on board the Stanley, 
 which carried Lieut. Andersson of the Royal Swedish Navy 
 as her captain, with Mr. Olsen as mate, Mr. Waal as engineer, 
 and Mr. Schneider as armourer. 
 
 Stanley Pool, upon which we were now embarked, is a 
 singular feature of the Congo, which, for great distances both 
 above and below this remarkable expansion, is, for so vast 
 a river, decidedly narrow. The Pool is 20 miles long, and 
 16 miles broad in its widest pait, being much blocked 
 with sandbanks and islands, of which Bamu is the largest, 
 measuring some 12^ miles by 2^ in its extreme length and 
 breadth. The depth is very various, but attains a maximum
 
 WRECKED. 
 
 of as much as 50 fathoms. The surface of the water is 
 910 feet over sea-level, and the banks are more or less 
 elevated except on the southern shore. To the north-west 
 the ground rises into hills, which display towards the Pool 
 those strangely white cliffs nicknamed "Dover Cliffs." At 
 "the Gates of the Pool," as the point at which the upper 
 river begins to expand is called, both banks consist of 
 bold hills rising about 600 feet over the water, clothed 
 with wood at the base : those on the south side gradually 
 retreating from the water, and sinking in height, until, 
 behind Kinchasa, they disappear. To return, however, to 
 the voyage before us. Unmooring at about 7.45 a.m. from 
 Kinchasa, conspicuous on the low-lying shore by reason 
 of its great baobab trees, we turned the prow of our boat 
 against the stream, and steaming along the southern side 
 of the Pool, we passed Kimpoko, where the American 
 Methodist Mission is now located, at about 2 p.m., and en- 
 camped some two hours before sunset at the Gates of the 
 Pool. Wood suitable for fuel being both good and abun- 
 dant at this point, I kept the men cutting it until 10 p.m. 
 Next morning, October ist, having shipped the wood, we 
 left our camp at 6.25 a.m. and proceeded on our way, 
 keeping to the south bank, and with considerable difficulty 
 contrived for some time to avoid the numerous reefs of 
 rock ; but having lost steerage-way in a whirlpool, we 
 struck upon a rock some eighty yards from shore. As the 
 steamer immediately began to fill, we beached her upon 
 the nearest strip of sandy shore, but only just in time to 
 save her, for the water was already lapping over into the 
 engine compartment when we reached the bank. ^Ye pro-
 
 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 ceeded to lighten the vessel by removing the wood, anchor, 
 and anchor chain, &c., from the forward compartment 
 to the land, and afterwards, having partially stopped the 
 leak nndor her forefoot by letting down a weighted sail on 
 that side of the bows which was exposed to the descending 
 current of the river, we managed, with the assistance of a 
 block and tackle fixed to a stout tree on the bank, so to 
 
 AT THE GATES OF THE l't)OL. 
 
 raise her fore part as to enable the engineer to ascertain 
 the extent of the damage. This was considerable. There 
 were four holes, one of triangular shape measuring three 
 inches across the base, the others being smaller. Un- 
 happily, the material of the steamer being steel, we could 
 do nothing but await relief from Leopoldville, for in 
 the turmoil of embarkation the drills, rivets, spare plates, 
 and other requisites for executing repairs, had been left
 
 DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 behind. Our situation was most unfortunate. Had the 
 whaleboat been with us, or had w^e been provided with a 
 row-boat of any description, we should have been able to 
 communicate with Leopoldville. As things were, we could 
 only wait upon our fortune. But we felt somewhat im- 
 patient, for we were threatened with a famine. We had 
 fully expected to have reached Msuata on the following 
 day, and had laid in no provision for a longer period, 
 whilst the seemingly pathless forest by which we were 
 surrounded forbade us to expect the presence of any native 
 towns in our vicinity. Night closing in, I pitched my tent 
 on a small open space of rising ground, Messrs. Vander 
 Felson and Walker remaining on board the steamer, where 
 they were sufficiently uncomfortable, and, I believe, mutu- 
 ally recriminative as to their several responsibilities in 
 respect of our mishap. Next day our consultation was 
 inevitably somewhat gloomy, but we decided on sending 
 out two search-parties, I conducting one directly away from 
 the river to look out for tracks or towns, Mr. Walker going 
 with another along the river-bank in search of landing- 
 places or canoes. Mr. Vander Felson remained in charge 
 of the steamer and camp, with orders to hail any passing 
 canoes, and to detain them until my return, so that I 
 might have the opportunity of inducing their crews, either 
 by bribes or threats, to convey intelligence of our disaster 
 to Kinchasa or Leopoldville. After some hours of unsuc- 
 cessful search, my party returned into camp, whither Mr. 
 Walker had preceded us, and with no better fortune. The 
 possibility of our provisions becoming exhausted did not 
 tend to raise our spirits, and as we had to pass another
 
 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 night in our castaway condition, the feelings of my sub- 
 ordinates became yet more exacerbated towards each other. 
 Indeed, their time on board must have been very trying to 
 them that night, for, to the discomforts of their surround- 
 ings, were added the terrors of a threatened danger. Their 
 rest was rudely disturbed by the grunting of a hippopo- 
 tamus, who came about the landing-place in search of 
 food. Our friends awoke at once to a sense of their new 
 peril, and to a keener realisation of their former differ- 
 ences of opinion. Of course they differed as to the means 
 and method of defence, and nature of the foe. They 
 were in total darkness, and unable to procure a light. 
 They stumbled and fell, and trampled on each other in 
 their efforts to obtain their arms, and — 1 am afraid — they 
 swore. Meanwhile the enemy retreated from the contest. 
 On the 3rd of October we were so fortunate as to stop 
 a passing Bayanzi canoe, bound for Kimpoko, with ivory, 
 and induced them, by promises of reward, to take a letter 
 to Kinchasa. Later in the day, two of the crew who had 
 been sent out with guns to procure game of some kind, 
 wherewith to supplement our scanty rations, came across 
 a native road, by following which they arrived at a cluster 
 of villages inhabited by a portion of the Bateke tribe. 
 These people proved very friendly, and promising to bring 
 supplies into camp, the joyful return of our two men was 
 speedily followed by the advent of a host of women with 
 cassava, yams, fowls, plantains, &c. 
 
 The pleasing prospect of present abundance and coming 
 escape so engrossed ray mutually hostile companions that 
 they forgot their past recriminations, and although the
 
 HELP FROM LEOPOLDVILLE. 
 
 speedy discovery of the native road by the two Zanzibaris 
 had to my mind, I must own, given confirmation to the 
 reproach with which Mr. Vander Felson had assailed Mr. 
 Walker as to the ntter unreality of the latter's search for a 
 landing-place, yet they now became and afterwards remained 
 good friends and allies in their work. I passed the follow- 
 ing day chiefly in shooting, and in considerably greater com- 
 fort. About 4 P.M. we were all gladdened by hearing the 
 puffing and working of a steamboat coming up the river, 
 and shortly after we had the pleasure of seeing the Royal, 
 with Mr. Hamburg, engineer, on board, sent by Sir F. de 
 Winton, in reply to my note, nearing the scene of our 
 disaster. She brought with her all requisites for repairing 
 the leak, and some comforts for the officers. The evening 
 was spent more amicably than our previous evenings had 
 been, and next day (October 5th) the united skill and in- 
 dustry of our engineers availed to make good the greatest 
 part of the damage. 
 
 On the 6th of October both engineers fell early to their 
 work, and repairs being completed, about 9 a.m. we pushed 
 ojQf the steamer into deep water, and commenced to reload. 
 At 10 A.M. the Sta7iley, with the main body of the expedi- 
 tion on board, anchored oft' the landing-place. Dr. Wolf 
 came on shore to receive my report, and with him were 
 Sir F. de Winton, Dr. Leslie, Mr. Swinburne, and Mr. 
 Troup — the two last-named gentlemen returning in the 
 Royal. After half an hour's delay the Stanley proceeded 
 on her voyage to Kwamouth, leaving orders that we sliould 
 follow as soon as possible. The disaster which liad be- 
 fallen us was indicative of the part the En Avant was to
 
 lo UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 bear thereafter in the expedition. We, who ought to have 
 preceded the Stanley throughout the whole voyage for the 
 purpose of securing a sufficiency of supplies along the pro- 
 posed route, were generally following her, struggling vainly 
 with our inferior engines against the current, or grounded 
 on sandbanks. 
 
 All being ready for departure, we unmoored about 2 p.m. 
 and proceeded up the stream. Crossing to the western 
 shore, we were at some disadvantage from the heavy sea 
 occasioned by the strong south-west wind meeting the 
 current of the river. I confess that I was somewhat 
 anxious myself as to the security of the repairs, but Mr. 
 Vander Felson was afraid, distrusting an engineer's abilities 
 to do anything aright, and his solicitude threatened to dis- 
 turb his renewed friendship with the engineer. Between 
 the whistling of the wind and the straining of the engine, 
 it was no easy matter for him to make Mr, Walker, as he 
 stood behind the funnel, hear his inquiries, or even to 
 attract his attention. Grasping a yam, the worthy skipper 
 watched for the opportunity that any change in Mr. Walker's 
 position might afford him. After a time the engineer un- 
 suspectingly ventured beyond his cover, when instantly the 
 tuber went flying past his ear, and striking with force 
 unlucky Mr. Yander Fel son's favourite parrot, hurled it 
 screaming into the eddies far astern. 
 
 " Hullo there ! you've missed the pigeon, but you've 
 killed the crow ! " 
 
 " Oh, save my parrot ! " 
 
 "Jump overboard, man, and save it yourself! " 
 
 " Stop the steamer ! Stop her ! "
 
 AMENITIES OF THE VOYAGE. 
 
 "I'll do no such thing — stop the steamer yourself." 
 
 The parrot being abandoned to its fate, the skipper 
 renewed the subject of the repairs, attracting the engineer's 
 attention by an intermittent shower of various missiles. 
 
 " Is there any water there ? " 
 
 "Yes, plenty." 
 
 " Does it increase, think you ? " 
 
 "Yes; it's increasing fast enough." 
 
 " Ach Himmel ! I knew it was so. We shall then all go 
 to the bottom ! Ach mine Gott ! look now again and tell 
 me is it so? " 
 
 " I'll tell you no more. Just you mind your own busi- 
 ness and leave me to mind mine." 
 
 " It will be better on the other side. We shall cross the 
 river. 
 
 " All right ! that is your business — cross away ! " 
 
 And so they kept on until the deepening shadows of the 
 evening brought our voyage to a temporary close. Vse 
 moored off a swampy strip of land on the northern bank. 
 Here my tent was pitched, fires lighted, and the evening 
 tasks allotted to all our little company. Although the lost 
 parrot still formed the text of an occasional jeremiad, our 
 social circle was more cheerful than the trials and contro- 
 versies of the day would have justified us in anticipating. 
 The next day our voyage was entirely uneventful so far as 
 our progress was concerned, and at its close we encamped 
 on the north bank, opposite to, though slightly below, 
 Msuata. 
 
 The scenery through which we had passed since lca\iug 
 the Pool is in many respects most beautiful, but, like the
 
 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 scenery elsewhere in this vast continent, it seems perhaps 
 less beautiful than in reality it is : a fact, if fact it be, that 
 I can only ascribe to the power of association to impress 
 the mind. The broad level of the river gives contrast and 
 relief to the bare bold hills through which its great path is 
 cleft — hills which, though little varied by cliff and crag, and 
 of somewhat uniform height, are garlanded and gemmed 
 with all the dark luxuriant richness of the tropic forest 
 and gilded with the most glorious sunshine. From the cool 
 grey and gold of dawn on through the burning brilliance 
 of the day to the rose and amber splendours of the sunset, 
 the voyager may watch the nearing and receding bluffs with 
 the fringe of forest round their bases, sometimes mirrored 
 in the glassy stream and sometimes dimmed with haze or 
 chequered with the fleeting cloud, but lonely always : un- 
 joined with human story and the endless life of man. At 
 home the records of our past, our glories and our griefs, 
 from the remotest memories of the race, live in the features 
 of the land ; but in the country of an unknown past, through 
 which the mighty river flows, the thought is borne ever 
 onwards to a future no less unknown.* 
 
 The ground on which we were now encamped was high 
 above the water, and grassy, but surrounded, save on the 
 side next the river, by a dense forest. Although from sheer 
 strength and luxuriance of growth the forests of Central 
 Africa are of darker colour, and therefore a less attractive 
 and showy element in the landscape, than forests are wont 
 to be, yet it were a mistake to suppose that they are of one 
 uniform dark evergreen tint. There are many trees whose 
 
 * Mde Appendix B.
 
 MSUATA. . t3 
 
 tender green foliage contrasts finely with that of their 
 darker neighhours ; for example, the bombax or floss-wood, 
 and the climbing calamus. There is also the beautiful 
 traveller's tree, with its resplendent crimson foliage and 
 silvery bark. There are, moreover, several flowering trees 
 of great beauty ; amongst them more than one species of 
 acacia, and a magnolia with great creamy blossoms and 
 delicious perfume.* The beach beside our camping-ground 
 was very deeply marked with the spoor of elephants, buffalo, 
 and various kinds of antelopes ; but except a single specimen 
 of the latter, a small blue buck that I shot before dinner, 
 we saw nothing of the game. Next morning we left about 
 7 A.M., and keeping for a short distance to the north shore, 
 soon crossed to the deserted station, but still considerable 
 native towns, of Msuata. A station had been founded here 
 by order of Mr. Stanley in 1882 by Lieut. Janssen, as a 
 depot for provisions and fuel for vessels ascending the river. 
 Lieut. Janssen was much liked and respected by the natives, 
 who were, so long as he lived, entirely friendly and well 
 disposed ; but after his lamented death — he was accidentally 
 drowned, together with a French missionary priest, in the 
 vicinity of the station — little misunderstandings induced 
 coldness, which culminated in hostility. The ground on 
 which the station was relinquished, however, was mainly 
 the imperative necessity that arose, after Stanley's discovery 
 of Lake Leopold II., of establishing a station at Kwamouth. 
 The garrison therefore and materiel at Msuata was even- 
 tually removed thither, and our only object in landing at the 
 old station site was to appropriate, for fuel, whatever might 
 
 * Vide Appeudix C.
 
 14 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 remain of the wooden buildings. Our task fulfilled, we 
 turned away once more upon our upward voyage, and 
 reached Kwamonth without further adventure of any kind 
 at 4.30 P.M., where we found the Stanleij already arrived 
 before us.
 
 I*
 
 A JIUSJIE VILLAGE. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Kwainouth and the Kwa— Narrative of Wissmann's discovery and descent of the Kasa 
 —The Baluba and their neighbours — Our departure— Scenery on the Kwa— Deserted 
 Wabuma village and heronry— Castellated rocks— The Musjie villages and their 
 queen— The Nzali Mpini— Wood-cutting— The Kwango. 
 
 KwAMOUTH, as its name implies, is situated at the junction 
 of the Kwa with the Congo, at this point about two miles 
 wide, and flowing almost due north and south. The Kwa 
 enters the main stream from the north-east — a swift river 
 and very deep, but not much above 400 yards in width 
 where it joins the Congo. The right, or Uyanzi, bank of 
 the Kwa is bare and grassy, rising very gradually to a height 
 of 200 feet and upwards. Opposite the ground rises steeply 
 from the shore to an average altitude of 60 feet, forming
 
 1 6 UNDER THE LONE STAR, 
 
 thence, for some distance inland, a low plain, behind which 
 the ground again rises. The station is located exactly at 
 the embouchure and on the brink of this rapid descent to 
 the river — just at the station a depth of some 80 feet — covered 
 in all directions with luxuriant groves of bananas. Looking 
 from the station up and across the Congo, the prospect 
 presented to the eye is one of no small beauty, the distant 
 hills being of considerable elevation, broken and diversified 
 with cliff and wood. The station buildings comprised one 
 long house facing the Kwa for the accommodation of 
 European officers and travellers — (two were originally built, 
 but with such indifferent skill, that one had gone completely 
 to ruin) — a storehouse, kitchen offices, a row of workmen's 
 huts, and a house for the women of the station. There was 
 also a large boathouse at the landing-place. The station 
 is in no way palisaded or enclosed, except by the beautiful 
 banana plantations with which it is surrounded. Such was 
 the rendezvous of our expedition — the point at which, bidding 
 farewell to the milder populations of the Middle Congo 
 districts and to the incipient influences of civilisation, we 
 were to enter upon a region seen only once before by the eye 
 of civilised man — a region whose inhabitants were known 
 for the most part, so far as they were known at all, only as 
 cruel and ferocious savages, as cowardly robbers of the 
 helpless stranger. It may be well, therefore, at this point 
 in our narrative to pause, and give some account of Lieut. 
 Wissmann's experience of those Avretches past whose lurking 
 dens we were about to escort the faithful companions of 
 his perilous voyage, as well as of those companions them- 
 selves, their country, and their neighbours.
 
 WISSMAXN'S DESCENT OF THE KASAI. 17 
 
 When Lieut. Wissmann was preparing, with Calemba's 
 aid, to embark his expedition upon the Kasai, he constructed 
 his canoes (in number about thirty), and launched the whale- 
 boat, which he had brought Avitli him overland in sections 
 from Malange, at a point on the Lulua that was believed 
 by him, though erroneously, to be below the last cataract 
 on that river. Passing down to the Kasai without disaster 
 of any kind, excepting the loss of a canoe, carried over the 
 Lulua Falls above the confluence of the Luebo, and voyag- 
 ing on as far as the Luangi, it was observed one morning 
 when preparing to leave camp, some of the canoes having 
 already started, that the native women, who had come in 
 early for the purpose of bartering provisions, retired sud- 
 denly, and without any apparent cause. This was at once 
 noted as an unfavourable omen, and in re-embarking Lieut. 
 Wissmann and his European subordinates Avere prepared to 
 defend themselves with their rifles. Scarcely had the canoes 
 pushed off than a flight of arrows from the surrounding 
 jungle fell thickly around them, and the everlasting tom- 
 tom of their war-drums, with mingled yells and screams 
 resounding through the forest on all sides, declared plainly 
 enough the hostility of the natives. Happily no one 
 was seriously injured by the arrows, and as standing orders 
 had been issued that on any appearance of danger all the 
 canoes should mass themselves together, the firing, which 
 was renewed again and again, served to congregate the flotilhi 
 into a compact body. This was most fortunate, as a much 
 more daring onslaught of the savages was to follow. Im- 
 mediately from every creek and cranny along the woody 
 shore multitudes of canoes shot out filled with armed men,
 
 i8 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 stalwart warriors standing in each prow, balancing linge 
 spears, in readiness to hiui them whenever the lessening 
 distance should allow their doing so with deadly effect. 
 The way down-stream thus barred, flight became impos- 
 sible, and resistance inevitable. Accordingly, as quickly as 
 may be, the crack of the elephant-rifle answers the fiendish 
 war-cries of the foe and the whirring of the arrows. 
 One and another of the advancing canoes stop in their 
 progress, and then, sinking or unmanned, drift down the 
 stream ; where but a moment before the frenzied robber 
 gloried in the spoil of life and property of which he deemed 
 himself secure, there, when the light rifle-smoke clears oft, is 
 seen only a ruddy tinge upon the rippling eddy, a sinking 
 boat, or maybe a dark body drifting with the flood. And 
 thus a way being cleared, the gallant little fleet sail on down- 
 stream ; but as they go, each bend and turning in the river 
 bank unmasks a new band of robber vessels, and the sicken- 
 ing, hopeless contest has to be renewed. Night — an anxious 
 troubled night it was, a sandy island being the only practi- 
 cable camping-ground — and night alone, puts a temporary 
 end to this war a Voutrance. Nor does the morrow or 
 several succeeding days bring safety or even immunity from 
 molestation. The camps have always to be pitched on islands 
 when the darkness closes on those days of watchfulness and 
 care. One day, towards the end of the long-continued 
 flight, Lieut. Wissmann chanced to turn his head to look up- 
 stream. It was well that he did so. Two of the hindmost 
 canoes had most unluckily got into shoal water, and finally 
 had run aground. Their crews were making what haste they 
 could to push them oft', when instantly their ever-watchful
 
 ''CONGO MANEXA/" 19 
 
 enemy comes down upon them, and men and helpless women 
 and their infants will certainly be murdered before help can 
 come, or their absence from the company be even noticed. 
 But just in time the whaleboat slackens her pace down- 
 stream, and with rapid strokes turns back upon her way. A 
 few sharp shots are fired, and once again the would-be 
 spoilers are themselves despoiled. The stranded boats are 
 rescued, and proceed upon their voyage. At last, after eight 
 days of the keenest anxiety and most wearisome exertion, 
 the expedition entered a less inhospitable region, and glided 
 forth at last upon the longed-for waters of the mighty 
 Congo. 
 
 " Congo manena !" (" great is the Congo"), the Bashilangd 
 chief exclaimed whose canoe first gained its stream ; and 
 " Congo Manena " he has ever since been called. 
 
 With regard to Lieut. Wissmann's Baluba allies, it is to 
 be observed that they form that portion of the nation known 
 as Bashilange, and are a distinct tribe from the Baluba 
 properly so called, who inhabit a country to the east of the 
 Sankoro, and between the seventh and eighth parallels of 
 south latitude, from which the Bashilange have migrated at 
 no very remote period to their present domains, which extend 
 westwards from the Sankoro to the Kasai. The people whom 
 they have probably displaced by thus intruding into the 
 country to the west of their original home are the Bakete, 
 the remnants of which nation, divided into two very unequal 
 portions, now occupy widely separated strips of country, 
 between which the great bulk of the Bashilange population 
 is to be found. Though much divided into sub-tribes, the 
 Bashilange are all the subjects of Calemba, whose capital,
 
 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 known as Kashia Calemba, is near the Lulna, and a short 
 distance south of the sixth parallel. It is extremely diffi- 
 cult to estimate their numbers, but they may be roughly 
 set down as about 80,000. In form they are large of stature 
 and very tall, rather dark and coarse-featured, but not stupid 
 or unintellectual in look. Like all negro races with which 
 I am acquainted, they are easily excited to any imaginable 
 degree of frenzy. Their insensibility to pity, their natural 
 cruelty, and their untruthfulness are also characteristics 
 
 possessed by them in common with' 
 other negro tribes. Not so, how- 
 ever, are their virtues, which are 
 in my experience, unhappily, al- 
 most unique in Africa. They are 
 thoroughly and unimpeachably 
 honest ; somewhat reserved in 
 speech ; brave to foolhardiness ; 
 and faithful to each other and to 
 their superiors, in whom, especially 
 if Europeans, they place the most 
 
 A BASHiLANGE WOMAN. complctc absolutely unquestioning- 
 
 reliance. They are prejudiced in favour of foreign customs 
 rather than otherwise, and spontaneously copy the usages of 
 civilisation. They are warm-hearted and affectionate towards 
 their friends, and especially their kinsfolk, and they are the 
 only African tribe amongst whom, in their primitive state, I 
 have observed anything like a becoming conjugal affection 
 and regard. To say nothing of such recommendations as. 
 their emancipation from fetishism, their ancient abandonment 
 of cannibalism, their heretofore most happy experience of
 
 THE BASHILANGE AND THEIR NEIGHBOURS. 21 
 
 Europeans, and their national unity under the sway of a 
 really princely prince, I believe them to be the most open 
 to the best influences of civilisation of any African tribe 
 whatsoever. Of their neighbours, by far the most power- 
 ful and important are the Bakuba, equal at least to the 
 Bashilange in numbers, and like them united under a king 
 called Lukwengo ; but he is a suzerain of inferior sovereigns 
 rather than the personal ruler of a nation. He is, moreover, 
 himself a fetish institution, and his authority is bound up 
 
 A CHIPLUMBA MAN WEARING 
 MATCHIOKO HEAD-DRESS. 
 
 A CHIPLUMBA WOMAN. 
 
 with fetishism and is maintained by it. When the present 
 Lukwengo succeeded to the throne, 2000 human victims 
 (slaves) were sacrificed to the manes of his predecessor. 
 The Bakuba are a brave and w^arlike people — thieves and 
 liars, but not cannibals. They are extremely skilful in most 
 native arts, llieir cloth, woven in elaborately ingenious and 
 beautiful patterns, would not discredit the manufiicturing 
 skill of the most advanced civilised nations, and their work
 
 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 in iron and copper is not less admirable. They are excellent 
 huntsmen and very expert fishermen ; but they are not at 
 present open to the influences of civilisation, as Lukwengo 
 has prohibited the introduction of European merchandise 
 into the country, and has confined all intercourse between 
 his people and Europeans within very narrow limits. 
 
 Their country conjoins that of the Bashilangd on its 
 northern and north-eastern frontiers, and the Bakuba have 
 thus practically in their hands the command of the Lulua, 
 Kasai, and Sankoro, the main outlets of the Bashilange 
 country to the w-orld of commerce and civilisation. A small 
 part of their country, next to the Bashilange, and edging 
 the banks of the Lulua, is inhabited by the northern and 
 larger section of the Bakete before referred to, a people who 
 occupy much of our attention in the narrative of our station 
 at Luebo, on which account I shall describe them more fully 
 elsewhere. Another small nation or tribe, residing in a 
 country chiefly surrounded by Bakuba, are the Shammatuka. 
 Their characteristics are Bakuba, but they are subject to 
 their own chief, Bakwengi Babiaha. They are a troublesome 
 people, probably because of their singularly unfortunate 
 relations with Calemba and Lukwengo, two masters whom 
 they pretend to serve, but whom they strive to play off 
 against each other. The Tucongo are a large, powerful, and 
 savage nation, of whom very little is known. Their char- 
 acteristics are Baluba. Their territory borders upon the 
 Kasai, and forms a great portion of the western frontier of 
 the Bashilange, south and south-west of whom are the 
 Bailunda, a wild, savage, and extremely numerous people, 
 united under a chief of large ideas, Matjambo. The Mat-
 
 MATCHIOKO AND OTHER TRIBES. 23 
 
 chioko are a large tribe, residing in a territory between the 
 Tiicongo and the Baihmda. They are very ingenious in 
 their manufactures, and as iron-workers are unrivalled 
 amongst the natives, many of the race being constantly 
 resident with the neighbouring tribes in the capacity of 
 blacksmiths. The tribal speciality is, however, their great 
 fondness of trade : they are to be found all over the country 
 swindling their less wily neighbours, and making mischief 
 of all kinds in order to serve their own ends. The Balungu 
 are a large nation whose territory is far to the soutb, south- 
 east, and east of the Bashilange. Little w^as known of them 
 at the time to which my narrative refers, though I have 
 something more to say of them in its place. The other 
 neighbours of the Bashilange beside the Baluba are two 
 nomadic tribes of dwarfs, the Batua Bankonko and the 
 Batua Basinji, and are probably the dwarfs referred to by 
 Stanley under the name of Wantu. Both tribes are incor- 
 rigible thieves, and being nomads, and destitute therefore of 
 plantations, they live habitually by robbing those of the 
 settled tribes. They are excellent warriors, and very hardy 
 and impudent, so that the more otiose and supine of the 
 peoples on whom they prey suffer most. Thus the Bakete 
 are the principal victims of the Batua Bankonko, wdiose 
 line of march lies in their direction, while their Bakuba 
 neighbours get oft" almost scot-free. It only remains 
 for me to say a few words as to the general character 
 of the Bashilange country before returning from this long 
 digression to the thread of my narrative. This territory, 
 measuring about 180 miles from north to south and 160 
 miles from east to west, lies Avholly within tlie Congo basin,
 
 24 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 although containing and crossing the watersheds of several 
 rivers. It is abundantly watered, and may be described as 
 nndulating land with fine rolling plains, intersected with 
 deep gullies : a grassy country with rich timber on the hill- 
 sides and river slopes, except in the basin of the Luebo and 
 a few other isolated districts of luxuriant forest. The soil 
 is exceedingly fertile ; but although the country is very 
 thinly inhabited, game cannot be called abundant. 
 
 The waters up which our course was to be threaded 
 being at that time unsurveyed and unsounded, it was deemed 
 advisable to lighten both vessels as far as possible before 
 leaving the Congo. The 9th of October therefore found us 
 fully occupied in disembarking whatever we could possibly 
 dispense with, and in procuring such provisions as were 
 requisite for our absolute wants. The next day we left 
 Kwamouth at about 1 1 a.m., and steamed close along the 
 right bank of the Kwa, here a very crooked river, and were 
 soon out of sight of the Congo. The stream gradually 
 widens, but the scenery continues uninteresting for a very 
 considerable distance. The banks are destitute of forest, 
 and rise gradually and in a somewhat terraced manner into 
 ranges of low hills. Indeed the whole country on both 
 sides of the river may be described as undulating prairie 
 land. By degrees, as we advance up the stream, the 
 country becomes better wooded. Sparsely scattered clumps 
 and single trees, either edging the water or nestling in the 
 hollows between the offshoots of the hills, give variety, and 
 impart a park-like appearance to the landscape. After 
 passing Muleo, a small village on the right bank inhabited 
 by Bayanzi, we meet with islands where the river broadens
 
 SCENERY OF THE KWA. 25 
 
 considerably. Here we crossed the river, and having passed 
 Ntima on the right bank, recrossed to Mbembo, half a mile 
 above which place we pitched our camp for the night. In 
 the morning we were all afoot early ; but owing to the time 
 absorbed in going through the roll-call of so large a body 
 of men, and in reducing them and our heterogeneous living 
 cargo to ■ something like order, discipline, and travelling 
 arrangement, Ave did not renew our voyage until after 10 
 A.M. Keeping still to the right bank, we soon became in- 
 volved in the intricacies of sandbanks and winding channels, 
 alike unexplored and invisible. The Kwa is here lacus- 
 trine in character, of immense breadth, and with an almost 
 imperceptible current. At 2 p.m. we stopped at the mouth 
 of a small stream, entering the Kwa from the north. 
 Nothing of importance occurring, we steamed away about 
 7 A.M., and after considerable trouble amongst the sand- 
 banks, which are here extremely numerous, we stopped at 
 a village on the left bank, the name of which we were 
 unable to discover, as the natives had fled at our approach. 
 This village was partially surrounded by a grove of lofty 
 trees (ironwood or mahogany), which were occupied by 
 a numerous colony of herons. What had induced these 
 usually shy birds to build so near the haunts of man it 
 is impossible to say, but they were discovered to be not 
 the only inhabitants of the grove. On Drs. Wolf and 
 Leslie proceeding to shoot two or three of the herons, 
 the report of their fowling-pieces disturbed a multitude 
 of enormous bats, which continued to flit about in the 
 daylight for some time. Of course we did not occupy 
 the village, which would almost certainly be infested witli
 
 26 
 
 UXDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 vermin of many kinds, but an excellent camping-ground 
 near by, a strip of grassy land well raised over the river 
 level. We found an abundance of wood suitable for fuel 
 at this place, which, by-the-bye, is probably situated on an 
 island. Below it a water channel enters the river from 
 the south, and as it discharges the same kind of water, 
 it probably emanates from it higher up. Should such be 
 
 WABUMA FISHING-TOWN AND HERONRY. 
 
 the case, however, the channel must make a considerable 
 detour, as the island it encloses, if island it be, is mani- 
 festly a very large one. It is worthy of note, moreover, 
 that the town is occupied, probably as a fishing-station, 
 only by the Wabuma, whose territory, strangely enough, 
 is supposed to lie wholly on the other side of the river.
 
 MUSyiE. . 27 
 
 Before proceeding, we shipped a quantity of wood, and 
 left about 9 a.m. on the 13th of October. AVe crossed to 
 the opposite bank, and observed a low range of hills run- 
 ning to the north-east, which showed upon their rain-washed 
 sides large patches of yellow and red laterite : a mass of 
 castellated-looking rock appearing on their summits here 
 and there reminded one not a little of the hills and ruined 
 castles of the Ehineland. Steaming along the right bank, 
 we came shortly to the first of the Musjie villages ; distinct 
 clusters of huts, each cluster being inhabited by one com- 
 bined family, and surrounded by plantations of bananas, 
 manioc, &c. These villages are under the rule of a queen, 
 Gankabe, whose residential village is in the centre of her 
 curiously separated metropolis, and is distinguished by a 
 higher stockade and larger huts than those erected for the 
 use of her subjects. Here the river Nzali Mpini, which 
 flows from Lake Leopold II., enters the K^va from the 
 north-east. AVe parted from our consort for the purpose 
 of more thoroughly exploring this confluent portion of the 
 river ; the Stanley taking a southern and more direct course 
 up the main stream of the Kwa, while we, going at first 
 in a north-easterly direction and towards Lake Leopold 
 II., passed completely round the larger island lying in the 
 embouchure of the Nzali Mpini, and regained the main 
 channel after pursuing a tortuous course through a maze 
 of sandbanks. The river Kwa here makes a change in 
 the direction of its course, which has been hitherto gene- 
 rally from east to west: from this point the general direction 
 is from south-east to north-west. Here, too, we leave the 
 comparatively known portion of the Kwa, and approaching
 
 28 , UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 Biboko, on the eastern or right bank, commence what may 
 be more strictly called our voyage of discovery. From 
 Biboko we crossed between sandbanks and shallows to 
 Kokoro on the left bank, where we spent some time in 
 cutting and shipping a good supply of wood, which is 
 there sufficiently abundant. The natives seemed to be 
 exceedingly wild and impudent, and anything but friendly. 
 As they were crowding round the men and boat, evidently 
 intent upon thievery, it was necessary to disperse them — a 
 feat which we speedily accomplished, and in an amusing 
 manner, by turning on the crowd a steam-pipe. This 
 having the desired effect, we left Kokbro without further 
 adventure, and keeping along the same bank, stopped for 
 the night some two hours later at Mallagohono. Here we 
 found an abandoned town — deserted probably by its in- 
 habitants in consequence of the death of their chief — 
 surrounded by thick wood, of wdiich we lost no time in 
 obtaining as large a supply as w^e could load on the boat. 
 This wood-cutting is the main occupation of the crew 
 every evening — and a wearisome duty it is. The cooks 
 are of course exempt, for they have to ply their art simul- 
 taneously, but every one else has to fall to with axe or 
 saw, and if avc camp at sundown, the task is rarely done 
 before 9 p.m. 
 
 It has often occurred to me, when on duty at this weird- 
 looking and vexatious labour, so indispensable to our exist- 
 ence on the river, that it is in some respects an encouraging- 
 type, and, as it were, a miniature, of the task w-e have under- 
 taken for Africa. The deep silence of the w^oods immediately 
 beside the river- — no place is less resonant than the forest —
 
 WOOD-CUTTING. 29 
 
 devours the echo of the axe blow, the rasping of the saw. 
 The firehght irradiates but a few yards of grass and shrubs, 
 and glints on leathery leafage of more distant trees, but 
 only soon to die in the unfathomable depths of outer 
 darkness. Meantime the wood-pile grows, and as the river 
 murmurs by in its eternal ebb, our task is done. Not other- 
 wise the greater life-war that we wage with ignorance and 
 barbarism in Africa, their last great stronghold in the world. 
 Amid the wilderness, how limited the civilising influence of 
 each station ! How vain, too, seems the noble holocaust of 
 human life, those lives in which, alas ! we are compelled 
 to lay the deep foundations of regenerated social life in 
 Africa ! How firm the grasp with which the pioneer must 
 hold the gospel of all human progress and true conquest, 
 even that " whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose 
 it ; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it ; " 
 yet surely as the river of our time flows on to the great 
 ocean of eternity, our work is done, the toilsome task 
 achieved.* 
 
 This portion of the river is extremely broad, the opposite 
 shore being almost invisible, and the current, at the season 
 at which we ascended the stream, imperceptible. Next 
 morning, proceeding on our voyage, we found the river 
 narrowing, and on rounding the first point we encountered 
 a decidedly rapid current. Intending to keep to the left 
 
 * Since these remarks were written, I have heard with deep regret of tlie loss which tlie 
 Baptist Missionary Society has recently (July i8S8) sustained in the deaths of my kind frieiid 
 Mr. Darling of Lutete, and of Mr. Comber, the head official of the Society's ^lission on the 
 Congo. Tiie latter gentleman, universally n^spected for his high cliaractiT and kindly dis- 
 position, was, I believe, the last of three brothers who have all fallen victims to the climate, 
 and to their devotion to the cause of humanity and religion in this part of Africa.
 
 30 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 shore, we had to content ourselves with coasting along and 
 outside an island which was separated from that bank by a 
 narrow and unnavigable channel, from which it is probable 
 that watercourse emanates which I mentioned before as 
 coming out into the main stream again below the deserted 
 Wabuma fishing-village. Still keeping to the same bank, we 
 arrived at Nkiile, where we crossed to the eastern side of 
 the river. Thence we kept on up-stream a short distance, 
 and recrossing to Nganebecca, where we found the Stanley 
 awaiting us, we pitched camp. Next morning, passing 
 through numerous groups of islands — uninteresting in every 
 way — we crossed opposite to two small villages, above which 
 the river narrows to a little over a mile in width. Keeping 
 along the same bank, we were abreast at 2 p.m. of the mouth 
 of the Kwango river, and thus arrived at the termination of 
 that portion of the stream known as the Kwa.
 
 HUT NEAR MOUNT POGGE. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Huts at Bosjie — River nomenclature — Forest villages and market-places — Excellent native 
 iron-work — Mount Pogg^ — Probable embouchure of the Lukenye — Curious huts — 
 Timidity of the inhabitants — An uncomfortable night — Hippopotami, buffaloes, and 
 cowbirds — Accident to the Stanley — Hostility of the Basongo-Meno — Their towns and 
 punishment — A jovial chief — Repairs to the Stanloj — The expedition nearly blown up 
 — The Luangi — An unknown tribe — A night upon the river. 
 
 Proceeding a short distance up the Kasai, we encamped for 
 the night at a village called Bosjie.* Here we noticed that 
 
 * There is another Bosjie m.entioned by Stanley farther down tlie river. The Bosjie 
 mentioned in the text I have named for distinction's sake after its discoverer " Bosjie- 
 Massari."
 
 32 
 
 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 the form of the huts is distinctly different from that adopted 
 in the lower courses of the Kwa and Congo. They are circu- 
 
 HUTS AT BUSJIE-MA.SSAKI. 
 
 lar in plan, and in elevation conical, somewhat resembling in 
 outline a North American Indian wigwam, while the hihabi-
 
 RIVER NOMENCLATURE. 33 
 
 tants seemed to be of another, and, it is possible, a mixed 
 race. The riparian scenery, too, of the Kasai above its 
 junction with the Kwango is, for some distance, very dif- 
 ferent from that of the united rivers below, being richly 
 wooded not only at the water's edge, but, so far as we could 
 observe, for a great distance inland. In fact, the junction 
 of the Kwango with the Kasai marks a natural division in 
 the conformation of the drainage system of which it forms a 
 part. The Kwango rises in the high country about Kassange, 
 some 220 miles from the coast, and running north-east, after 
 a sinuous course of about 900 miles, in which it makes a 
 very considerable descent, it pours its waters into the Kasai 
 in latitude 3.40° south, and longitude 17.10° east. The 
 Kwango is the first large tributary river possessing a really 
 independent existence, source, and system, that enters the 
 Kasai, or whatever we are to call the great river joining the 
 Congo at Kwamouth. I say " the first," because the Nzali 
 Mpini, whether pouring additional waters into the Congo by 
 its union with the Kwa or merely returning to the main 
 stream the water originally derived from it through Lake 
 Leopold II. or not, is only a short river, lying wholly in 
 the Congo valley, and at an inconsiderable distance from 
 the main stream, to which its course is nearly parallel. The 
 Kwango is not navigable except for a short distance above 
 its mouth, and at certain points higher in its course, and we 
 did not, both on this account, and because we knew that 
 the exploration of the Kwango was occupying the individual 
 attention of more than one explorer, trouble ourselves to 
 make any investigation of its embouchure.* 
 
 * Vide Appendix D.
 
 34 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 On October T6th we did not continue our journey until 
 near mid-day, when, steaming up-stream, we found the river 
 narrowing to half a mile in breadth, and in some places even 
 less. The channel, too, was much impeded with sunken 
 rocks, which, amid the swiftly rushing waters, made naviga- 
 tion both difficult and dangerous. Leaving these narrows 
 behind us, at 2 p.m. we entered a rapidly spreading sheet of 
 water, where, the current gradually vanishing, we made good 
 progress, and, crossing to the left bank, we passed many 
 small villages, the inhabitants of which crowded their landing- 
 places to witness the unwonted sight which we presented. 
 These villages are built on the very brink of the river, and 
 amid the densest forest, apparently spreading for a considerable 
 distance in all directions ; but as there were almost no clear- 
 ings round the houses, nor signs of any gardens or plantations 
 beyond a few banana trees, it is probable either that the 
 country in their rear is more open than it seems, or that the 
 inhabitants are fishermen who obtain their grain by barter. 
 I incline to think the latter view of the case the correct one, 
 because I observed in the vicinity of several of these villages 
 the largest market-places that I have seen anywhere in the 
 Congo State. At night we encamped on a small open plain 
 raised high over the river level, and above laterite cliffs 
 below which our steamers were moored. At a short distance 
 were two villages, whose inhabitants fled at our approach, 
 but recovering their courage by degrees, found heart, in 
 the morning, to venture into camp with various articles for 
 exchange. Besides provisions, they brought several weapons 
 that displayed their skill as iron-workers — e.g., arrow- 
 heads, spears, knives, &c. When one considers the circum-
 
 NATIVE IRON-WORK. 
 
 35 
 
 stances under which these people must have to work, and the 
 tools at their command, their success in turning out such 
 excellent specimens of workmanship is almost marvellous. 
 Their iron is, we found, obtained from the ferruginous deposit 
 of certain small streams, which being collected during the 
 dry season, is made into cakes, and stored for use as occasion 
 may demand. In what manner this iron is made ready for 
 the anvil I did not learn, but the tools with which they 
 fashion it are, besides their anvils and bellows, which resemble 
 those used elsewhere on the Congo, pincers of iron, and 
 pounders of hard water-worn stone. Leaving our moorings, 
 we steamed away uneventfully until 3 p.m., when we made fast 
 to a high bank on the same side of the river, where a small 
 native village, excellently placed for defence, was deserted 
 at our approach. This is a good place for wooding, and, as a 
 matter of fact, one of the last before coming to a part of the 
 river's course in which we experienced no small difficulty in 
 obtaining fuel, owing to the remarkable absence of wood 
 on both banks. On the i8th, before we started again on 
 our way, some of the natives came in to see us, amongst 
 them a chief carrying as a sceptre or emblem of office a 
 human thigh-bone, from which circumstance, and from other 
 symptoms of extreme savagery, we concluded that they be- 
 longed probably to those cannibal tribes against which the 
 natives lower down-stream had frequently warned us. This 
 morning Mr. Vander Felson was taken ill with fever, and 
 Mr. Olsen accordingly came on board to navigate the 
 ]^n Avant. Nothing of any moment occurred this day, during 
 which we kept mainly to the left bank, but on the 19th we 
 encountered numbers of hippopotami, who fled, however, at our
 
 36 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 approach. The 20th we spent in camp, or, rather, in shoot- 
 ing in its vicinity. Amongst the game secured was an eland 
 and a female hippopotamus, of which the Baluba made a royal 
 feast. On the 21st, about 11 a.m., we sighted Mount Pogge, 
 so called by Lieut. Wissmann after Dr. Pogge, under whose 
 command he had made his debut as an African explorer. It 
 is a round-topped hill, bare of trees on the summit, and reach- 
 ing an elevation which cannot greatly exceed 400 feet above 
 the water, but from the abrupt manner in which it rises from 
 the river plain, most noticeable as a landmark. Its lower 
 platform would serve as an excellent site for a station ; 
 easily defensible, commanding the adjacent country far and 
 near, and probably the most healthy locality for a very wide 
 distance around. Mount Pogge is the apparently highest and 
 terminating point of a range of low hills running in a north- 
 easterly direction froijn the river, which assumes again at 
 this point a lacustrine character. It is from 3 to 3^ miles 
 broad, though navigation is much impeded by sandbanks 
 and islands. The latter, mostly large and grassy, are in- 
 habited by fishermen, whose light canoes are constantly to 
 be seen passing in and out of the winding channels and 
 reedy shores. I am myself of opinion that the river 
 Lukenye enters the Kasai from the east behind these 
 islands.* The general conformation of the surrounding 
 countiy shows that a large river must descend from that 
 quarter, and the shape of the Kasai itself seems to confirm 
 that hypothesis. Time forbade our doing more than making 
 an extremely superficial investigation of the inner channels 
 between the islands, but we found a considerable flow of 
 
 * Vide Appendix E.
 
 CURIOUS HUTS. 37 
 
 water setting outwards in all of them. We formed our 
 camp on the left bank of the Kasai, and therefore opposite 
 Mount Pogge, at 2 p.m. I was sent forthwith by Dr. Wolf 
 in our whaleboat with ten men to visit some villages upon 
 the hillside which we observed from our camp embowered 
 in plantains, the most luxuriant I had seen since leaving 
 the coast. Our errand was to procure provisions, and to 
 ascertain the race and disposition of the inhabitants. Land- 
 ing, and leaving the boat in charge of two men, I entered 
 the nearer of the two villages, some two hundred yards from 
 the beach. Finding that the inhabitants had fled, probably 
 at the first sign of our approach, I pushed on to the second 
 village, but with no better result. Sending the men to 
 forage as best they might, I took the opportunity of observ- 
 ing the structure of the houses. These were framed with 
 stout timber of various kinds, covered with bamboo on 
 the walls, the roofs being thatched with grass and broad 
 leaves. They were of unusual height for native dwellings, 
 with eaves at least ten feet from the ground, and being rec- 
 tangular in plan, are gabled with widely projecting roofs. 
 Their great peculiarity, however, consists in the way in 
 which the entrance door is contrived : it might indeed be 
 better called a window. The sill or threshold of this door 
 is about ten feet from the ground, and is gained by mount- 
 ing upon a staging or platform some five feet in height. 
 Internally there must be a ladder or movable steps, though 
 in those houses into which I looked there was a sheer 
 descent to the floor level. This form of door seems to 
 denote a people constantly at variance with neighbouring 
 tribes, and needing some form of protection against sudden
 
 38 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 surprises or attempted robbery. I may perhaps as well 
 note that whenever, through the flight of the inhabitants, 
 we were unable to arrange any exchange for the provi- 
 sions we required, we made it our practice to take what we 
 wanted, leaving instead thereof its full value in merchandise 
 or cowries. During the night we had our first experience 
 since leaving the Pool of really heavy rain. There were 
 only a few peals of thunder, but from soon after sunset until 
 sunrise the rain descended in torrents. I had rather a dis- 
 mal time of it, as it was my duty to turn out from time to 
 time to see that the sentries were at their posts ; otherwise 
 we were fairly comfortable ourselves : our unhappy people 
 were in sorry plight, poor things ! The morning was bright 
 and clear, and on leaving our moorings we parted company 
 with the Stanley, and proceeded along the right shore, to 
 which we crossed, our consort keeping to the bank on which 
 we had encamped. We met with great difficulty in navi- 
 gating the shallow and intricate channels, and had as fre- 
 quently the delay and trouble of pushing the steamer off. 
 However, we circumnavigated a multitude of islands, some 
 little better, indeed, than sandbanks, but the great majority 
 of them wooded more or less, and inhabited seemingly 
 by fishermen, who, a guilty conscience, doubtless, driving 
 them, precipitately fled at our approach, scurrying to the 
 mainland as fast as their canoes could be made to bear them. 
 Hippopotami swarmed in the narrow creeks and channels 
 that we had to thread, and on the mainland bank we once 
 saw a fine herd of buffaloes standing partly in the sedge, a 
 crowd of snow-white cowbirds hopping from back to back. 
 No sooner did they see us, than, with tails erect, they
 
 HOSTILITY OF B A SOX GO MEXO. 39 
 
 scampered off with many an angiy snort across the plain. 
 At about 5.30 P.M. we regained the main channel of the 
 Kasai, and came up with the Stanley, on speaking with 
 whose people we were informed that they had been fired 
 upon by the Basongo Meno * at a town lower down the 
 river, and in return had dispersed their assailants, exact- 
 ing some little satisfaction in the way of ivory tusks, &c. 
 Landing on a grassy island, where we designed to encamp 
 for the night, it was curious to observe the Baluba divid- 
 ing themselves into scouting parties for the purpose of 
 searching even- tussock of grass and bush that could 
 afford shelter to an enemy. This they did unbidden, but 
 doubtless scenting danger, or perhaps instinctively after 
 the encounter of the day : the first active manifestation of 
 hostility we had met with from the natives in our ascent of 
 the river. This search being completed to the entire satis- 
 faction of our friends, we pitched camp, watch being kept 
 all night by squads of Baluba who volunteered for the 
 service. Shortly after leaving camp next morning, and 
 while we were following in her wake, the Stanley s pump 
 broke down, and she had to be moored at once on the 
 nearest island for repairs. We utilised the remainder of the 
 day in helping the Stanley's people to re-assort her freight. 
 On the 24th. Dr. Wolf judging that the towns which 
 we should probably pass to-day ought to be punished for 
 their barbarous attack upon Lieut. Wissmann's expedition, 
 we left the Stanley still repairing damages, and having 
 taken on board the En Avant as large an armed force as 
 .she could cam', and taking in tow also the whaleboat. 
 
 * Vide Appendix F.
 
 40 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 similarly laden, we proceeded to the landing-plaxjes of the 
 towns indicated. Leaving the boat* in charge of Mr. 
 Oken, >Ir. Vander Fekon being still indisposed, we sent 
 on an advanced party of six men under the interpreter 
 Humba, with orders to keep about 200 yards ahead of the 
 main body. At first our path lay through dense jungle, on 
 clearing which, and debouching upon an open space planted 
 with maize, &c., we heard a volley discharged — as it after- 
 wards transpired — ^by our advanced party against a body of 
 natives who had attacked them. This rencontre resulted in 
 the death of one of the attacking party, and the flight of the 
 rest. Proceeding through a plantation, we came to a small 
 villajre of some fifty huts, similar in structure to those I have 
 described as being near to 3Iount Pogge. As this place 
 was deserted, we passed on at once to the main portion of 
 the town, which we found to be regularly built, and in a 
 state of thorough order and cleanliness. The paths were all 
 disposed at right angles to each other, and every hut was 
 surrounded with cultivated borders planted with a species of 
 hemp (Cannahis indica). ITie larger plantations and clear- 
 ings surrounding the town had been recently harvested : 
 there remained only the newly^ sown maize and ground-nuts 
 beginning to break through the soil. The town being, 
 like its suburb, completely deserted, we had an excellent 
 opportunity of examining the domestic arrangements and 
 economy of the inhabitants. Inside the huts, in addition 
 to the more usual cooking-pots of rude earthenware, 
 spoons of wood or of shell, wooden platters, rough sleep- 
 ing mats, and the like, we found a large number of 
 ivory pestles, formed of the solid portion of small elephant
 
 A BASON GO MENO TOWN. 41 
 
 tusks — an rmmistakablc sign of tlie owners' entire isolation 
 from commercial intercourse with the outer world. Of arms, 
 we obtained a great quantity of arrows, some tipped with 
 iron, a few with copper, but by far the greater number made 
 
 from the centrnl spine of tlif pMlni-lfsif, tlio points bfiiig 
 encrusted witlj prjisfjii ; nlso ;t iiinnli'T <\\' hr)\\s, wliifli we 
 destroyed before leaving, wlicw we ;ip)))opii;i,tf:d ;ill that was 
 worth removing. Proceeding tr> examine a house wc found 
 a considerable difference as to length between the interior 
 and exterior measurements. As this could only be accounted 
 for by assuming that there was some narrow conijj;irtinent 
 forniffl in tlje widtli of tlie end \\;i]l ftppfjsiU; to tlif; onti'ji.nce 
 floor o)' wJndou', or, nioro- correct I}-, hr^tufcn the cjnlM- wall 
 and a false one within, we essayerl to makf' trial <>[' tliis tlio'ory, 
 and were rewarded by discoverijig in every house a secret 
 store, which, being filled with provisions of all kinds, yielded 
 both an immediate supply for dwv wants, and a satisfactory 
 solatium for the wrongs of Lieut. Wissmann's party. All 
 the houses consisted of one apartment, except tliat whicli we 
 supposed belonged to the chief, and which, although not so 
 very much larger than those of his sul^jects, was subdivided 
 into three, but there was no store oi' concealed conif^ajtmojit 
 at the end. Externally this house was distinguishffl 1)\ an 
 enclosure of palm fronds, by its greater height, aiifl by many 
 trophies of the chase. Having; ff)llf'ctf;d as miif:h agricul- 
 tural produce and stores as the men could carry, as well 
 as the more valuable of the household utensils and aims, 
 and capturing as much ]i\e stock as came in our way, we 
 retraced our steps to the steamer after setting fire to the 
 houses. On passing the spot wlioic the native paity lia,d
 
 42 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 met our advance, and where the body of the man who had 
 been shot lay, we found that a poor little boy had ventured 
 out of the jungle and was weeping beside the corpse, 
 possibly that of his father. We could make nothing of 
 his language, none of our Baluba even being able to inter- 
 pret his words or to make themselves understood. I pro- 
 posed to take him with us, that, after a civilising process, 
 we might return him some day to his people, and by him 
 explain to them effectually that our disposition was not 
 hostile, save only to the evil-doers of robbery and wrong. 
 Dr. Wolf, however, concluded to leave him, though, fearing 
 the excessive zeal of our savage followers, I waited beside 
 the child until all had passed by. We found Mr. Olsen 
 and the steamer in safety, and duly embarked our booty, 
 wherewith we at once descended the river towards the spot 
 at which the Stanley was repairing. On the way down, 
 we stopped at a village which we had passed in the morning, 
 believing it to have been deserted. Approaching the shore, 
 we observed a solitary figure dancing and gesticulating in 
 a violent and eccentric manner. It turned out that this 
 individual was the chief, who, having fortified himself with 
 palm-wine, had thus gained courage to welcome us to his 
 dominions. Unfortunately we could only communicate with 
 him by signs, by which, however, we succeeded in making 
 him understand that we did not intend to do him any injury. 
 Upon this he called loudly to some people concealed in the 
 woods, whence, in response to his cries, several Avomen, and 
 one intelligent and presentable young man, shortly after 
 made their appearance. The women were, indeed, deplor- 
 ably degraded specimens of humanity, an opinion which
 
 REPAIRS TO THE "STANLEY." 
 
 43 
 
 Dr. Wolf's careful examination confirms ; the low animal 
 look and expression of their faces being unredeemed by any 
 indication of intellectual force. Their clothing was of the 
 scantiest that I have ever seen ; merely a small oblong strip 
 (about three inches by two) of grass-cloth worn in front, a 
 bunch of feathers being deemed sufficient adornment for 
 the back, which articles were connected and maintained in 
 position by a zone of antelope hide. Their teeth were very 
 curiously filed and their bodies gashed with large cicatrices, 
 
 but we did not observe any 
 
 tattoo marks. Before we left, 
 our inebriate old friend pre- 
 sented us with two goats and J 
 a few bunches of plantains, 
 so, what wdth one thing and 
 another, when we once more 
 arrived at the Stanley we had 
 no difficulty in making ourselves 
 sufficiently welcome by an equi- 
 table division of our riches. The 
 people whose towns we had 
 burned, as well as the old chief whom we had afterwards 
 visited, belonged undoubtedly to those tribes known to us 
 as Basongo Meno, a race which I incline to identify with the 
 Tucongo, whose proper territory, however, lies more to the 
 south and south-east. 
 
 We spent the 25th of October in camp, as the Stanley 
 was still unable to proceed, but her repairs being completed 
 early in the morning of the 26th, we got under way about 
 8 A.M., and proceeded together up the stream. We stopped 
 
 BASONGO MK.Nn WOMAN.
 
 44 
 
 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 at a small village for the purpose of wooding, some miles 
 above the scene of our recent expedition. As usual, the 
 inhabitants had fled at our approach, but we were able the 
 better to examine their town. Here we observed a form 
 of blacksmith's bellows different from any we had seen 
 before : it had four wind-tubes in place of the two generally 
 
 to be found. In order to 
 deter these people from 
 repeating the sort of con- 
 duct tliey had pursued 
 towards Lieut. Wiss- 
 mann's expedition, we ap- 
 propriated the two best 
 canoes we could find, and 
 destroyed the rest. Dur- 
 ing the afternoon, in as- 
 cending the river, we 
 visited four other towns, 
 and destroyed the canoes 
 there also, encamping at 
 night on the right bank. 
 It is to be noted that 
 the stream had again nar- 
 rowed, the current be- 
 the banks, also, were again 
 densely wooded. On the 27th of October nothing of any 
 moment occurred, but we observed throughout the day a grow- 
 ing change in the scenery along the river-banks. Wherever 
 the ground was not covered with luxuriant natural forest 
 there were large tracts of land under the richest cultivation, 
 
 Ivory Corn Pounder 
 
 BASONGO MENO IMPLEMENTS. 
 
 coming correspondingly rapid
 
 THE EXPEDITION NEARLY BLOWN UP. 45 
 
 and the towns built upon the steeply rising shores presented 
 a picturesque and pleasing appearance, being often backed by 
 swelling hills covered with gardens and plantations. In the 
 evening we encamped on the left bank near some villages, the 
 inhabitants of which (still Basongo Meno) came to visit us. 
 They were lighter in colour than those of the same race whom 
 we had seen farther down the river, and were undoubtedly 
 less savage, and more friendly, although so far predatory 
 in their inclinations that a strict watch had to be kept 
 over their movements, in spite of which, however, they 
 contrived to purloin a cartridge-bag, and a few other small 
 articles. They were willing, indeed anxious, to trade, and 
 brought into camp an abundance of fowls, fine fish, bananas, 
 yams, &c., pine-apples, and some excellent palm-wine, of 
 which Mr. Schneider's servant Manoel, who happened to be 
 waiting upon me, imbibed so freely, that he was very near blow- 
 ing the whole expedition to atoms by brandishing a candle 
 in the neighbourhood of the expense ammunition, which had 
 been placed for security in my tent. Luckily he was caught 
 in time, and promptly punished. At this camp was a magni- 
 ficent borassus palm, the last we saw in ascending the river. 
 
 On the 28th of October we arrived off the mouth of 
 the Luangi. I had remained on board the Stanley this 
 day for a little change — Mr. Vander Felson having com- 
 pletely recovered his health and resumed his duties. AVe 
 encamped for the night on a sand- spit at the confluence, 
 but the En Avant did not come up to camp until long 
 after dark. The following day (October 29th) we devoted 
 entirely to exploring the rivers and district generally. It 
 was found that the Luangi was not only choked Avitli
 
 46 
 
 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 sandbanks, and blockaded at its month with a bar, but 
 was deficient in flow of water — a remarkable circumstance," 
 considering the length of the river, which must exceed 
 500 miles. Such water as there was appeared to be much 
 discoloured with laterite. The land to the south-east of 
 the embouchure lies very low, and is, in fact, a swamp 
 covered with dense jiuigle, extending apparently for a 
 considerable distance inland. On the other side of the 
 Luangi the ground rises into 
 low hills, but is also thickly 
 wooded, and on neither shore 
 did we observe any sign of 
 human habitations or inha- 
 bitants. The opposite bank 
 of the Kasai", however, is well 
 populated, and there are several 
 towns, from which the people 
 crossed to our camp, bringing 
 a variety of articles for barter, 
 including ivory, for which they 
 were desirous of obtaining cop- 
 per. It is probable that the greater friendliness of these 
 people arises from trade intercourse with Angola. We did 
 not go into the towns, which are palisaded, as if for defence 
 and protection against troublesome neighbours, but, from 
 what we could see of them, we believed the huts to be con- 
 structed similarly to those of the Basongo Meno already de- 
 scribed. The people themselves we could not identify with 
 any known tribe, but though most like the Basongo Meno, 
 they were evidently much less savage. Although without 
 
 BASONGO MENO YOUTH.
 
 A NIGHT UPON THE RIVER. 47 
 
 marks of tattooing, they were curiously gashed both on face 
 and body, the cicatrices presenting often a hideous appear- 
 ance. Their teeth were not filed, but the two centre teeth 
 in the upper jaw were removed. 
 
 Next morning (October 30th), the Stanley left the 
 camping-ground, where we had thus passed two successive 
 nights, about an hour and a half before the Un Avant, 
 to which I had now returned. Consequently it behoved 
 us to hasten as much as possible in overtaking our consort, 
 whereby we once more proved the truth of the old adage, 
 " the more haste the less speed ; " for starting without a 
 suflEicient stock of firewood, we had to stop at the first place 
 which seemed to promise a supply. This was a spot on the 
 right and inhabited bank of the river, but the natives watched 
 our proceedings in no unfriendly spirit, and we went on our 
 way without further noteworthy incident. 
 
 Still endeavouring to overtake the Stanley, we steamed 
 on late into the evening instead of mooring the vessel and 
 camping out. We were aware that there were many sand- 
 banks ahead of us in that part of the river in which we had 
 arrived, but hoped that with due care we should avoid them. 
 Unhappily, however, in the gloom we grounded, and though 
 we soon got off" again, yet, finding it impossible to free 
 ourselves from the intricacies of the navigation, we were 
 obliged to cast anchor where we were, mid-stream, and 
 spend the night upon the water. We were lying about 
 half a mile from the shore, and through the warm haze of 
 evening the light breeze bore towards us the sound of 
 tom-toms beating in the distant villages, either as a signal 
 of danger, or for the dances with which the natives while
 
 48 
 
 UXDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 away their leisure time. Below, the almost silent river 
 flowed sullenly on to its far-off death in the far-off sea, its 
 soft and soothing music varied only, as the night- advanced, 
 by calls of wandering birds, or broken by the low breathing of 
 
 BASOXGO MEXO MARKET-WUMKN. 
 
 the hippopotamus. Lights from the villages glimmered for 
 a time, but died away as the crescent moon rose in the sky, 
 and with swift growing radiance one by one the bright 
 stars shone upon the flood, and tipped its every wavelet
 
 FRIENDLY MARKET-PEOPLE. 49 
 
 with a crest of gold. It seemed to me a solemn hour. 
 The river spoke of fleeting life and sorrowful, lighted but 
 fitfully by worldly hopes and aims ; but when these die, as 
 die in time they must, the clear stars told of heavenly 
 visions, bright promises and hopes of a new life-undying, 
 shining ever more and more upon the restless waves of our 
 poor earthly life-stream, on through its night-hours till the 
 sun breaks out and shadow-time is past. 
 
 The following morning (October 31st) we got away early, 
 and at last happily made our escape from the difficult posi- 
 tion into which we had calmly run ourselves in the dark, 
 but our wood was used up almost to the last log. Luckily 
 we had not far to go before reaching an old plantation on 
 the right bank, where we obtained a small supply of dry 
 wood. A number of women who were working there came 
 down, inspired by friendly curiosity, to look at us. We 
 crossed over to the opposite shore, but meeting with an 
 increasingly strong current, and our wood again threaten- 
 ing to become exhausted, we recrossed the stream to a point 
 at which we saw some market-people making signals to us. 
 From these friendly folk we procured a quantity of excellent 
 fish, and some good palm-wine, and as there was an abun- 
 dance of wood at hand, we did not neglect to lay in an ample 
 supply. Having fortunately encountered no sandbanks or 
 other obstacles to-day, we sighted the Stanley about 4 p.m., 
 moored beside a large island opposite to the mouth of the 
 Sankoro. Rejoining there the main body of the expedition, 
 we found that the natives had already come forward in a 
 friendly manner with provisions, &c., and that it was de- 
 cided we should remain here for possibly a day.
 
 SHAMMATUKA FISHING-HUTS 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Sankoro — River nomenclature again discussed — The relative magnitude of the Sankoro 
 and the Kasai — A picnic — Aquatic birds — Bakuba countr}- reached — A theft and 
 quarrel — The En Avant constantly aground — Price of provisions — Friendly natives — 
 The Lulua described — Its fish and fishermen — The end of our voyage. 
 
 The Sankoro at its junction with the Kasai is considerably 
 the narrower river, but manifestly the weightier body of 
 water, and although its course at this point, and for some 
 distance above it, is south-westerly, and nearly at right 
 angles to that of the Kasai, which maintains the same 
 direction in its course above the confluence which the 
 united waters possessed below it, I am of opinion that those 
 united waters should be knoAvn by the name of the Sankoro,
 
 zi-" 
 
 m^m 
 
 ■^t\
 
 SANKORO OR KASAL 51 
 
 at least as far as the confluence of the Kwango, if not to 
 Kwamouth. My contention briefly is, that while it is 2'>'>^o- 
 hahle that the Sankoro with its affluents drains as large 
 an area as the Kasai, and possesses a greater volume of 
 water, it has been proved to be navigable for a consider- 
 ably greater distance, and consequently that it occupies, for 
 the greater distance, the lowest level of the drainage area 
 common to the two rivers and their tributaries. The ap- 
 proximate length of the Sankoro above the confluence is 660 
 miles, of which more than 300 are navigable. Its general 
 course is first from south to north, thence east to west, and 
 thereafter north-east to south-west. The tributaries on the 
 left bank are the Lubi and the Lubudi, with the INIuan- 
 sangoma, together with several smaller streams. On the 
 opposite bank the chief affluents are the Lomami Avith its 
 tributary the Lukash. On the other hand, the Kasai itself, 
 and its only large affluent from the right, the Lulua. have 
 each a length of about 750 miles : the Luebo, one of the 
 largest tributaries of the Lulua, probably exceeds 400 miles 
 in length, but the length of its other tributaries, the Lombali 
 and Miaw, has not been ascertained. The tributaries of 
 the Kasai on its left bank are, besides smaller streams, the 
 Chipaka and the Chikumba. The Kasai is navigable for 
 about 100 miles above the confluence with the Sankoro, the 
 Lulua being navigable for about t,o miles above its junction 
 with the Kasai. The other tributaries are useless practi- 
 cally for purposes of navigation. Undoubtedly the Kasai 
 was the first discovered and the first explored, and indeed 
 the Portuguese have had a certain cognisance of its exist- 
 ence possibly for centuries ; but I must maintain that since
 
 52 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 physically it is a tributary of the Sankoro, its name ought 
 not to supplant that of the nobler stream whose waters it 
 helps to swell: their confluence is at 4.12° south and 20.25° 
 east. 
 
 On the ist of November, Dr. AVolf, Lieut. Andersson, 
 and myself, with a crew of Zanzibaris, set off in the whale- 
 boat soon after 7 a.m. to explore the embouchure of the 
 Sankoro. We took with us our rifles, provisions for the 
 day, and some instruments. Rowing away from the Kasai, 
 and up the stream of the Sankoro, we threaded the narrow 
 channel which separates a long and richly-wooded island 
 from the right or north-western bank. This island did not 
 appear to be inhabited, but the splendid growth of timber 
 upon it, and the variety of the trees, embracing the cotton- 
 wood, the mahogany, and the gorgeous crimson-leaved 
 traveller's tree, with its silvery bark, was really remarkable. 
 The neighbouring shore of the mainland was also very 
 thickly wooded, but amongst the forest were several clear- 
 ings with plantations and villages, the inhabitants of which 
 were friendly, and willing to trade. They sold us some fish 
 of the usual kinds, and a few curios, such as knives and 
 arrows. We purchased from them also a chief's cap of fine 
 workmanship. Coming round the end of the island, which 
 we judged to be about seven miles in length, we regained 
 the main stream through a channel facing some high cliffs 
 of red laterite on the north-western shore, at this point 
 hilly, but a brief space above, and for many miles, low and 
 swampy. We ate our luncheon in the boat, and thereafter 
 proceeded leisurely to descend the river to our encamp- 
 ment at the confluence, where we arrived about 5.50 p.m.
 
 AQUATIC BIRDS. 
 
 53 
 
 On this day's excursion we observed for the first time in 
 our ascent of these rivers some hippopotamus traps, which, 
 if not unique in plan, are certainly unlike any I have seen 
 lower down the Congo, or elsewhere on the west coast. 
 We secured no game, nor indeed did we see any, except 
 some hippopotami and aquatic birds, of which there was 
 great abundance of all those kinds usually found on the 
 Congo — both grey and 
 large brown herons, peli- 
 cans, marabout- storks, ad- 
 jutants, ibis (black and 
 bronze), flamingoes, snipe, 
 green sandpipers, Egyp- 
 tian geese, small black and 
 white teal, black darters, 
 waterhens, and the com- 
 mon wild duck of the 
 African west coast. These 
 last are about the same 
 size as the European mal- 
 lard, but utterly unlike 
 in plumage : the head is 
 chocolate - coloured with 
 
 black neck-ring, the back and wing-covers grey, the breast 
 and under part of body silver-grey, the legs and feet black, 
 the bill also black, with yellow mandible. Just before reach- 
 ing our camp we witnessed a glorious sunset. The sun went 
 down behind the wooded hills and lofty red cliffs on the 
 other side of the Kasai, casting for a short time a deep 
 shadow on the farthest portion of the river spreading out 
 
 HIPPOPOTAMUS TRAP.
 
 54 
 
 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 before us. From behind the darkened hills the light 
 streamed up with intense brilliance, illamining as against 
 an opalescent sky a multitude of cloudlets, dyeing them 
 with the most gorgeous hues of orange and scarlet that 
 could be imagined. But the glory was soon past, and by 
 the time we regained our camp the cool greys and neutral 
 tints of evening were already deepening round us into 
 night. Leaving our camp next morning about 7.50 a.m., 
 we proceeded up the stream of the Kasai, passing many 
 wooded islands and sandbanks. 
 We came up with the Stanley 
 moored at an island close to the 
 right bank, which is, at this point, 
 richly clothed with forest, and 
 diversified with hills and cliffs. 
 The opposite shore is a com- 
 plete contrast, being very low and 
 swampy, and that for a consider- 
 able distance. Here we encamped 
 and set our people early to their 
 nightly task of cutting wood, of 
 which there was an abundance. 
 Bakuba, we found friendly, and for the first time in our 
 ascent of the river we saw the distinctive Bakuba head-dress 
 — a small cap of fine grass, beautifully woven, and worn on 
 the extreme back of the head, where it is fastened by pins 
 of iron or copper. The sight of this national badge greatly 
 rejoiced the hearts of our Baluba, who had been secretly 
 fearing that they would never see their native country 
 again. We noticed that these people had bows and arrows 
 
 BAKUBA HEAD-DKESS. 
 
 The natives, who are
 
 BALUBA AND BAKU B A. 55 
 
 precisely similar to some that we had purchased at the 
 Sankoro. 
 
 On the 3rd of November we were early informed that 
 one hold of the Stcmley's had been broken open, and that 
 a load of salt, and the same weight of cowries, had been 
 abstracted. This theft had been committed during the 
 night, and such an air of mystery pervaded the whole 
 occurrence, that we were quite unable to discover the 
 thieves. We suspected some of our Zanzibaris, but could 
 not prove our suspicions. Leaving camp and proceeding 
 up the river, now flowing from S.S.E., we encountered 
 a very much stronger current, the channel having greatly 
 diminished in width and being unobstructed with islands. 
 Steaming on until 2 p.m., we moored on the right bank, 
 where we found a good wooding-place. Here one of our 
 Baluba picked a quarrel with a Bakuba who had come to 
 our people offering palm-wine for sale. Our man seized 
 upon the wine, and refused to pay anything for it. As he 
 was distinctly in the wrong and very violent, we vindicated 
 justice by punishing him severely. I had spent the whole 
 day on board the Stanley, finding it a pleasant change, 
 as, having no responsibility, I had more leisure to observe 
 the river and riparian scenery. The mean breadth of the 
 stream is, hereabouts, little short of a mile, and both banks 
 are densely wooded. 
 
 On the 4th of November we left in the E)i Avant at 
 7.40 A.M., and after steaming for a short time, again ran 
 upon a sandbank. I say " again " advisedly, for although 
 I have not noted the frequency of such disasters — they 
 were unspeakably vexatious, and trying in every way to
 
 56 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 one's temper — yet I may as well remark once for all that 
 we were constantly aground. Truly, either the ship or 
 her skipper had a genuine affection for dry land, and it 
 was the more annoying to us, because, although the Stanley 
 was a larger vessel, and more heavily laden, she almost 
 never grounded. After half an hour's delay we succeeded 
 in getting off the sandbank, and continued our course 
 between numerous sand-islets on which the fishermen had 
 erected temporary villages and huts, which, with their 
 parti -coloured nets stretched out to dry, the groups of 
 idlers startled into sudden and surprised activity by our 
 approach, whilst others in their boats pursued their call- 
 ing, presented altogether an animated and ever-changing 
 picture. 
 
 On the river -banks were large manioc and banana 
 plantations, and the whole district through which we were 
 now passing appeared to be well cultivated : at any rate, it 
 is a land of plenty, for we found we could purchase two 
 fine capons for one brass rod (value one penny halfpenny), 
 and an excellent goat for two yards of cotton cloth (value 
 fourpence). Coming up at 6.35 p.m. to camp, whither 
 the Stanley had preceded us, we learnt that she had been 
 struck by a hippopotamus ; she was very slightly damaged, 
 but it is probable that the hippopotamus had more seri- 
 ous occasion to regret the encounter. Starting at 7 a.m. 
 on the 5th, we followed up-stream in the wake of the 
 Stanley; but having been unable to obtain any wood at 
 last night's camping-ground, we were soon obliged to stop 
 for fuel at a native landing-place. We had scarcely reached 
 the shore when a crowd of friendly natives gathered to-
 
 / 

 
 THE LULUA. 57 
 
 gether, anxious to traffic in any available merchandise, 
 including the always welcome palm -wine, which is, in 
 this part of the continent, almost always used when fresh 
 and non-intoxicating, although it cannot be indulged in 
 with perfect freedom, or beyond the bounds of strict 
 moderation, as it has a tendency to impair the digestive 
 organs, and to injure the health generally. Old palm- 
 wine, and thoroughly fermented, is, in my opinion, an 
 abomination, and it is a powerful intoxicant. It is in 
 its fermented condition that it is generally used farther 
 down the Congo.* Before we resumed our journey, Bak- 
 wengi Babiaha, the head chief of the Shammatuka, came 
 to see us. He was extremely well dressed, according to 
 their ideas, and was evidently much respected by the 
 people generally, who grovelled to him in a very abject 
 manner. After exchanging a few presents, and express- 
 ing our mutual gratification at meeting, w^e continued our 
 course about 1.30 p.m., having secured a sufficient supply 
 of wood. Keeping along the right bank, and passing 
 several islands, we sighted the Stanley/ at 5.50, just as 
 she was entering the Lulua. Encountering a strong current, 
 however, and darkness coming on, it was fully 8 p.m. before 
 we gained our camping-ground, being guided to the spot 
 by the fires which the Sfanlei/'s people had lighted. We 
 found them encamped on a small island in the Lulua, where, 
 
 * Palm-wine is merely the sap of the palm-tree, and is extracted from several species, 
 notably those known by the natives as Monma (Borassus), Matombe, and Samba. It is 
 obtained by inserting a hollow reed into the stem of the tree immediately below the 
 place from which a frond has been removed. The reed piercing the outer bark, taps the 
 pithy centre of the stem, and so affords ready vent to the rising sap, which exudes through 
 the reed, and is received in a gourd or earthen vessel attached thereto. In process of 
 time this practice slowly kills the tree.
 
 S8 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 greatly to my comfort, my tent had been already pitched, 
 it, together with my servant, being now generally sent 
 ahead in the Stanley/. We had some heavy rain during 
 the night, a circumstance that occasioned no small dis- 
 turbance, for one of the Baluba chiefs — none other than 
 Congo Manena, by-the-bye — being anxious lest some of 
 his goods should be injured by the wet, invaded my tent 
 with them, and gave me no peace until he had piled up a 
 quantity of boxes and things where there was at best but 
 little room. 
 
 It was thus that we entered the Lulua, the last stage of 
 our voyage, prevented by the darkness from discerning the 
 landscape, or even observing the nearer features of the river- 
 banks. The knowledge that we subsequently acquired 
 may as well be given here, since it will thus serve best 
 to complement the following narrative of events. At its 
 embouchure, and for a very considerable distance above the 
 confluence of the Luebo, the Lulua has a mean breadth of 
 400 yards, and flows between forest-covered hills in a deep 
 though by no means sinuous channel, somewhat impeded 
 in places by rocks and shifting banks of coarse sand. The 
 current is strong, averaging four knots an hour : the water 
 clear, and when placed in a glass, the colour of weak tea. 
 In the rainy season, however, when the level of the river is 
 some ten feet higher than at other times, the water is much 
 discoloured with laterite and the rich red soil through which 
 some of its tributaries, notably the Musisi, drive their course. 
 The navigation of the Lulua ceases at the first rapids, 34 
 miles above its mouth, but throughout its whole length 
 there are intervals of navigable water. The surrounding
 
 
 Sucker Fish (N'Kanlo) 
 9 Inches 
 
 -^.r„,V?':' 
 
 Electric Fish (N Sula.) River Lulua 
 
 b J Inchc 
 
 Miniature r'iUe lulua River 
 Native Name of FisK'Luzisi " 
 
 »- 
 
 ^m^ 
 
 ( 
 
 \ Point. f 
 'O) \ Trunl< 
 
 ^■■^^. 
 
 (Songi NZadi) Lulua River no Scales, Length 12 Incht 
 
 LULUA FISH. 
 
 [To face 2'fffe 59.
 
 LULU A FISH AND FISHERMEN. 59 
 
 country is all more or less hilly : in the upper part of the 
 river's course bare and treeless, but as the Kasai is approached, 
 covered with forest, and in some spots with dense jungle. 
 The waters are infested with alligators and crocodiles, enor- 
 mous dark brown water-rats as large as rabbits, also otters, 
 so that it might well be supposed that, amid such a multi- 
 tude of enemies, to say nothing of the ravages of all manner 
 of waders and aquatic birds, the fish can have but a pre- 
 carious existence. They are, however, extremely numerous, 
 and afford occupation and support to a large body of Bakuba 
 and Chiplumba-Baluba fishermen. I observed only three 
 fish (if fish they all can be called) peculiar to the Lulua : 
 one an electric fish, resembling in appearance and habits the 
 well-known catfish ; another, a curious creature, destitute 
 of a mouth, but with a long snout terminating in a kind of 
 sucker, with which the natives fancy it lives upon the juices 
 of other fish — they call it Songo Nzadi, i.e., "elephant of 
 the river ; " the last is a water-snake about a yard in length, 
 and, so far as I could ascertain, an eel in most of its habits, 
 but with scales and fangs like a genuine serpent. The 
 natives, who will all eat it, call it "Nkaka." 
 
 On the 6th we were delayed until 8 a.m. in conse- 
 quence of our having to take back from our Baluba the 
 arms and ammunition with which we had provided them 
 while in our service, as they were now on the edge of their 
 own territory. This morning, for about an hour, the E)i 
 Avant actually went ahead of the Stanley. At 1 1 a.m. we 
 stopped on the right bank to obtain wood, leaving again 
 about 1.30 P.M., the Stanley having passed us in the mean- 
 time. At 6.15 P.M. we overtook our consort at a deserted
 
 6o 
 
 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 Shammatuka fishing-village on the same bank, and there 
 encamped. The houses here were totally different from 
 any I had seen farther down the rivers. They are formed 
 entirely with thin stems and leaves of the creeping bamboo, 
 and are of the simplest possible construction. During the 
 day we had seen very few of the natives : they had probably 
 
 THE LULUA KAPIDS FROM THE STATION. 
 
 gone off in dread of the strangers. There was an appear- 
 ance of poverty about their belongings quite unaccountable 
 in a country which looked, at any rate, as if well supplied 
 with natural wealth, although the clearings and plantations 
 amidst the luxuriant forest were small and far between. 
 One part of the river passed to-day was narrow, and dan- 
 gerous with sunken rocks, and the current was very swift.
 
 THE END OF OUR VOYAGE. 6i 
 
 Leaving- early on the 7th, we proceeded up the river, 
 here very rapid, and impeded with dangerous rocks, and 
 arrived about mid-day at our destination, the point at which 
 the river Luebo, coming from the south, falls into the Lulua, 
 which there turns somewhat abruptly in an easterly direc- 
 tion, and where, within half a mile, its navigation is stopped 
 by boiling rapids. We moored our steamer beside the 
 dense bush, where, I could not help recollecting, discon- 
 solately, that my future lot was for a while to be cast, and 
 then began to disembark the Baluba, whose joy at reaching 
 their own territory again was very demonstrative. They had 
 been singing and shouting through the greater part of the 
 past night, and now, when they were put on shore, there 
 was endless capering about, hand-shaking, and the like. 
 They had a long journey before them still, for the distance 
 of Kashia-Calemba from the Luebo is about 122 miles by 
 the native road ; but Calemba refused to allow his people to 
 leave us, generously insisting that they should first clear the 
 site of our future station of the primeval forest and jungle. 
 In the meantime he sent messengers on to his capital to 
 announce his return, and to require presents and supplies to 
 be brought to us. Our voyage was now at an end, and when 
 the Stanley should begin her descent of the river, those of 
 us who were to be left at Luebo or to go on to Luluaburg '" 
 would enter upon a new era in their experiences of life in 
 Africa. In the afternoon we were visited by our neighbours 
 of the Bakete tribe, whose towns, called Kassenge, were 
 
 * The station which Lieut. Wissmann had established on the Lulua, n(;ar tlie Bashilange- 
 Baluba capital, Kashia-Caleuiba, and where he had left Mr. Bugslag in charge. — Vide 
 Argument.
 
 62 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 quite near to lis, a short distance inland from the right 
 bank of the Lnlua. They were very friendly, so that — 
 as all onr party were in good health and spirits — our 
 new station was beginning its existence under propitious 
 auspices.

 
 IN KASSfeNGE A^LLAGE. 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 Luebo — Its environs and our neighbours — The station site — Departure of the Stanley — 
 The log-house — Calemba leaves for Kashia-Calemba followed by Dr. Wolf — Clear- 
 ing, levelling, and building — Kassengd and its plantations — Habits and customs of 
 the Bakete — Their preparations of tobacco and cassava — Christinas festivities — Daily 
 routine in station — My hospitalities — Sunday in Central Africa — Return of Dr. Wolf 
 for the Nevvf Year — His departure in En Avant for further exploration of Sankoro — 
 Tragic death of native girl. 
 
 The territory in which we had now arrived formed that part 
 of the Bashilange country inhabited by the Chiplumba tribe 
 which lies between the Luhia and Kasai, and terminates 
 towards the north in an apex at the junction of those rivers, 
 which form respectively its eastern and western boundaries : 
 the forests and jungles of the Luebo may be taken as its
 
 64 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 southern limit. Thus, as it was determined to establish the 
 new station exactly at the mouth of the Luebo valley, we 
 were to be therefore at the extreme verge of the Bashilange 
 territory, and, so far as intercourse with the native races is 
 concerned, were more likely to come into contact with the 
 Bakete and Bakuba than with the Baluba, the people who had 
 been the means of our coming into the country ; for besides a 
 number of Bakuba fishing-towns on the river, by far our 
 nearest and most numerous neighbours were the Bakete, 
 inhabiting Kassenge, and the villages beyond. The Chip- 
 lumba towns nearest to the new station were Beni-Kashia, 
 about twenty-two miles to the southward, and on the road 
 to Luluaburg and Kashia-Calemba ; and Biombe, some eight 
 miles to the west, and between the Lulua and Kasai. Our 
 next neighbours beyond and on the opposite side of the 
 Chiplumba country were the Shammatuka, of w4iom I have 
 already spoken, and of them, as indeed, I am sorry to say, of 
 the Chiplumba towns also, the remark must be made, that I 
 am glad they w^ere no nearer. In an amphitheatre enclosed 
 by dense forest, the tongue of land which, after some little 
 hesitation, we selected as the actual site of our buildings was 
 of triangular form, being bounded on the north-east by the 
 Lulua, on the north-w^est by the Luebo, and on the south by 
 the forest and a swampy lagoon, w^hich, by-the-bye, emitted 
 swarms of mosquitos.* The two longer sides of the triangle 
 measured about 200 yards, and the base 150 yards. My 
 own opinion, which subsequent experience and discovery 
 confirmed, was that a far better site could have been found 
 on the opposite side of the Luebo, but the strategic advan- 
 
 * Vide Appendix G.
 
 TEMPORARY ARRANGEMENTS. 
 
 65 
 
 tages of the position chosen are no doubt great, and of 
 almost primary importance. Of course the first things to 
 be done were to clear at least a portion of the site, and to 
 secure our stores, which had in the first instance to be kept 
 under canvas. We immediately fell to work clearing a site 
 for the tents, but when, after landing such goods belonging 
 to us as she had been laden with, the Stanley left us on 
 her homeward voyage, no great progress had been made. 
 Mr. Walker returning with the Stanley, Mr. Schneider, 
 armourer to the expedition, remained with us, he having 
 acquired sufficient knowledge of engineering to supply his 
 place. Mr. Vander Felson of course had to stay with his 
 ship, and Dr. Wolf was in command. 
 
 THE LOG-HOUSE. 
 
 After the clearing, our first and most tedious work was 
 the building of a log-house, doubtless the first of the descrip- 
 tion, as I hope and believe it will be the last, erected in
 
 66 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 Central iVfrica. It was built on the recommendation of 
 Dr. Leslie, as a ready way of storing our goods until a perma- 
 nent storehouse should be erected ; and as, first and last, it 
 occasioned no small waste of time and labour, and was, 
 moreover, in every respect a failure, I propose giving a few 
 details of its history as a warning to others. Of course we 
 had no plan of the building : it was, as are the great majority 
 of European buildings in the Congo territory, built " out of 
 our heads," as we worked away, while, as none of us had any 
 idea of the principles of construction upon which log-houses 
 are framed, we encountered infinite trouble in fitting the 
 logs to each other, trouble that was crowned by the collapse, 
 or rather bursting asunder, of the edifice when it reached 
 the height of the eaves. We had to begin afresh, and by 
 means of securing the corner upright posts firmly to each 
 other before filling in the walls with logs, we contrived to 
 get the unsightly Canadian nuisance roofed in at last. In 
 size it might have measured about 35 feet by 18 feet, with 
 a height of 12 feet in front and 9 feet behind. Into this 
 building we removed our stores, arms, &c., on the 23rd of 
 November, and hoped that they were safe from the weather 
 as well as from thieves. The first rainstorm undeceived us : 
 the roof being too fiat, admitted the water in streams. Dr. 
 AVolf blamed the workmanship — I the design. We agreed 
 that something must be done. Accordingly we covered the 
 roof to a depth of some two inches with puddled clay, and in 
 addition erected an outer roof of leaves and grass to serve as 
 a kind of umbrella. But through the water came, bringing 
 the clay with it, so that now we were in worse case than 
 before. At last, after renewed efforts, we rendered it some-
 
 CALEMBA LEAVES FOR HIS CAPITAL. 67 
 
 what less pervious to the weather ; and though snakes, 
 scorpions, and other vermin took to it kindly, we contrived 
 to keep our stores in the log-house until, the permanent 
 magazine being completed, we were enabled to demolish it. 
 
 In the meantime I had levelled the site and erected the 
 main posts of the storehouse, and our Baluba had built two 
 temporary huts — one for Mr. Schneider, and the other for 
 myself. Dr. Wolf occupied his tent, and Mr. Vander Felson 
 the cabin of the Ea Avant. By this time, too, Calemba and 
 the greater part of his people had gone home. He had 
 stayed with us until after the return of his messengers, 
 which occurred some ten days after the departure of the 
 Stanley, and who brought with them a number of goats for 
 a present, as well as Dr. Wolfs saddle-oxen. On leaving, 
 Calemba had bidden Congo Manena and a number of his 
 people to remain for our present assistance. We found them 
 extremely useful, but they were now to depart also, and it 
 was arranged that they should accompany Dr. Wolf on his 
 journey to Luluaburg. After they had all gone, I devoted my 
 attention to the completion of the storehouse and of the 
 clearings, and I began to drain and fence in the station. 
 
 While these works were in progress, I often left them 
 in charge of Messrs. Schneider and Vander Felson while I 
 made excursions into the Bakete country * for purposes of 
 policy and exploration. Sometimes, too, I had to cross the 
 Lulua in order to superintend our men when cutting grass 
 for thatching, as we had no grass suitable and near to us 
 
 * The southern and lesser Bakete country is situated to the south-south-east of i\vi 
 Bashilange, and is tributary to INIatjanibo, I never visited it, but I understand it is nboiit 
 200 miles distant from the Bakete towns near Luebo station.
 
 68 
 
 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 on our side of the river. Thus I came to make thorough 
 acquaintance with the Bakete, their customs, state, and 
 language. Physically they are very inferior to the Baluba, 
 though the features of both men and women are more 
 regular and refined than those of any other negro tribe I 
 have ever seen. 
 
 The men are somewhat effeminate. Of course they will 
 not work — the African naturally expects the women to do 
 
 that ; but what is unusual, 
 they will hunt and trap only 
 small game, and will not fish 
 at all. Their political condi- 
 tion is significant of their char- 
 acter, for they are tributary to 
 the Bakuba, with the view of 
 obtaining protection against 
 the Batua nomads, who are a 
 trouble to them, chiefly from 
 their own supineness. They 
 are, however, or at least the 
 women are, excellent agri- 
 culturists, and their plantations are really most beautiful. 
 The gardens or fields in the immediate vicinity of Kasseng^ 
 were altogether so delightful, and surprised me so greatly 
 when I first saw them, brilliant with the yellow blossoms 
 of the pea or ground-nut, and adorned with a multitude of 
 tropical esculents, that I often alluded to the place as the 
 " Garden of Eden." In their seasons I observed manioc, 
 maize, yams, sweet potatoes, sorghum, gourds, okras, beans, 
 peas (resembling the description I have seen of the " mummy 
 
 A BAKhTE GIKL.
 
 BAKETE PLANTATIONS. 
 
 69 
 
 
 pea " of Egypt) ; * also an inferior kind of cabbage, and 
 some plants— (one especially with lovely crimson blossoms)— 
 whose leaves are eaten much as spinach ; also pine-apples, 
 water-melons, mangangas (a kind 
 of yellow plum), bananas, plan- 
 tains, and the species of banyan 
 called " saffu." But what sur- 
 prised and pleased me was not 
 so much the variety of plants as 
 their cultivation : they were as 
 well grown as they could be, 
 arranged in symmetrical plots 
 and beds, and separated by wide, 
 perfectly straight alleys, weeded, 
 swept, and maintained in the 
 greatest neatness and order. They grow no rice, although 
 their neighbours the Baluba raise large quantities of it. 
 
 They cultivate tobacco of an extremely inferior kind, 
 
 A BAKfeTE MAN. 
 
 * My attention has been drawn to an article on the " mummy pea " of Egypt, written 
 by an Irish clergyman, and published some years ago in a popular magazine. It would 
 appear that a few peas found in a mummy case in one of the more ancient Egyptian 
 sepulchres had been sown by some horticulturists, and had, despite their long imprison- 
 ment, germinated. The plants proved arborescent in habit, and bore crimson and white 
 blossoms with well-filled pods : the peas when cooked being pronounced excellent. From 
 the entire dissimilarity of these plants (or shrubs, they might be called) from anything of 
 the kind now to be found in Egypt, the writer of the article in question drew some infer- 
 ences which we may well set aside ; he seems to have forgotten that his mummy peas 
 might possibly be identical with species still to be found throughout the interior of Equa- 
 torial Africa — as undoubtedly they are. Their presence in the ancient mummy case in 
 Egypt therefore argues, to my mind, an intercourse in the remotest ages between that 
 country and Central Africa through the upper valley of the Nile — an intercourse forgotten 
 now for an immense period, but of which at least one monument still remains in the 
 existence of those vast artificial caves in Kavirondo reported first by Cnmmander Cameron, 
 with all due caution as became the fabulous, but actually seen by jNIr. Joseph Tiiomson, 
 and finally immortalised in fiction, I presume, as the foundation in fact of "King Solomon's 
 Mines."
 
 70 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 which they prepare for smoking in the following abomin- 
 able manner. Their custom is to gather the green leaf, and, 
 without any attempt at drying it, to pound it in a mortar. 
 When sufficiently pounded, the tobacco is made up into 
 balls about the size of a man's fist, and is then dried in 
 a kind of open-work tray hanging in the smoke above 
 the fire of the hut, where, indeed, they constantly keep 
 it until required for use. As they are not at all par- 
 ticular as to the cleanliness of the operation, the tobacco 
 so prepared generally gains from the mortar, in which palm- 
 nuts have probably been pounded, as well as from contact 
 with other substances, to say nothing of the smoke, several 
 flavours which render its use disgusting to Europeans. 
 
 Their preparation of wild yams is better worth record- 
 ing. In the belief that the wild yam, "kampoto," contains a 
 poison which can only be expelled by a somewhat elaborate 
 process, the Bakete first peel the tubers carefully, and cutting 
 them into thin slices, boil them for a considerable length of 
 time. The slices are then removed from the pot and tied 
 in a basket, which is immersed in running water for five 
 days, after which they are considered fit for use. They 
 are generally eaten cold, but if warmed, they become floury 
 like good European potatoes, and they cannot possibly be 
 distinguished from them by the palate if mashed in orthodox 
 fashion w^ith milk, butter, and pepper. 
 
 Their preparations of cassava and of salt are also peculiar, 
 and merit some description. With regard to the former 
 the Bakete have three methods, of which the following 
 is the most usual : — The manioc roots being freed from 
 the outer bark, are placed in open-work baskets, and sunk
 
 PREPARING CASSAVA. 
 
 71 
 
 in a swiftly running stream for several days, until the 
 cassava has become quite soft and perfectly white. When 
 removed from the water, the roots are generally covered with 
 leeches, and emit a peculiar sour smell, as if fermentation 
 had taken place. So far the process is uniform and uni- 
 
 POUNMNG CASSAVA. 
 
 versal throughout the Congo State, but what follows is, 
 I believe, peculiar to the 13akete and Baluba. The wet 
 roots are then placed in an open-work tray hanging in the 
 smoke above the hut-fire, and are there kept until perfectly 
 dry and hard, when they are stored away for use as required.
 
 72 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 Another method for immediate use is precisely identical 
 with that described above as used in the preparation of wild 
 yams, while the third process is as follows : — The manioc 
 roots being freed from the bark, are rasped down into a 
 kind of coarse flour, which is then dried upon heated stones. 
 The cassava thus obtained closely resembles sawdust in 
 appearance, and is stored away in bags until required. 
 This form of preparation has been, by-the-bye, adopted by 
 the Portuguese on the coast, and the cassava thus prepared 
 goes by the name of farinlia cle manioc ; but it is not used 
 by them in the same manner as by the natives, who make 
 it into a kind of porridge. Salt is thus procured : — A kind 
 of floating grass, Chissengenene, to be obtained in lagoons 
 and near the edge of very slowly flowing rivers, is collected, 
 and being dried and burned to ashes, the lye thus obtained 
 is mingled with the ashes of a leaf resembling that of the 
 marsh-mallow : these are then mixed with water and set on 
 to boil, the mixture being constantly stirred and skimmed 
 until the water has been gradually evaporated. The sedi- 
 ment remaining is a grey-coloured salt, which amongst the 
 Bakete and Bakuba is packed dry into large sausage-shaped 
 cases made of leaves, while with the Baluba it is made up 
 ^vet into conical cakes and subsequently dried in the smoke. 
 The salt thus obtained has a disagreeable acrid taste. 
 
 The cooking utensils of the Bakete are peculiar to them- 
 selves. The generality of native Congo pottery is thin, not 
 exceeding quarter inch in thickness ; but the Bakete make 
 their large cooking-pots fully half an inch thick, deep also, 
 and with flat bottoms, whereas those of other tribes are 
 rounded underneath.
 
 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 73 
 
 Their other domestic arts are not in any way remarkable, 
 but their villages are neatly built and well kept. Of canoes 
 they have none, at least, of their own manufacture, and as a 
 rule they eschew piscatory arts and all employments which 
 would necessitate their entering the water. Such fish as 
 they require either for use or barter they purchase from 
 the Bakuba or Baluba fishermen. 
 
 As for domestic animals, they keep only goats, sheep, 
 and dogs ; the last named being used for hunting, and as 
 good a breed as I have seen anywhere in Africa. The 
 Bakete keep, however, neither pigs nor oxen. Against 
 the former they have a strong prejudice ; the latter would 
 be unlikely to thrive in their country, though they some- 
 times buy oxen in order to slaughter them for food. Cats 
 are unknown : as a consequence house-mice swarm. The 
 Bakete rear large numbers of fowls and ducks, both for their 
 own consumption and for barter, but neither geese nor 
 turkeys, which are a species of fowl unknown to the natives 
 of Central Africa. Upon the whole, I found that we had 
 every reason to congratulate ourselves at Luebo on our 
 proximity to these people, whom I was able to employ in 
 a variety of ways, and to trust as it would have been 
 dangerous to trust few indeed of the native tribes. They 
 were in every sense excellent neighbours and kind friends, 
 and well-wishers to the European State. 
 
 To return to our building operations in the new station, 
 it is pleasant to be able to record the progress we had made 
 by Christmas-tide. The new magazine being constructed 
 upon those principles of building adapted to the country, 
 and usually pursued in it, and having taken the trouble to
 
 74 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 draw proper plans and to make working drawings before 
 beginning to build, we had little or no hindrance to our 
 progress, and by Christmas-day had the satisfaction of dining 
 in the nearly finished storehouse. It measured 60 feet 
 in length by 28 feet in width, with side walls about 14 
 feet in height, and had a steep widely overhanging roof of 
 thatch rising to a ridge about 36 feet above the ground, 
 supported by a row of central poles. The ends of the 
 building were gabled and pierced with four narrow slits, 
 two above the level of the eaves and two below. On the 
 sides there was in front a central door with a good-sized 
 window on either hand ; behind there were two windows : 
 the windows being all protected with stout vertical bars of 
 wood. The materials employed for the walls were wood 
 and clay. Solid upright posts were placed closely together 
 and united by cross-pieces nailed horizontally, and by the 
 wall-plate upon which the rafters rested. These posts were 
 covered to a depth of four inches on both sides with well- 
 worked clay, laid on in two coats, and in the interior 
 finished with a thin wash of the same, its delicate pink 
 colour having a warm and comfortable look. Externally 
 the walls were rough-cast (or "harled," as they call it in 
 Scotland) with a mixture of clay and coarse sand, and white- 
 washed.* The floor of the building (about two feet higher 
 than the ground outside) consisted of well-beaten clay. It 
 was a thoroughly solid, substantial, and sightly building, 
 never giving us any trouble : useful not only for its primary 
 purpose as a storehouse, but available for many an emer- 
 
 * For this purpose a kind of pipeclay found in small quantities on the Bakete side of 
 the Lulua was used.
 
 CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES. 75 
 
 gency. Our clearings had progressed also. All the jungle 
 along the bank of the Luebo throughout the whole length 
 of the station and for 150 yards beyond had vanished; the 
 lagoon was altogether denuded of its surrounding bush ; 
 while on the side of the Lulua, from the old road down to the 
 river for about 200 yards, the wood had been cleared away. 
 Thus we were circumstanced when Christmas came to us in 
 our isolation ; but though all surrounding nature conspired 
 to banish the wonted associations of the festival, we con- 
 trived to remember it, and to celebrate it, at least after a 
 fashion. The workpeople all received a holiday, extra 
 rations, and some presents, and in the evening they had a 
 dance, which was attended by our Bakete neighbours, in- 
 cluding, of course, several of the fair sex. I must, I fear, in 
 characterising the performance, employ a phrase of Mungo 
 Park's, applied by him to the dances in vogue some eighty 
 years ago in another part of Africa : " The gestures were 
 more voluptuous than elegant." Fortunately for our mess, I 
 had not only a little store of champagne and other European 
 wines, so that we could duly toast our absent friends, but in 
 the morning we had received a very acceptable present of 
 elephant-beef from a Chiplumba-Baluba chief, Kappasiero, 
 who had been out hunting in our neighbourhood. We were 
 unfortunate in the matter of plum-pudding ; perhaps not 
 altogether so unfortunate as the legendary English gover- 
 ness, who supplied her French Principal with a recipe 
 from which all mention of the essential cloth in which the 
 pudding must be boiled was omitted, and, in consequence, 
 witnessed the service of a nauseous mess in a soup-tureen 
 as " blum boudin ; " yet we were distinctly unfortunate, for
 
 76 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 though we had most of the ingredients, and did not forget 
 the cloth, yet somehow our recipe was at fault, and the result 
 was an unwholesome soupy affair, chiefly consumed by the 
 cook. We spent, nevertheless, upon the whole, a very plea- 
 sant evening inaugurating the new storehouse by our Christ- 
 mas-dinner, and afterwards witnessing the grotesque dances 
 of the natives in the station clearing, a large bonfire supply- 
 ing the revellers with quite as much light as was desirable. 
 
 Our Christmas festivity over, we settled down again into 
 our usual routine uninterruptedly for a few days. The 
 daily life of a station might be monotonous if the duties of 
 one's office did not so entirely engross all one's thoughts and 
 energies. At Luebo our time and work were apportioned 
 as follows: — 5,30 a.m., reveille; 6 a.m., roll-call, when all 
 the people employed on the station must be present, and 
 when the day's tasks are allotted, tools issued, and working 
 parties told off. At 6.45 a.m., Zanzibari drill until 8 a.m., 
 when we relieved guard and hoisted flag. The men who 
 had been on guard then went off duty for twenty-four 
 hours, being, however, detailed for station cleaning, &c., 
 in the afternoon. I may here remark that of the guard, 
 consisting of six men, four were always off sentry duty, 
 but found occupation in cleaning arms in the guard-house. 
 After going round the station, and attending to my books 
 and reports, I breakfasted at 10.30 a.m. At 12 noon the 
 bugle-call went for the men's dinner, for which two hours 
 were allowed. At 2 p.m. the men were mustered again, 
 and any necessary re-allotment of tasks was then made. 
 From 2 P.M. until 4 p.m. I gave daily audience to all chiefs 
 and others who wished to see me. It may be asked, since
 
 WORK-DAYS AND HOLIDAYS. tj 
 
 many of these persons came considerable distances, what 
 form, in the way of refreshments, my official hospitality 
 assumed. The answer is a simple one. My guests invari- 
 ably brought with them gourds of palm-wine as a present 
 to me : these I graciously permitted them to consume at 
 once, and upon the premises. At 4 p.m. I went the rounds, 
 inspecting what had been done or not done. This inspec- 
 tion I generally contrived to get through by 5.30 p.m. 
 At 5.45 retreat bugle sounded, when all tools issued in 
 the morning were taken in and counted. Work was com- 
 pletely ended by 6 p.m., when all natives and strangers 
 had to leave the station, unless invited there or detained 
 by special command. At 6.30 p.m. I dined. At 8.30 p.m. 
 first post of tattoo sounded, and at 9 p.m. last post. 
 At 9.30 bugle sounded lights out. My personal arrange- 
 ments and hours I need not detail, but some further 
 general items may be interesting. Guard was turned out 
 and inspected at 8 a.m., mid-day, retreat, and last post. 
 On Sundays no working parties were detailed, and the 
 men generally went to Kasseng^ or elsewhere to make 
 such purchases as they chose ; and on Saturdays from 2 p.m. 
 the men had their time to themselves, and the rations were 
 paid in cowries. Monthly on the day of the new moon the 
 Zanzibaris were permitted to hold their saturnalia, but I put 
 a stop to the usual gun-firing, and I persistently declined to 
 give them the customary sacrificial goat, though I never 
 refused to sell them one at a sufficient price. Courts-mar- 
 tial I always held on Sundays, and kept prisoners — when un- 
 happily there were any — for trial then, as I had more time 
 to attend to their accusations on that day than on others.
 
 78 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 I have made mention of Sunday. It is a day of the week, 
 of course, in Africa as it is in Europe, and we observed it as a 
 holiday — I wish I could say that we observed it as a holy day, 
 but I cannot. Of a certain African town,* where there is a 
 civilised and nominally Christian population, to say nothing 
 of a strong European element, the most exact and unim- 
 peachably accurate of African travellers t says : — " In a central 
 position in the town is a tastefully arranged public garden, 
 ivhere a hcmd 2)G^forms on Sunday evenings. The only 
 public buildings are a well-constructed custom-house, a very 
 good hospital, the house of the governor, a courthouse, and 
 a church, ivhich is 7iever opened except for haptisms and 
 burials.'" If such be the outward state of religion in those 
 places where there are churches and clergy, we of the laity, 
 located where there are no churches, and in wilds that the 
 clergy of no Christian denomination whatsoever think it 
 worth their while to visit, may, I trust, be pardoned if we 
 do not succeed in making a fairer show in the matter of 
 observances. 
 
 On the 31st of December, in the afternoon. Dr. Wolf 
 suddenly returned from Luluaburg. lie came to us expressly 
 at this time in order that we might begin the new year 
 together amid good-fellowship and mutual congratulations. 
 This was extremely kind of him : an instance of that thought- 
 ful encouragement of his fellow-workers of which numerous 
 proofs were never wanting. He brought us some additional 
 stores — luxuries, I might call them — but his purpose in 
 visiting Luebo was to embark on board the En. Avant for 
 an exploration of the Sankoro above its confluence with 
 
 * Benguela. + Caiiierou.
 
 A FATAL ACCIDENT. 
 
 79 
 
 the Kasai. He lost no time, therefore, in departing down 
 the river, bidding us farewell on the 4th of January 1886, 
 both Messrs. Schneider and Vander Felson accompanying 
 him. Thus, after Dr. Wolf's departure, I was alone, but 
 I found full employment in further building operations, as 
 well as in the ordinary routine of administration. He had 
 expressed himself more than satisfied Avith the progress that 
 had been made, and I was anxious still more to surprise him 
 when he should return. 
 
 One tragic event occurred some two months after Dr. 
 Wolf had left us, which varied, in an awful way indeed, our 
 quiet station life. A number 
 of young women belonging to 
 the station were in the habit 
 of bathing at the point where 
 the Lulua and Luebo join. 
 This I had forbidden, as the 
 river abounds with alligators, 
 and had even been at the 
 pains to sketch one of the 
 girls pursued by an alligator, 
 in order to assist my imper- 
 fect Siketi in personally de- 
 horting the delinquents from 
 their dangerous amusement. One day, however, in March, 
 in spite of all I could say or do, some of these girls were 
 disporting themselves in the water. I being informed of 
 this little rebellion, went in their direction to order them 
 ashore. All came out except Kafinga — the very girl whose por- 
 trait I had sketched — a bright, cheerful creature. She was 
 
 KAFINGA— A PORTRAIT.
 
 8o UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 the farthest out from shore, and was laughingly maintain- 
 ing her liberty, when, in an instant, uttering a piercing 
 shriek, she disappeared beneath the water. Momentarily 
 forgetful of the alligators, I sprang after the hapless girl, 
 but in vain : indeed, I had drifted some distance down 
 the stream, and was in no small danger myself, when I was 
 picked up by some of my Zanzibaris, who had instantly 
 put off in a canoe to my rescue. Afterwards the natives 
 remembered the strange coincidence of the portrait, and 
 considered the tragedy as a piece of witchcraft, in which 
 I had played a leading, but not altogether enviable, part.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Portuguese traders — Senhores Saturnino, Carvalho, y Custodio — Their history and trade 
 • — Custodio's advice to Dr. Pogge — Carvalho's letter — The partner's application at 
 Luebo — Saturnino and the Zingas — Tlie dispute ari-anged — Zingas and their country 
 — Progress of the station buildings — The Krupp howitzer — Dr. Wolf's return and 
 the results of his voyage — An agreeable (?) surprise. 
 
 During Dr. Wolf's absence, a Portuguese, Senlior Saturnino 
 da Souza-Macliado, had come into the station from Kapuku 
 on the Muansangoma, where he with a partner had been re- 
 siding some time for purposes of trade. lie came in answer 
 to a reply which I had made to a business inquiry addressed 
 to me by his partner, Senhor Carvalho, whose personal 
 acquaintance 1 subsequently made. As Senhor Carvalho's
 
 82 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 history is far from uninteresting in itself, and his trade 
 ventures and adventures both typical of what is, and has 
 been, going on in the way of business in Central Africa, and 
 also in many ways instructive, I shall make a digression in 
 order to acquaint my readers with them. 
 
 Born in Portugal, in the province of Las Minas, of 
 humble parentage, Senhor Antonio Lopes de Carvalho emi- 
 grated to the Brazils in the capacity of clerk or assistant 
 to his uncle, who was engaged in business there as a coffee- 
 planter and general merchant, xifter some years spent in 
 the neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro, 8enhor Carvalho was 
 induced to go to Benguela, on the south-west coast of 
 Africa, in the same office as he had held under his uncle. 
 Not meeting with much success as an agent for others, 
 and seeing, at the expiry of years, but small prospect of 
 advancement from his subordinate position, he determined 
 to start business on his own account. Li this undertaking 
 he was assisted by a legacy from some relative, wherewith 
 purchasing, partly on credit, a stock of cotton cloth, salt, 
 brass rods, beads, and other small articles of barter, and 
 taking with him a sufficient number of porters lent by his 
 old employer, Senhor Custodio da Souza-Machado, from 
 whom he had obtained his stock, Senhor Carvalho started 
 for the interior. He met with Matjambo (the Mata Yafa, 
 by-the-bye, of Lieut. Cameron) on passing through the 
 Bailanda territory, and experienced not only fair, but even 
 kind treatment from that chief. Senhor Carvalho, however, 
 believing that Matjambo wished to overreach, and use 
 him for his own purposes, refused the chief's solicitations 
 that he would stay with him, and allow the Bailunda to
 
 A TRADER'S VICISSITUDES. 83 
 
 negotiate the exchange of his merchandise for ivory. 
 Accordingly he left Matjambo, and turning more towards 
 the north, passed close to Kassembe : thence he journeyed 
 towards Lake Moero, where he had heard there was 
 abundance of ivory. On this portion of his journey he 
 spent some time, living much as a native, and encoun- 
 tering many adventures, in one of which he came across 
 Dr. Livingstone. He procured as much ivory as he de- 
 sired, but without having to go so far as the lake, and 
 started on his return. Before reaching Ulundu, however, 
 he was attacked by marauders, robbed of all his ivory, and 
 left practically destitute. He then fled to his friend Mat- 
 jambo, who received him in all kindness and hospitality, 
 and willingly undertook to maintain him while striving 
 to recover his stolen property. Failing success after some 
 months spent in the attempt, Matjambo generously supplied 
 his guest with means to return to Malange, Avhither he 
 accordingly departed. He arrived in safety, but destitute, 
 and even considerably in debt to Senhor Custodio, whose ser- 
 vice he now re-entered. Some time after Senhor Carvalho's 
 return, the German expedition under Dr. Pogge and Lieut. 
 Wissmann arrived at Malange from Europe. Those gentle- 
 men intended to cross the continent, traversing the Lake 
 Moero district, and exploring as far as possible the waters 
 of the Kasai and Sankoro, the existence of which Living- 
 stone had reported. They were induced, however, by the 
 representations partly of Senhor Custodio, to modify their 
 proposed line of march, and eventually they, or at least 
 Lieut. Wissmann, crossed the continent considerably to the 
 north of Lake Moero, Dr. Pogge returning sick from the
 
 84 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 Baluba country to Malange en route for Loanda, where he 
 died. In the meantime, Senhor Saturnino, a half-brother of 
 Senhor Custodio's, entering into partnership with Senhor 
 Carvalho, determined to set off in the wake of the expedi- 
 tion, and, by availing himself of it as a pioneer-guard, to 
 introduce a considerable quantity of merchandise into the 
 Baluba country, whose resources had been magnified at 
 Malange by the Matchioko, and thus to establish a perma- 
 nent trading station in the interior by seizing upon the 
 advantage of being the first to enter the newly opened 
 country. They accordingly departed, taking wdth them a 
 large stock of goods, representing an outlay of several thou- 
 sand pounds sterling. Crossing the Upper Luangi, they 
 separated, Senhor Carvalho following that river for a short 
 distance, and striking into the Tucongo country, a land 
 unknown to us save as the abode of ferocious tribes, while 
 Senhor Saturnino proceeded on his way towards the Baluba. 
 Senhor Carvalho lost much from the hostility of the natives, 
 and met with many reverses, but being able nevertheless 
 to hold on his course, he at length came to the Kasai, 
 crossing which stream, and entering the Bashilange-Baluba 
 country, he there rejoined Senhor Saturnino. They proceeded 
 to establish themselves on the Muansangoma, where they 
 built a store and dwelling-house combined, and continued 
 to transact business with the natives with varying success. 
 This trade, an unostentatious species of slave-dealing, I will 
 explain. Their modus operandi was as follows. Finding 
 it impossible to obtain ivory from the Bakuba or Bakete 
 without exchanging slaves, they purchased from the Baluba 
 slaves of that or kindred races in exchange for cloth, which
 
 SLAVE-DEALING. 85 
 
 was valueless to the Bakuba, whose requirements their own 
 excellent native manufacture more than sufficed. The price 
 of a slave would be six yards or under of the cotton cloth or 
 calicot used in West African commerce, an utterly worthless 
 fabric, value in England less than one penny per yard. The 
 slaves so obtained were passed on to the Bakuba or Bakete, 
 together with other goods, in exchange for ivory. As 
 a sample of the value given and received, I submit the 
 following statement from original and authentic memoranda 
 in my possession. In return for one slightly damaged " point 
 of ivory" [apunta avariada custou 0' seguinte) Senhor 
 Carvalho gave — 
 
 Duas nymphas ..... Two young girls. 
 
 Cinqua cruzetas de cobra . . . Five crosses of copper. 
 
 Cinqua mil buzio .... 5000 cowries. 
 
 Duas centos- bagos d'almandrilha . 200 twisted Venetian beads. 
 
 The special iniquity of this trade lies in the fact that slaves 
 purchased by the Bakuba and some similar tribes are upon 
 occasions devoted to death as human sacrifices by their 
 owners. This traffic continued until Senhores Saturnino y 
 Carvalho had gained possession of all the available ivory in 
 that part of the country. They then heard that there was an 
 abundance of ivory still procurable in the country frequented 
 by the Batua Bankonko, whither they therefore temporarily 
 removed. There, for a time, their business prospered ; but 
 having quarrelled with the natives for some cause unex- 
 plained to me, their encampment was suddenly attacked in 
 the early morning, about thirty of their followers were slain, 
 and they had to make a sudden retreat to Kapuku vid 
 Kabao, where they eventually arrived in a somewhat impo-
 
 86 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 verished and dilapidated condition. Senhor Carvalho thus 
 describes in a letter to me the latter portion of their re- 
 turn journey, in which they endeavoured to retrieve, or at 
 least mitigate, their losses by doing a little business on the 
 road : — 
 
 "From Kabao eight days brought us to the northern fron- 
 tier of the Bashilange territory, where we entered that of 
 the Babinji, which we crossed in three days, arriving at the 
 Lubuije, one of the largest affluents of the Lubudi. After we 
 had crossed the former river we began to notice that the 
 aborigines were far from well disposed : they robbed us of 
 various articles, including a bag of cowries, matchets, &c. 
 Unfortunately not one of our carriers or slaves had his gun 
 loaded, so we were unable to give the thieves a lesson before 
 they hid themselves in the thick jungle. For this we had to 
 thank Saturnino's economia, which forbade his giving as much 
 as a single cartridge to a servant. Immediately on pitching 
 camp, however, I served out five cartridges to each rifle, yet 
 to obtain this trivial armament I had to go through quite 
 an altercation with Saturnino, for he had not yet profited 
 by our recent experiences. It was now necessary to move 
 forward in regular order of march, on which account one 
 of us conducted the vanguard, the other the rear, between 
 which the whole caravan marched close together. Saturnino 
 remaining a short time after we left camp, was mobbed and 
 instantly deprived of his cap. He carried his rifle indeed, 
 but owing to his mean carefulness it was enclosed in its case, 
 and he had therefore just to put up with the insult. The 
 natives became more and more hostile, and being armed to 
 the teeth, constantly alarmed us by appearing suddenly in
 
 CARVALHO'S LETTER. 87 
 
 our midst, and, with the fieetness of deer, as quickly disap- 
 pearing in the enclosing bush. I cannot understand any- 
 thing more disagreeable, as indeed it is impossible to ima- 
 gine anything more dangerous, than the march through a 
 hostile country along a winding jungle-path, in which the 
 view does not extend beyond a dozen paces. At 3 p.m. we 
 encamped in a small clearing in unfortunate proximity to 
 some predatory villages, whose inhabitants were yet more 
 audaciously thievish than the people who had harassed us 
 on the march. Here the thefts were of momentary occur- 
 rence : one would carry off a knife, another a jug from 
 before our very eyes, and another some other article, so 
 that we were greatly embarrassed. By 5 p.m. the natives 
 thronged on all sides and blocked the road, but happily the 
 night passed without any noteworthy circumstance occurring. 
 Next day some natives brought in ivory tusks which they 
 desired to sell, but so exorbitant were their demands as 
 to price, that not all our merchandise would have sufficed 
 to effect a purchase. From this spot, however, we were 
 strangely enough permitted to depart, and to journey for 
 three days without molestation. On arriving at Lakombi, a 
 very populous place, we encountered renewed hostility from 
 the natives, for here, as the saying is, they ' cut our beard 
 for us ' [fazemos nossa harha), and we had to turn back. 
 On the morning after our arrival, the savages, fully a thou- 
 sand strong, attacked us, and we were obliged to defend 
 ourselves ; but in the course of half an hour, during which 
 the fight lasted, we had four men killed and many wounded. 
 We immediately began our retreat, and camped for the first 
 night in a small open plain. Continuing our journey home-
 
 88 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 wards, we were attacked on the third day from Lakombi by 
 a new foe in the shape of small-pox. This sickness caused 
 many of our loads to be abandoned, and we arrived on the 
 Muansangoma having sustained a loss of about a thousand 
 milreis." 
 
 As these merchants had luckily left an ample reserve 
 of goods at their permanent trading station at Kapuku, 
 their losses were limited to the stock they had taken 
 into the Batua Bankonko country, and they w^ere conse- 
 quently enabled to continue their trade, Senhor Carvalho 
 going for a time to the southward, where he was not un- 
 prosperous. The difficulty which now beset the partners was 
 how to get their ivory down to the coast in safety. Being 
 acquainted with the establishment of the station at Luebo, 
 Senhor Carvalho wrote to me inquiring whether we could or 
 would facilitate the transmission of his ivory to the coast by 
 water-carriage via Leopold ville. To him I replied that w^e 
 could assume no responsibility as to the goods, but that we 
 certainly would send them as desired if delivered to us at 
 Luebo. 
 
 It was in answer to this communication that Senhor 
 Satumino came into the station, arriving on the day follow- 
 ing that on which poor Kafinga had met her awful death ; 
 and I shall never forget his coming, for not only was I 
 depressed by the most lively recollections of that dreadful 
 occurrence, but the wetting I had undergone resulted in a 
 night of fever and ague which had so prostrated me that I 
 was disinclined for business of any kind. In addition to the 
 matter about which he had come, Senhor Satumino had a com- 
 plaint to prefer against the people of a Bakete village, whom
 
 ZING A CARRIERS. 89 
 
 he represented as having threatened to rob him — in fact, had 
 I not acted most strictly npon Dr. Wolfs general instruc- 
 tions, I should have committed a serious blunder, and greatly 
 injured those very interests which the Free State exists to 
 promote, for I afterwards discovered that Senhor Saturnino's 
 complaint was little better than a malicious fabrication. 
 Being in need of cloth for the pay, and cowries for the 
 rations of my Zanzibaris, I availed myself of Senhor Saturnino's 
 visit to purchase a small supply of those articles from him, 
 of course at extravagant prices. He started on his return 
 journey the same day as he arrived, being, or professing to 
 be, in a state of nervous apprehension as to the attitude of 
 the Bakete, and I gave him such protection as I deemed fit, 
 that is to say, an escort of six Zanzibaris with a corporal. 
 On their return journey they convoyed a number of Senhor 
 Saturnino's Zingas bearing the goods I had purchased from 
 him. These poor fellows, seeing the happier life our people 
 led, absolutely refused to return to their master, and insisted 
 on volunteering for service under the State. On hearing of 
 this, their compaitriots still in Senhor Saturnino's service forth- 
 with, for the most part, forsook him, and came to me, so that, 
 as I enlisted them readily enough, my force was raised to about 
 one hundred men. These proceedings, which I at once notified 
 to Senhor Saturnino, brought us into renewed communication, 
 and eventually his partner, Senhor Carvalho, came to Lucl)o in 
 no very amiable frame of mind. He represented that not 
 only were the enlisted Zingas indebted to him for thefts of 
 his goods committed at various times, but that they were 
 bound by a contract, concluded at Malange in due form 
 before the Commandant of that place, in virtue of which
 
 90 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 they must remain in his service for an indefinite period at a 
 stipulated remuneration, not to be paid until their return to 
 Angola, and for rations which were to be supplied to them 
 from time to time, and he produced papers in support of 
 his contention. What he did not state was that the head 
 chief of these men had practically sold them to Senhor 
 Saturnino, for he had agreed that none of his people taking 
 service under the partners should return to their homes 
 unless accompanied by one or other of their masters, or 
 unless bringing proof of their decease, and that should any 
 of the Zingas return otherwise, they were to be most severely 
 punished — practically put to death. On the other hand, I 
 explained to Senhor Carvalho, and demonstrated by docu- 
 mentary evidence, that the laws of the Congo State did 
 not recognise as binding contracts made by "third parties," 
 because people, to be personally and individually bound by 
 a contract, must personally and individually consent to the 
 same, and to that end must understand and be in every way 
 cognisant of the whole conditions of the contract. I then 
 caused the men to be interrogated upon the subject, and 
 found that they had most certainly not committed themselves 
 to the contract, and that being all free men, and not slaves 
 (some of them were petty chiefs), their head chief had acted 
 ultra vires in contracting for them. At the same time I 
 examined into the alleged thefts, some of which the Zingas 
 acknowledged. Accordingly I informed Senhor Saturnino 
 that excepting a few individuals whom he had expressly 
 asked me not to engage, and whom I referred back to him, 
 I was prepared to retain the enlisted Zingas, and to keep 
 back from their pay the amount of their debts to him, for
 
 ZING AS AND THEIR COUNTRY. 91 
 
 which I gave him a cheque. I have every reason to believe 
 that the merchant was as ill pleased with the settlement as T 
 was satisfied, for the Zingas almost without exception turned 
 out excellent and trustworthy workmen. 
 
 Although the Zinga country does not lie within the limits 
 of the Congo State, nor yet immediately contiguous to its 
 boundaries, those people are so frequently to be met with in 
 that part of the Congo territory which I am describing, that I 
 shall make a digression in order to give a brief account of 
 them. In former days they were a powerful nation under 
 the rule of queens, whose dominion extended as far north 
 as the mouth of the Congo. Commercial treaties, however, 
 with the Portuguese have so greatly curtailed their boun- 
 daries that the Zinga country does not now extend farther 
 north than the Kwanza, and is, in fact, a district some fifty 
 miles square extending along that river. The nation is now 
 wholly tributary to the Portuguese, its internal government 
 being practically in the hands of the head chief or chiefs, 
 and the queen's supremacy has shrunk to a mere nominis 
 umhi^a. The Zingas are a fine athletic race and brave ; 
 good workmen and faithful servants when in an alien 
 country. They bring no women with them, but marry those 
 of the country in which they may be sojourning. With 
 their own native institutions I have no acquaintance, as they 
 adopted the manners of the people with whom they dwelt. 
 
 So large an accession to our numbers enabled me to 
 make much more rapid progress with our station clearings 
 and buildings than before. By this time I had completed 
 the central store and the dining pavilion on the Point 
 — the latter an octagonal structure built on the same prin-
 
 92 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 ciples as the central store, but open on all sides above 3 
 feet 6 inches from the ground, and fitted with curtains of 
 matting, two sides being entirely open down to the ground. 
 The floor was not properly finished until a much later date, 
 when it, together with all the more important floors in the 
 station, were paved with fine hard tiles made by one of the 
 Angolese : meantime it was made of well-beaten clay. The 
 palisades along both river fronts were completed, and the 
 ramping was in progress. The kitchen and cook's dwelling- 
 house were rather more than half finished, and the land 
 approach to the station was temporarily palisaded. The 
 bastion at the Point, which I had designed with the 
 object of placing a gun (Krupp No. i mountain howitzer, 
 5.7 calibre) upon it in such position as to enfilade both 
 river fronts, was by this time finished, and had proved a 
 most laborious undertaking, as its base and lower stage had 
 to be built up with the largest masses of stone w^e could 
 contrive to move. Another tedious piece of stone-work in 
 progress at this time was the embankment outside the 
 palisade next the Luebo, which we were obliged to con- 
 struct in order to protect the station site against the stream, 
 whose force was gradually but surely eating it away. With 
 the increased number of workmen I made rapid progress in 
 clearing the jungle towards the south, so as to gain room for 
 our plantations, and in making the road towards Luluaburg. 
 Thus when Dr. Yvolf returned from the Sankoro he found 
 many changes and improvements in the condition of the 
 station. 
 
 The exploration of the Sankoro is so far a portion of my 
 own narrative, that my lack of ability to recount its precise
 
 THE SANKORO EXPLORED. 93 
 
 details will not void my liability to tell the leading incidents 
 of the story as they were told to me. After descending the 
 Kasai to its junction with the Sankoro, and thence ascend- 
 ing the latter a short distance, the 3n Avant met with a 
 slight accident, which was soon repaired. The expedition 
 then voyaged up the river for about a week before coming 
 into communication with the natives, w^hom they found 
 very shy. Proceeding farther, they entered the dominions 
 of a chieftainess, who received the party in a most friendly 
 way, and with whom they remained two or three days. The 
 expedition next encountered some danger from predatory 
 natives, when by mischance the En Avant had run upon a 
 sandbank.'" The greater part of the goods had to be taken 
 out of the vessel, and the cloth and various articles of wear- 
 ing apparel were spread abroad to dry. The natives observed 
 with envy so great a display of wealth, and deeming it to 
 be quite undefended — for the members of the expedition 
 being unprovided with arrows, were in their opinion un- 
 armed — they determined to possess themselves of it. They, 
 however, committed the additional error of supposing their 
 language utterly unknown to their intended victims, for 
 happening to discuss the project in the presence of Humba, 
 the interpreter, they inadvertently apprised him of their 
 design. He immediately informed Dr. Wolf, who was 
 accordingly on his guard. During a palaver which he held 
 with the chief. Dr. Wolf, in order to prove that he possessed 
 a more potent weapon than bows and arrows or spears, 
 
 * Just at this juncture it was discovered that the fire-bars in the engine furnace were 
 burnt tlirough. Mr. Schneider made use of two ritie-barrels wherewith to repair the 
 damage during this interruption to the voyage.
 
 94 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 fired off a barrel of his revolver in the air, making as little 
 premonitory movement as possible. The effect on the natives 
 may be more easily imagined than described : in the wildest 
 alarm they rushed to their canoes, capsizing many in their 
 frantic efforts to escape in them, and fled headlong in every 
 direction. Proceeding yet farther, the expedition came to 
 parts where the natives were more friendly and reliable, and 
 not far from the junction of the Lomami with the Sankoro, 
 Dr. Wolf met with the renowned ivory and slave trader 
 Sappoo Sahib, who with a large armed retinue, chiefly of Arabs 
 and Nyamweze, chanced to be in that part of the country 
 on a trading excursion. Dr. Wolf was much pleased with 
 his manner and appearance, which he described as dignified 
 and courteous. He is a Mohammedan, of course, and is 
 generally held as the second great marauder-merchant of 
 Central Africa ; Tippoo Tib being, since the overthrow of 
 Mirambo, facile princeps. Passing the mouth of the 
 Lomami, the expedition ascended the Sankoro, which they 
 found interrupted with rapids. These surmounted, others 
 were encountered, up which it was impossible to take the 
 En Avant, for although there appeared to be sufficient 
 depth of water, the steam power of the boat was unequal 
 to the task. From this point, not far short of 320 miles 
 from its confluence with the Kasai, the Sankoro was 
 descended as far as the Lomami, the ascent of which Dr. 
 Wolf next attempted. Eapids, however, again barred the 
 way at no great distance above its mouth, and the expedi- 
 tion had to turn back and regain the Sankoro. The re- 
 mainder of the descent was entirely uneventful, and the 
 whole excursion may be regarded as most fortunate. The
 
 RESULTS OF THE EXPLORATION. 95 
 
 exploration had resulted in the discovery of some 400 
 miles of inland navigation, extending through a rich and 
 fertile country, in which, wherever the banks were wooded, 
 there was abundant evidence of the existence of elephants, 
 and where the natives consequently were possessed of no 
 small store of ivory. But the most important result was 
 the demonstration that the united waters of the Lomami 
 and Sankoro discharge themselves into the Congo, together 
 with those of the Kasai and Kwango, at Kwamouth, and 
 not independently either by the Lubiranzi or Buruki, 
 as had been supposed. How far the success of this ex- 
 pedition was due to Dr. Wolf's prudence and indomitable 
 perseverance, or to mere good fortune, those who have 
 served on exploring expeditions in Africa can best deter- 
 mine. The results of so much courage, toil, and anxiety 
 read lightly as the record of a pleasant summer trip, 
 but those who have taken part in the living reality can 
 feel how easily the expedition might have ended other- 
 wise. Many, if not all, the circumstances attending it 
 would — me judice — with almost any other man in com- 
 mand, have led to failure : Avith Dr. Wolf they formed the 
 basis of success. 
 
 The return of the En Avant was attended by an amusing 
 incident at Luebo, which, as it is a tale that points a moral, 
 may be worth recounting. For the same reason, and since 
 it illustrates the same maxim, a legend that has long 
 been current in my own foniily shall also be narrated. 
 And the moral of both is this : never attempt a pleasant 
 surprise unless you are quite sure that the sur})rise to 
 your friends may not merely fail of its pleasant character,
 
 96 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 but may eventually prove an unpleasant surprise to your- 
 self. Many years ago, when the Church of the United 
 Brethren was a flourishing, though always small religious 
 community in England, a certain worthy single sister was 
 sent thither by the authorities at Herrnhut. The voyage 
 from Hamburg across the North Sea was in those days a 
 long and very tedious affair of perfectly uncertain duration, 
 and the good sister had on this occasion ample time for 
 reflection in the complete solitude in wdiich she found her- 
 self on board a sailing vessel manned by Englishmen, of 
 whose language she was as ignorant as they were of hers. 
 It naturally occurred to her that the present was a good 
 opportunity of acquiring a little preliminary knowledge of 
 English, with the view of astonishing her friends in London 
 by her rapid acquisition of the national language. Accord- 
 ingly she observed the crew, listening attentively to their 
 mode of salutation, and practising those words that seemed 
 to be delivered as well with the most cordial good-will as 
 with the greatest force of expression. When at length the 
 vessel, ascending the Thames, moored off the Custom House 
 stairs, and the local brethren came on board to welcome her, 
 the sister's grand opportunity to display her learning and 
 surprise her friends arrived. To their kindly words of 
 greeting and of inquiry the amazing response was given — 
 " Goot morning, tamm your ice ! " Horrified at such a 
 salute from one so pious, and by other yet more repre- 
 hensible phraseology that followed, the worthy people hastily 
 requested her to speak only in German for the present, and 
 wondered much among themselves why Providence had sent 
 them such a swearing sister. Very similar was the success
 
 AN AGREEABLE SURPRISE. 97 
 
 attending the greeting with which the Sankoro expedition 
 designed to surprise us on their return. It was long after 
 nightfall, and I was sitting in the dining-room on the Point 
 writing, according to my usual custom, when, suddenly- 
 through the stillness of the night, above the booming of 
 the rapids, I heard the scream of a shell followed by the 
 report of a gun, and then a crash. Almost immediately 
 the bugler sounded to arms, and before I had time to 
 stay the alarm, every one was rushing here and there in 
 frightened preparation to resist some invisible foe. Just 
 for a moment I myself had wondered who it might possibly 
 be that was shelling us, but, of course, I instantly thought 
 of the En Avant, and rejoiced that she had returned. I 
 soon had my people reassured, and beyond the fright that 
 it caused a Zanzibari who chanced to be below the cotton- 
 wood tree into which the shell crashed, this pleasant sur- 
 prise caused no damage to any one ; but its result might 
 have been very different. When, next morning, the vessel 
 came up to the station landing-place, about 7 a.m., we 
 learned that on the last day of her voyage, having a rather 
 longer distance to overtake than could be accomplished in 
 daylight, the En Avant held on through the darkness until 
 obliged to stop for a supply of wood. They knew that they 
 were not far from the station, but being unaware of their 
 exact position, they deemed themselves at a sufficiently safe 
 distance to permit their surprising us in the charming (?) 
 manner in which they had announced their proximity. We 
 found the En Avant laden with curiosities of all kinds : a 
 perfect museum of the countries through which she had 
 passed. Amongst the collection were some singular shields,
 
 98 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 made of bamboo pith, backed with cowhide, and grotesquely 
 coloured red and white with clay; a number of really beautiful 
 battle-axes inlaid with copper ; drinking-cups of wood richly 
 carved, and of quaint design ; and native cloth finely woven 
 in patterns so rich and admirably varied that no one could 
 believe it the work of an uncivilised race, Mr. Vander 
 Felson, too, had largely compensated himself for the loss of 
 his valued parrot on the Congo by acquiring a numerous 
 assortment of that species : amongst them a king parrot, 
 gorgeous in his lovely scarlet plumage.
 
 CHITABO ON MIAW. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Dr. Wolf attempts to ascend the Kasai — The En Arant disabled — A perilous project — 
 The Peace arrives with Lieut. Wissmann on board, and departs towing the En Avant 
 down to Leopold ville — Vander Felson's farewell — Wissmann and Wolf go to Lulua- 
 burg, and thereafter explore the Kasai up to its first falls — The Stanley arrives at 
 Luebo^ Ad venture of the Baron de Schwerin — Results of Messrs. Wissmann and 
 Wolf's excursion to the Kasai — Our journey to Luluaburg — The neighbouring natives 
 — Incidents of the march — Accident at the Miaw — Luluaburg — Congolemosch — 
 Kashia-Calemba and the king — Lubuku and Ihiamba-smoking. 
 
 Dr. Wolf, who had returned on the 7th of April 1886, did 
 not allow himself any long period of repose. The few days 
 he spent at Luebo were all busily employed in storing and 
 arranging the trophies of discovery, and in making ready the 
 En Avant for her next voyage. This, it was settled, should 
 be on the Upper Kasai, above the junction of the Lulua with
 
 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 that river. Accordingly, as soon as ever arrangements could 
 be made, the En Avant, with Dr. Wolf and the same officers 
 and crew on board, unmoored from Luebo and dropped down 
 the stream, bound once more for waters new and unexplored. 
 Gaining the confluence of the rivers, and camping there that 
 night, the expedition began next morning to ascend the 
 Kasai. They had not, however, gone far before one of the 
 paddles struck against a snag, and so injured itself, and also 
 the engine, that the latter becoming useless, and the pump 
 refusing to work, the En Avant floated a helpless log upon 
 the river. Drifting with the stream back again to the mouth 
 of the Lulua, the vessel anchored, and Dr. Wolf immedi- 
 ately ordered the whaleboat to be manned, and provisioned 
 for the ascent of the Kasai, a feat which he intended thus 
 to undertake, leaving Messrs. Schneider and Vander Felson 
 on board the steamer, with orders to obtain certain stores, 
 and reinforcements from me, and thereafter to attempt to 
 navigate the En Avant down-stream, first to Kwamouth, 
 and thence to Leopoldville for repairs. Providentially the 
 courage and energy of Dr. Wolf and his subordinates were 
 not to be subjected to so severe a test, nor were they so far 
 to tempt misfortune. Just as the whaleboat was pushing 
 off, the Baptist missionary steamer Peace, with Lieut. Wiss- 
 mann, the Baron von Nimptsch, Meinheer Greshoff, and the 
 Rev. George and Mrs. Grenfell on board, came in sight. 
 This meeting was as fortunate as it was unexpected, for 
 while it delivered the people of the En Avant from their 
 trying situation, it secured for one of the company on board 
 the Peace that skilful surgical treatment of which he stood 
 in need. Herr von Nimptsch had somehow come by an ugly
 
 VANDER FELSON'S FAREWELL. 
 
 wound on his hand, which would probably have rendered 
 amputation necessary had it remained much longer un- 
 dressed. Taking Dr. Wolf on board, and the whaleboat 
 in tow, the Peace came on to Luebo ; the -E'^i Avant being 
 left at the confluence, to be taken down-stream when the 
 party should return. Thus I was agreeably surprised by 
 the arrival of our visitors, though I naturally regretted 
 that disaster should so soon have overtaken the Kasai ex- 
 ploration. 
 
 We took our guests up the Luebo, as far as the navi- 
 gation permitted, to see the Falls, the only " lion " of the 
 station, except the plantations at Kassenge, which we also 
 visited. I wonder much whether we really made a more 
 practical use of some of our time in selecting a site for 
 a mission station, in the hope that some day the Baptist 
 Missionary Society might be able to occupy it. 
 
 After a sojourn of three days, the Peace left us on her 
 return down the Lulua, taking with her the personal efi'ects 
 of Messrs. Schneider and Vander Felson, who had remained 
 on board the En Avant at the confluence, and were to go 
 on thence to Leopoldville without returning to Luebo. I 
 sent down by the steamer Mr. Yander Felson's collec- 
 tion of parrots, about which he had written to me. He 
 had kindly said in concluding his note, and with reference 
 to the period which must inevitably elapse before we should 
 see anything of each other again, that he hoped we should 
 "meet on the other side of the water." Poor fellow! he 
 little thought to what water his words would apply. He 
 died at Banana when actually on board the homeward-bound 
 steamer.
 
 UXDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 The Peace took away all the party she had brought 
 except Lieut. Wissmann, who had come back from Madeh'a 
 recruited in health, and prepared for further exploration. 
 His first work at Luebo was to go through the stores in our 
 magazine, with the view of ascertaining how far they might 
 be available in supplying an expeditionary force to cross the 
 continent to Zanzibar, which should examine en route into 
 the existence of the reputed Lake Muatanzige. Finding 
 that we had at best nothing to spare wherewith to furnish 
 forth an expedition — for the Sankoro exploration had, as a 
 matter of necessity, lessened our store — Lieut. Wissmann, 
 leaving his heavier luggage at Luebo, "went on to Luluaburg 
 in company -with Dr. Wolf. Thence he passed rapidly to 
 Muansangoma, ordering a good supply of cloth and cowries 
 from Senhor Saturnino, which he divided between the t^vo 
 stations of Luebo and Luluaburg. From Muansangoma he 
 came on direct to Luebo, where Dr. Wolf rejoined him, and 
 they determined to accomplish together that which the latter 
 had essayed in exploring the Tapper Kasai. For that purpose 
 the whaleboat was refitted ; a new and improved awning 
 being introduced, and other improvements efi'ected which ren- 
 dered it more suitable for the accommodation of an explor- 
 ing party. They took with them eight rowers and a serving 
 boy, together with a small quantity of provisions and all 
 requisites for making observations. 
 
 Only a day or two after the departure of this small party 
 the merchandise ordered from Senhor Saturnino reached us. 
 It was convoyed by Senhor Carvalho in person, who continued 
 thenceforward to reside chiefly in the immediate vicinity of 
 the station — at least so long as I remained there — for the
 
 THE BARON DE SCHWERIN. 103 
 
 purpose of building canoes, and thereby pushing his trade 
 interests amongst the riparian tribes. 
 
 In the course of the week following, the Stanley, under 
 command of Lieut. Andersson, arrived at Luebo, having on 
 board Captain the Baron de Macar and Lieut. Le Marinel, 
 both officers of the Carabineers, who were sent for the 
 purpose of taking over on behalf of the State the station 
 of Luluaburg, which had been heretofore the property of 
 Lieut. Wissmann's expedition. There was also on board 
 the Stanley the Baron de Schwerin, envoy of the Swedish 
 Government, who was travelling through the Congo State, 
 with the approbation of the Governor, for purposes of scien- 
 tific observation. This nobleman encountered an adventure 
 on the evening of the same day on which he arrived at 
 Luebo that might have had a very unfortunate termination. 
 Having been more than fully engaged during the greater 
 part of that day, I had no opportunity of looking after our 
 guests, but on our assembling at 6 p.m. in the dining 
 pavilion, and missing the Baron from the company, I re- 
 membered having seen him a little before five o'clock, and 
 having answered a question he had addressed to me as to 
 the distance of the Luebo Falls. As, after waiting for some 
 time, we were obliged to dine without him, we began to 
 fear that he had gone thither, and returning too late, had 
 lost his way, and might be wandering helplessly in the 
 jungle. Accordingly, after dinner, we sent out a search 
 party accompanied by a bugler, but they returned about 10 
 P.M., their search having proved entirely fruitless. At this 
 juncture Senhor Carvalho volunteered his services, and set 
 out with a fresh party. Their efforts were happily success-
 
 104 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 ful. They were so fortunate as to come upon the Baron, 
 who having lost his way, and calmly despairing of recovering 
 it in the darkness, was, with a curious indifference to, or 
 ignorance of, the frightful dangers surrounding him, actually 
 preparing to pass the night in a kind of cubicle that he 
 had made for himself with leaves and branches. When 
 brought into the station, M. de Schwerin was drenched 
 with the heavy rain that had fallen after sunset, and 
 shivering with incipient fever ; but timely remedies being- 
 administered, no serious consequences supervened, and he 
 was able to continue his observations without any material 
 interruption. 
 
 The Stanley had spoken the Peace with the En Avant 
 in tow near the Nzali Mpini, but had seen nothing of Lieut. 
 Wissmann's party at the confluence of the Kasai and Lulua, 
 which was precisely what we had expected. Before our visitors 
 left us, however, we were surprised by the return of the expedi- 
 tion. It appeared that the Kasai was navigable for only about 
 forty miles above the embouchure of the Lulua — a much 
 less distance than had been anticipated. The cataracts 
 which interrupted its navigation were, in the lower fall, about 
 twenty-three feet in height, the upper fall having a less eleva- 
 tion. From their position it may be reasonably inferred that 
 the bar of rock here crossing the bed of the Kasai is identical 
 with that which interi'upts the Lulua above its junction 
 with the Luebo, causing, however, in the latter case, a multi- 
 tude of rapids rather than one or two well-defined cataracts. 
 The expedition made no minor discoveries of a noteworthy 
 character, and its main result — the discovery of the falls, 
 which Lieut. AMssmann named after himself — made it plain
 
 WE LEAVE FOR LULU ABU RG. 105 
 
 that any further exploration of the Kasai must be undertaken 
 from the shore or in boats carried a greater or less distance 
 overland. In the course of two or three days the Stanley 
 discharged her cargo of stores — an ample supply — and having 
 taken on board Dr. Wolf, with his scientific collections, and 
 re-embarked M. de Schwerin, she left us on her return voyage 
 to Leopoldville. 
 
 We had now in prospect a journey of about 120 miles 
 to Luluaburg, from which station saddle-oxen for the party 
 had been sent, and had arrived at Luebo some ten days 
 after the departure of the Stanley. It was arranged that 
 during my absence Senhor Carvalho should be in charge of 
 the station, and all other preparations having been com- 
 pleted by the 8th of June, Lieut. Wissmann, Mons. de Macar, 
 Mons. Le Marinel, and myself, accompanied by a sufficient 
 escort, began our march on the forenoon of that day. Taking 
 the native road through the dense jungle, we followed its 
 winding and uneven course, until, some fourteen miles 
 from Luebo, we came out into open and grassy country, 
 through which we held on for about eight miles farther, 
 where we arrived at the Chiplumba village of Beni-Kashia, 
 situated on the verge of a rapid descent into the forests over- 
 hanging the Luebo, to which river it is somewhat nearer 
 than to the Lulua. It is rather a poor place, being exposed 
 to the interference of Shammatuka and Bakete neighbours, 
 but the chief, Chikabo, met us with seeming courtesy, and 
 made the usual presents. On leaving camp next morning, 
 June 9th, we skirted along the edge of a great landslip, 
 where the ground had gone down a depth of perhaps 300 
 feet towards the Luebo, the drainage area of wliicli river
 
 io6 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 we here left, crossing the deep-wooded valleys of two small 
 streams flowing independently towards the Lulua. Passing 
 over the north-eastern slopes of a range of low hills, running 
 N.N.E. and S.S.W., we came into the basin of the Musisi, 
 high-lying grass-land through which the river has been for 
 ages deepening its way to the Lulua, so that it now flows at 
 the bottom of a densely wooded ravine, presenting, at the 
 point at which we crossed it, a steep descent of upwards of 
 700 feet on either side. The Musisi itself we found to be wide 
 though rapid and very shallow, much discoloured by the 
 presence of some kind of yellow earth, and easily fordable. 
 Having crossed and gained the level of the rolling grass-land 
 once more, we camped near the site of a deserted village, 
 where the ruined half-uprooted plantations made the wilder- 
 ness look doubly desolate. Leaving camp early on the loth, 
 and proceeding for some five miles through a grassy country, 
 we came to one of the tributaries of the Musisi, running 
 towards the S.W. through a similarly deep and densely 
 wooded glen. The stream itself, known as the Luisi, cover- 
 ing a narrow bed of rock, is rapid, deep in places, and 
 dark-looking. This crossed, we came at mid-day to Beni 
 Muamba, a fair-sized village, or rather collection of villages, 
 situated amid the grassy plain, where we noticed for the first 
 time in our journey the ensign of the Lubuku brotherhood 
 — a worn-out kinshu (hollow gourd for smoking Ihiamba) 
 raised on a long pole. The chief received us in the cus- 
 tomary manner, and we rested there for luncheon. Proceed- 
 ing on our way, we came late to the site of another deserted 
 town, about twenty miles from our last camping-ground. 
 Here we halted for the night, and thence made an early start
 
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 ^^MIAW/" 107 
 
 on the morning of the iith; but having been unable, of 
 course (owing to the fact that we were in an uninhabited 
 district), to obtain sufficient provisions for our men, we 
 could continue our journey no farther than to Chinyama, 
 where we encamped. As I shall fully describe the country 
 through which we passed on the nth and following day 
 in giving the details of my return journey, I need only 
 here remark, that before nightfall on the 12th we reached 
 the post on the Miaw river known as Chitabo, which Herr 
 Bugslag, the chief of the station at Luluaburg, had estab- 
 lished for the convenience of travellers passing between 
 that station and Luebo : a nice little house just above 
 high-water level at the river's edge. The descent to this 
 stream from the uplands, unlike that of every other consider- 
 able river we had crossed in our journey from Luebo, Avas 
 very gradual and destitute of wood. The road took us 
 through the village, where the chief, Muanamput, having 
 been guilty of some very serious misconduct, received a 
 severe personal correction from Lieut. Wissmann. 
 
 The grotesquely ugly name of this place (Miaw) had led 
 me into an amusing mistake some months previously. Having 
 despatched a messenger to Luluaburg, I required from him 
 on his return a circumstantial account of his journey. On 
 asking him where he had slept on the first night after leaving 
 Luluaburg he replied, " Miaw." Thinking that my ears had 
 deceived me, I repeated my question, and received again 
 the same reply, only with more emphasis, " Miaw ! " Being 
 now convinced that the man was intending to display his 
 independence by insolently mimicking a cat or some other 
 animal instead of replying to my question, I smartly rebuked
 
 io8 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 him, when, the interpreter happily intervening, the matter 
 was explained. 
 
 Of course we encamped for the night at the little house 
 by the river, and were ferried across early next morning. 
 Just below the crossing-place there are some rapids, so 
 diversified and broken with rocks as to present a pleasing 
 bit of water-scenery. The Miaw, in common with all the 
 rivers we had passed, falls into the Lulua, to which it 
 contributes a stream of clear, almost perfectly colourless 
 water. When we crossed in the morning, we found that 
 Gomez, the assistant-interpreter at Luluaburg, had arrived 
 thence the preceding evening with two saddle-oxen for 
 our use, in case those that Lieut. Wissmann and I had 
 ridden should be over-fatigued. Not being informed of his 
 peculiarities, when I came to mount the bullock assigned 
 me, I went through a performance more amusing to the 
 onlookers than to myself. No sooner did I attempt to seat 
 myself on the saddle, than down the brute settled himself 
 on his knees, and as he seemed to mean rolling, I thought 
 it best to make him rise before again trying to mount. 
 This was not so easily to be done : it was only after long 
 and violent efforts on the part of the bullock-man that 
 we succeeded in getting him up. Just as he was rising 
 I sprang upon his back, and making a vigorous use of spurs 
 and whip, contrived to get him properly in hand, after which 
 he gave us no further trouble. Subsequently I was told that 
 the creature had been trained by his former master to this 
 conduct, and had I only placed myself on the saddle at 
 first when he subsided, he would not have rolled, as I had 
 anticipated, but would have risen with me on his back.
 
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 LULUABURG. 109 
 
 The road still lay through a grassy country gradually rising 
 from the river, from which we had not gone far when a 
 beautiful harness-back antelope bounded across our path, 
 with such speed, that although we were on the look-out 
 for game, which is abundant near these rivers, and fired 
 after it, the creature escaped scatheless. Our party, quite 
 an imposing cavalcade for this part of the country, was 
 an object of wonder and admiration to the inhabitants 
 of the several small villages through which we passed. 
 They had been apprised of our coming, and turned out 
 to salute us with the usual clapping of hands and cries 
 of Avelcome, so that we drew to the end of our journey in 
 a species of triumph. Soon after mid-day we came to a 
 small stream called the Pioko, in crossing which Lieut. 
 Wissmann had the misfortune to injure his thumb severely 
 with a snap-hook attached to the rein of the bullock which 
 he was riding : one cannot be too careful, in riding these 
 animals, to provide against every possibility of hurt and 
 accident. From this stream we gradually ascended to 
 Luluaburg, seated on the summit of its grass-covered hill, 
 approaching it through a newly planted avenue of man- 
 ganga trees, and arrived at our destination, where we 
 were received by Herr Bugslag about 2 p m. on the 13th 
 of June. 
 
 Luluaburg crowns the summit of an isolated hill some 
 400 feet above the Lulua, from which it is distant about 
 a mile. It is fully entrenched and fortified, and besides 
 three dwelling-houses for Europeans, contains two barracks 
 for coloured soldiers and employes, an interpreter's house, 
 and the usual oflSces of kitchen, &c., and two stores. There
 
 no UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 is also a house for the women employed about, the station, 
 as well as goat, pig, and cattle yards. The plantations 
 cover a large portion of the sloping ground between the 
 station and the river : the beautiful prospect from the din- 
 ing-room, which looks in this direction — nearly due east — 
 being greatly enhanced by the variety which these culti- 
 vated enclosures impart to the fore and middle ground. 
 All the hilly country visible from Luluaburg is almost bare 
 of trees, being wooded only in the lowest valleys, and 
 presents to the eye nothing but a sea of rounded hill- 
 tops unbroken by cliffs, crag, or forest. Large herds of 
 cattle, sheep, and goats graze through these downs, those 
 belonging to the station being numerous, and sufficient 
 for its meat supply. When I visited the plantations, they 
 were in admirable order, and are, I am told, a source of 
 profit as well as a great convenience. It was at that time 
 expected that the yield of grain would shortly make the 
 station quite independent of imported supplies of that 
 nature. The climate of Luluaburg is indubitably much more 
 salubrious than that of Luebo : the entire absence of forest 
 and swampy land for many miles around, the great altitude 
 and perfect drainage of the station, and the good water, 
 all unite to make it, for the latitude, an exceptionally healthy 
 place. 
 
 The native population in the immediate vicinity of Lulua- 
 burg is very considerable, as compared at least with the 
 neighbourhood of Luebo and districts farther down the rivers. 
 Kashia-Calemba, the capital of the Bashilange-Baluba, is 
 only about 5^ miles distant from the station, and there are 
 other large villages equally near ; but our first visit, after
 
 CONGOLEMOSCH. 
 
 a day or two's rest, was paid to a chief on the other side 
 of the Lulua — Congolemosch by name. As our business 
 was to receive, or more correctly to enforce, his submission 
 and homage, we took with us a considerable body of men. 
 This chief, a cousin of Calemba's, had, during the latter's 
 absence down the Congo with Lieut. Wissmann's expedition, 
 conceived the idea of making himself independent of his 
 sovereign, and to this end was embracing every occasion 
 of resisting his authority and of raising disputes. Doubt- 
 less he had been irritated by arbitrary conduct on the 
 part of Calemba's representatives, and had withal some 
 solid arguments to urge in his own behalf, but the course 
 which sound policy dictated to us was nevertheless extremely 
 simple. Calemba's authority must be upheld by us in union 
 with our own, which Congolemosch had also defied. Accord- 
 ingly, on the 15th of June, when we arrived at his village 
 peacefully enough, though accompanied by some 200 armed 
 followers, we came to ascertain from him explicitly whether 
 he would or would not return to his allegiance. Seeing 
 our numbers and arms, he received us with all becoming 
 respect and seeming cordiality, quickly deciding which 
 course he would pursue as to his submission. We had a 
 long but not unpleasant palaver, although the act of homage 
 which ensued, however curious to witness, was anything but 
 gratifying to one's feelings : to me, at least, it is painful to , 
 see a human being grovelling in so abject a manner. After 
 protesting his entire devotion and absolute service, poor 
 Congolemosch retired to a distance of some five or six yards 
 from us, and throwing himself down on his face, rolled 
 himself towards Lieut. Wissmann's feet. There he licked
 
 112 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 the ground with his tongue, and covering his extended 
 hands with dust, raised them in a suppliant manner towards 
 Lieut. Wissmann, who, at this point, lifted him up, and the 
 ceremony came to an end. The tribute for which we had 
 stipulated was afterwards duly paid. 
 
 On the morrow we all went to Kashia-Calemba to make 
 our visit of ceremony. Less than an hour's ride along the well- 
 made and perfectly kept road, of an uniform width of forty 
 feet, brought us to our destination, where we were received 
 in the central square of the town by Calemba in person, his 
 sister, Meta Sankolla (a woman of great intellectual power 
 and force of character), and the principal men. The town 
 may contain a population of about 2500 souls, and is built 
 with some attempt at regularity, though in every way, except 
 in point of size, inferior to the Bakete and Basongo-Meno 
 towns that I had seen. It is unfortified and unenclosed, 
 standing on the verge of a grassy plain at the summit of 
 an ascent similar to that which leads to Luluaburg. The 
 plantations belonging to the town, from which they are dis- 
 tant about half a mile, are situated on the road by which we 
 had come. The central square is remarkable, as being the 
 place in which burns the perpetual fire, that, together with 
 the custom of Ihiamba or hemp-smoking, has been intro- 
 duced among the Bashilange-Baluba by the Matchioko as a 
 species of religion under the name of "Lubuku," i.e., friend- 
 ship. The sacred fire is constantly fed with logs by the 
 older men and women, who, more or less decrepit, are unable 
 to work much for their living, and being supported by the 
 community at large as a sort of college, occupy the houses 
 assigned them in the square. Besides maintaining the per-
 
 LHIAMBA-SMOKING. 
 
 113 
 
 petual fire, these old people have to cultivate and prepare the 
 Ihiamba for smoking: the Cannahis Iiidica, known in Zan- 
 zibar as bhangi or bhang. Apart from such use as may be 
 made of it privately, Ihiamba is smoked ceremonially as a 
 token of friendship, and is also administered to accused 
 persons as a species of 
 ordeal. Its public or 
 ceremonial smoking is 
 begun by the chief or 
 senior man present plac- 
 ing the prepared weed in 
 the " kinsu dhiamba " 
 (i.e., Ihiamba pipe), and, 
 after smoking a while 
 himself, passing it on to 
 the man next to him. 
 This pipe consists of a 
 small clay bowl, to con- 
 tain the burninglhiamba, 
 inserted in the larger end 
 of a hollow gourd, the 
 smaller end of which has 
 a large aperture, against 
 which the smoker places 
 
 his mouth and inhales the smoke in great gulps. In many 
 a native town night is made horrible by this hateful practice. 
 Crouching around the glowing fire amid the fitful darkness 
 of a cloudy night, the dusky brethren of Lubuku pass round 
 the intoxicating pipe. Meantime the tom-toms beat their 
 one eternal accompaniment to the wild song in which the 
 
 \}\K^ 
 
 LHIAMBA (Cannabin Indica).
 
 IT4 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 smokers join at will, sometimes making rude harmony, and 
 sometimes drowning, by discordant cries, the melody sus- 
 tained by the less frenzied revellers. Each smokes in turn, 
 and then is shaken, and almost suffocated, by the scream- 
 ing and unnatural cough that invariably succeeds. As 
 the baneful poison acts upon the brain, a sudden frenzy 
 falls upon the smoker, who, leaping up, pours forth with 
 frantic gestures and loud cries a perfect torrent of incoherent 
 speech. And so, the pipe going round the circle, some are 
 sinking into quietude, while others smoke again or sing, 
 and others rave in madness and delirium, or screech, and 
 choke, and cough in hideous chorus until the poison and 
 exhaustion gain the victory, and, one by one, the revellers 
 sink into a drunken slumber which brings no real refresh- 
 ment to the sleeper.* As an ordeal, the Ihiamba is supplied, 
 after some preliminary ceremonies performed, both to accuser 
 and accused in separate kinsus. They smoke simultaneously, 
 and he who is the first to succumb to the power of the 
 Ihiamba is declared to be guilty either of the fault or of 
 false witness. So far as the general subject of Lubuku is 
 concerned, I will only now remark — since I intend treating 
 the matter elsewhere — that the Bashilange-Baluba are in 
 reality without a religion. Some years ago, Calemba — who 
 would amongst any people be a remarkable, and, indeed, in 
 many respects a magnificent man — abolished Fetishism ; t — 
 
 * See Appendix H. 
 
 t Nevertheless throughout the Bashilange country a curiously shaped obscene little 
 idol, either female or fashioned like a priapus, and for the same reasons that the ancients 
 placed that image in their fields and gardens, is still to be found at all cross-roads. It is 
 genei-ally about a foot in heiglit, and stands on a roimd pedestal raised upon a pole a 
 yard from the ground. In front a flat stone supports a basket, into which passing market- 
 people, and all who have concluded a bargain, make a point of dropping grain or other
 
 LUBUKU. 115 
 
 into its place Lubukii has crept.* Like all other African 
 tribes with which I am acquainted, the Bashilange believe 
 in a future state, and possibly in the existence of One 
 Supreme spiritual Being, but have otherwise few if any 
 theological theories. They believe in witchcraft, necromancy, 
 magic : with none of these beliefs does Lubuku interfere. 
 Its initiatory rites are a profound and unfathomable mystery, 
 and whether to describe Lubuku as a secret brotherhood, a 
 religion, or a society for the propagation of licentiousness, 
 I am uncertain. So far as the smoking of Ihiamba itself is 
 concerned, there can be no reasonable doubt but that the 
 Matchioko introduced it primarily for purposes of fraud, since 
 persons under the influence of that poisonous narcotic are tem- 
 porarily insane, and therefore at the mercy of the first cruel 
 and crafty trader that may come across them. But to return 
 to our interview with Calemba. After preliminary greetings 
 were over, and we had partaken of the luncheon we had 
 brought with us, Lieut. Wissmann presented the various gifts 
 that he had procured for the king, some of which were ex- 
 tremely handsome, and highly gratified the recipient. Having 
 reported Congolemosch's submission, Lieut. Wissmann pro- 
 ceeded to open the all-important subject of his expedition 
 across to the East Coast, and invited Calemba's assistance. 
 The king replied that he could do nothing without the co- 
 operation of his chiefs, nor could he himself leave or allow 
 any considerable body of his people to leave home while 
 
 food, which any starving or destitute person is at liberty to eat ; but no prayer or supph'ca- 
 tion whatever is offered before these fetishes, so far as I know. Would that in countries 
 where, in like places, the Calvary stretches wide its " salutary arms to bless the waste " 
 a similar truly charitable custom might obtain ! 
 * See Appendix J.
 
 ii6 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 the country was in an unsettled state, and especially while 
 another powerful chief, Chilunga Meso, nominally his vassal, 
 was in a state of hostility towards him. To this Lieut. 
 AVissmann replied, that having anticipated this difficulty, 
 he had sent for Chilunga Meso, and had arranged that he 
 should be at Luluaburg on the following day : he begged 
 that Calemba would meet him there. This the king dis- 
 creetly refused to do, saying that he had nothing to propose 
 to Chilunga Meso, though the latter had, or ought to have, 
 something to propose to him ; but he said that if Chilunga 
 Meso liked to come to him after the palaver, he would be 
 glad to see him, and to confer with him. He, moreover, 
 promised to send his son to Luluaburg to meet Chilunga 
 Meso and to conduct him thence to Kashia-Calemba. This 
 brought our business to an end, and having inspected the 
 house occupied some years previously by Dr. Pogg^ and 
 Lieut. Wissmann, we took leave of Calemba and returned 
 to Luluaburg.
 
 Air
 
 BENI-NDUilBA. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Chilunga Meso and his visions — The burning brandy — Senhor Caxavalla — His friendsiiifj 
 with Chilunga Meso — Kasongo and the embassy from Ulungu — My return to Luebo 
 — General description of the route — Duniba — Landslip — Beni-Muamba — Midnight 
 alarm and Liiiio's bravery — Silence in the sunshine — Night in the forest — Awkward 
 situation at Beni-Kashia — Arrival at Luebo. 
 
 Next day Chilunga Meso arrived. This most extraordinary 
 man had obtained amongst his countrymen a reputation of a 
 very peculiar nature. As a politician he was nothing. His 
 entire want of interest in any terrestrial subject whatever 
 makes it simply unaccountable that he should have troubled 
 himself as to differences with Calemba : ])robably his cir- 
 cumstances were more potent to influence his conduct than 
 were his inclinations. By fortune he was a powerful chief,
 
 ii8 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 by nature a prophet and a visionary. I made it my business 
 to inquire most particularly into his sayings and doings, and 
 I discovered that if he imposed upon others, he certainly 
 imposed upon himself, and that whatever else he might be, 
 he was scarcely what we understand by the term " clair- 
 voyant." He was dreaded by the natives, partly because of 
 his frequent violent fits and his extraordinary trances, but 
 chiefly in consequence of his predictions, which, if the 
 natives' testimony be good for anything, have all, or nearly 
 all, been fulfilled, and in consequence also of his visions 
 of, and communings with the departed. I can account 
 upon physical grounds for his fits, his trances, and his 
 visions, but to assign a cause for his accurate prediction 
 of the future transcends my skill. Local occurrences, such 
 as petty wars, epidemics, deaths, have been, it is said, fore- 
 told by him : in my own experience he predicted two most 
 unlikely events, and his predictions were strictly verified : 
 let those define the sources of his knowledge who know 
 them ; I do not. This strange chief was accompanied to 
 Luluaburg by a dozen of his more presentable wives, and 
 about 150 followers, fully armed. He brought with him a 
 handsome present, and was no doubt prepared to make 
 himself most agreeable : unhappily for such intentions, he 
 was, if any man ever was, possessed of a devil. We received 
 him in the dining pavilion, and he came in wearing an old 
 shako, a Coldstream Guard's tunic, and a loin-cloth of native 
 manufacture, his legs being entirely bare. As he was im- 
 mensely tall (some 6 feet 5 inches), and much emaciated, 
 his appearance would have been indescribably ludicrous had 
 it not been for the expression of his face and wild steel-grey
 
 CHILUNGA M ESQ'S FRENZY. 119 
 
 eyes.'"' After the customary greetings he seated himself, and 
 began to converse, when a sudden rigor seemed to seize 
 and stiffen his frame. He threw his arms wildly round, and 
 continued to utter yelp after yelp — it is difficult to de- 
 scribe the cry. His spasms and outcries died away only to 
 burst out with renewed frenzy, and he ended by foaming 
 at the mouth in a fearful and disgusting manner. Three 
 of his wives promptly held him down, or it is impossible 
 to say what might have happened. In about ten minutes 
 he recovered, and then astonished us all by talking most 
 sensibly, showing himself a shrewd enough man, wise, and 
 amenable to reason. After some argument and considerable 
 persuasion, he undertook to submit to Calemba, and to make 
 amends for any injuries that he had done or could be held 
 to have done to the royal prerogative, but he took occasion 
 at the same time to protest that he made these concessions 
 solely on Lieut. Wissmann's account, and for peace' sake. 
 For he maintained that although his relations with the world 
 unseen unfitted him in great measure for wielding the regal 
 ])ower, yet, inasmuch as he was the recognised head of the 
 ancient reigning dynasty of the Bashilange, he had a better 
 right to the throne than had Calemba, whose family was 
 comparatively parvenu. The palaver concluded with the 
 presentation of some handsome gifts to Chilunga Meso, who 
 appeared altogether much pleased with his reception. As he 
 had yielded to Calemba's request for an interview at Kashia- 
 Calemba, he left us immediately for that place in company 
 with the king's representative. 
 
 * Amongst the Bashilange I have several times seen people with steel-grey eyes, whicli 
 are, 1 believe, unknown in other African races.
 
 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 I was greatly diverted by an incident occurring during 
 these proceedings, which brought out more than one trait 
 of the eccentric chief's character. Lieut. Wissmann, in 
 order to astonish Chilunga Meso and his suite, filled a 
 small glass with cognac, lighted it, and allowing it to blaze 
 for a minute, blew out the flame and drank off the brandy. 
 He then poured out a glass for his visitor, and having 
 lighted it, handed it to him while burning. Fear, wonder, 
 and curiosity were depicted on the faces of wives and atten- 
 dants as they watched Chilunga Meso, who, seeing at once 
 that he might venture to do what Lieut. Wissmann had 
 already done, promptly extinguished the flame and drained 
 the glass. Then looking round with an air of vast supe- 
 riority, the chief thus addressed his people : — " Now, you 
 see, I and the white chief are brothers ; what he drinks I 
 drink — we are one. But you — should any of you dare to 
 touch this fetish drink, it will instantly destroy you, and 
 I warn you, dream not of copying my courage. You well 
 know that I am told your very thoughts, and should you 
 even think of doing this — well, I will be much more than 
 the death of any one of you." 
 
 The head-interpreter of Lieut. Wissmann's expedition, 
 Senhor Manoel Caxavalla Silva da Costa, an Angolese gentle- 
 man of Dondo, whose acquaintance I had the pleasure to 
 make during my visit to Luluaburg, had had some amusing, 
 and indeed extraordinary, experiences with Chilunga Meso, 
 which he was so good as to detail to me. I use the word 
 " gentleman " advisedly in speaking of this estimable man, for 
 such he was, and as such he was thoroughly respected by all 
 who knew him, alike for his intelligence, his solid education.
 
 SENHOR CAXAVALLA. 121 
 
 and vast knowledge of African languages, as well as for 
 his sound sense, kindly humour, benevolence, and courtesy. 
 When one thinks of the enormous influence lying in an 
 interpreter's hands, the momentous issues which may hang 
 upon the slightest turn given by him to a few brief sentences, 
 the happiness, the welfare, the lives hourly affected by his 
 skill and judgment, some estimate of the responsibilities of 
 his office may be formed. It is high praise, therefore, to say 
 that it would be impossible to imagine a man better fitted 
 for the position than Senhor Caxavalla. From what he told 
 me it appeared that Chilunga Meso had recognised in him — 
 the man of many tongues — a spirit of divination kindred to 
 his own, and he was accordingly instant in his requests that 
 the interpreter would attend his seances, and assist at explain- 
 ing his trance revelations and other communications from 
 the spirits of departed friends. When their novelty had worn 
 ofi", these proceedings became somewhat irksome to Senhor 
 Caxavalla, and the distance of Chilunga Meso's place from 
 Luluaburg, as well as the frequency of the seaiices, made the 
 demands upon his time so serious that he was gravely fear- 
 ing complications with Ilerr Bugslag unless he could con- 
 trive to curtail the number and duration of his absences 
 from the station. When considering how this might be 
 eff*ected without off"ence, Senhor Caxavalla chanced to notice 
 a lofty islet of rock rising out of the Luhia, where the river 
 swirled and eddied towards some rapids in its course, and it 
 occurred to him that could Chilunga Meso only be prevailed 
 upon to betake himself to some such solitude, and there 
 engage in imaginary intercourse with visionary beings, things 
 in general would be a great deal better for many souls more
 
 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 mundane.'"' Accordingly he lost no time in representing to 
 the seer that in the coming life the lot of that man would 
 be lowly and his light obscure who had not here devoted time 
 to solitary contemplation. This statement led to explanations, 
 and of course the mention of the isolated rock, whither Senhor 
 Caxavalla pretended that it had been his own practice periodi- 
 cally to retire. He alleged that it was as Bethel, a spot speci- 
 ally favoured by visits of immortals ; and as Pisgah, a height 
 from which visions of a promised country might be gained 
 beyond the troubled flood of death. Chilunga Meso, much 
 interested by this story, and anxious to participate in the 
 visionary advantages set before him, begged to be taken to 
 the islet, a desire which Senhor Caxavalla, as may be guessed, 
 most readily promised to gratify, informing his neophyte, 
 however, that his installation as hermit of the rock would 
 have to be a solemn and carefully performed ceremony. To 
 this end Senhor Caxavalla prepared " a cloak of religion " 
 that would have done credit to a priest of Isis ; a circular 
 chasuble of the most ample mediaeval proportions, manu- 
 factured from a partially worn-out cotton sheet. This he 
 presented to the chief, together with a number of charms 
 and sapheen, including a crucifix (of all things !), which 
 were to be suspended round the neck. On the appointed 
 day the seer and his instructor arrived just before sunrise at 
 the islet in a canoe. Senhor Caxavalla, solidly standing at the 
 water-level, produced a book of Roman Catholic devotions, 
 from which, making a random selection, he gabbled over a 
 multitude of Latin and Portuguese words and sentences, 
 
 * For the circumstance that probably suggested this idea to Senhor Caxavalla, see 
 Appendix J.
 
 DON QUIXOTE AND SANCHO PANZA. 123 
 
 the while Chilunga Meso, lean and scraggy, clothed in his 
 cloak, and decorated with the mystic charms, mounted to 
 the highest pinnacle of the rock. It is wonderful to me 
 that the chief never suspected the impossibility of so hugely 
 stout a man as the interpreter climbing in safety up and 
 down so steep and slippery a place as the rocky islet, but 
 certain it is that he did not, and that ever after Chilunga 
 Meso would retire to its solitude, sometimes for days to- 
 gether, believing that his experiences were deeper and his 
 spiritual vision more clear upon that favoured islet than in 
 his home amidst the lives of other men. 
 
 Thinking of this particular companionship of beings 
 so utterly dissimilar, a companionship produced neither by 
 community of aims nor interests, still less by common 
 participation in any of those deeper sympathies and soul- 
 trying realities that make of mortals entirely opposite in 
 outward nature an almost perfect unity, an immortal har- 
 mony, as of 
 
 " Two notes of music. 
 Made for each other though dissimilar," 
 
 but by the force of circumstance alone, I am always 
 reminded of Don Quixote and his servant Sancho Panza. 
 The reference may not be quite complimentary to Senhor 
 Caxavalla perhaps, but it is sufficiently just if we remember 
 the maxim that an analogy must not be pressed. 
 
 When Chilunga Meso came to Luluaburg, he had in his 
 company a number of Balungu, avIio, travelling under the 
 leadership of a chief named Kasongo, had come on an 
 embassy to Lieut. Wissmann. with the view of inducing
 
 124 
 
 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 him to promote the establishment of a station of the Free 
 State in their country. They had journeyed from an 
 immense distance, and through many and great perils, 
 bringing with them a rich present of ivory, and a commen- 
 datory letter from Commander Cameron, who in his great 
 journey " Across Africa " had passed through Ulungu, and 
 being pleased with the be- 
 haviour of its inhabitants, 
 had thus testified his satis- 
 faction in writing. It was 
 not possible for their 
 wishes to be gratified, for 
 their country, lying on the 
 southern shores of Lake 
 Tanganyika, although 
 within the limits of the 
 Free Trade area, is not only 
 beyond the boundaries of 
 the Congo State, but is 
 separated from the nearest 
 station by hundreds of 
 miles of unexplored coun- 
 try, inhabited by savage 
 and predatory races. The 
 
 utmost, therefore, that Lieut. Wissmann could undertake was 
 to visit Ulungu, and endeavour on the spot to ascertain 
 what might be done towards bringing that country into com- 
 munication with the civilising influences of the State — a 
 promise he faithfully attempted to perform. 
 
 Amongst the native population in and around Ijuluaburg 
 
 ''%'% 
 
 KASONGO— A PORTRAIT.
 
 ANGOLESE AT LULUABURG. 
 
 125 
 
 a number of African tribes were represented besides those 
 types of form, feature, and fashion to which one was more 
 commonly accustomed. The Angolese soldiers (Ambakistas) 
 looked very smart indeed in the red and white uniform 
 of the German expedition, especially as contrasted with 
 the sombre blue dress of our Luebo Zanzibaris ; and there 
 Avere Angolese women of the 
 better class, some of whom 
 Avere far from unattractive 
 in appearance. The general 
 bustle and life of the station, 
 to say nothing of the agree- 
 able companionship of the 
 Europeans, made me regret 
 the approach of the day on 
 which I must bid farewell 
 to my friends and return to 
 my lonely life amongst the 
 dark forests at Luebo. 
 
 My journey was by the 
 same road as that by which 
 we had come to Luluaburg, 
 and as I was unfettered as to 
 time, and without European 
 
 companions, I had an excellent opportunity for making an 
 exact survey of the route from the ]\Iiaw to the Luebo. 
 The results of that survey may be summarised thus : — • 
 The whole district traversed lies within the basin of the 
 Lulua, and upon the left bank of that river ; all the streams 
 crossed being its tributaries or their affluents. After leaving 
 
 SENHORA CAXAVALLA— A PORTRAIT.
 
 126 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 the Miaw basin, which it crosses, the road ascends the 
 Kalambai valley, first crossing it. Thereafter a stream flow- 
 ing independently to the Lulua is crossed, and the road 
 again traverses a small portion of the npper drainage area 
 of the Miaw, whence it ascends to a lofty tableland divid- 
 ing the basin of that river from the Musisi valley, which 
 it next gradually descends, and finally crosses. Leaving 
 the Musisi, the road, making a considerable detour, crosses 
 two small streams discharging themselves unitedly, or very 
 near each other, into the Lulua, and finally enters the 
 Luebo valley, which it gradually descends, until that stream 
 is reached, where, at the station, it forms its junction with 
 the Lulua. I was supposed to be carried in a hammock — 
 for bullocks will not live at Luebo — but I was very little 
 trouble to my bearers, as I generally preferred walking. The 
 details of my survey and the incidents of my journey are 
 as follows : — 
 
 From the Miaw the road, going N.W., crosses the narrow 
 watershed dividing the basin of that tributary of the Lulua 
 from its next neighbour, which, in default of a more exact 
 name, I may call the Kalambai stream. After leaving the 
 Miaw, crossing a brook running into it, and going through 
 open grass-land, the first small tributary of the Kalambai is 
 reached, at a distance of two miles from the Miaw. Another 
 mile and a half of up and down grass-land brings us to the 
 second affluent of the Kalambai, which being crossed, we 
 come two miles farther on to the main stream, at this point 
 making a semicircular bend, ^flowing from N.E. to N.E., 
 within which stands the town of Kalambai. 
 
 We crossed the river, here, as elsewhere, flowing rapidly
 
 BENI-NDUMBA. 127 
 
 over a gravelly and rocky bottom, between precipitous banks 
 sparsely wooded, and reached the town, where we found food 
 of all kinds abundant and cheap. This being a great place 
 for onions (shalots), I procured two loads of them for plant- 
 ing at Luebo. Crossing the peninsula, one mile in breadth, 
 on which the town stands, the road proceeds in north-half- 
 easterly direction up the basin drained by the Kalamba'i, 
 though keeping mainly upon the higher ground. It crosses 
 the stream again about four miles above the town, then turns 
 N.N.W. for 2^ miles, where it again crosses the stream, 
 which here takes a sharp turn, forming a semicircle, half a 
 mile being the chord of the diameter. Again crossing the 
 river, the road turns due north for 2^ miles, where thickly 
 wooded swampy ground is reached, and the stream crossed 
 for the last time. 
 
 From this point the road, now trending N.W., gradually 
 ascends over fine prairie land for some ten miles, when 
 Chinyama is reached, from which place the land slopes 
 rapidly to the S.S.W. In this section of the road the water- 
 shed of the Kalambai is crossed, and 200 yards beyond Chin- 
 yama town we come to the next affluent of the Lulua. 
 
 This is a deep and swift stream, running, at the point at 
 which the road crosses it, in a north-north-easterly direction. 
 The descent to the water is on both sides considerable, steep, 
 and slightly wooded. For 2^ miles west by half south from 
 this river the ground gradually rises to Beni-Ndumba, J mile 
 beyond which place due west the road goes over a swamp 
 for about 400 yards. Ndumba town is a poor place indeed, 
 and rather a sad example of the state to which an unlimited 
 use of Ihiamba may bring a small community. Beyond the
 
 128 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 swamp the road, going N. by W,, ascends a steep and barren 
 hill, when the level of a grassy plateau is reached. From 
 this plain fine view^s are obtained in every direction, and at 
 about half its length (3J miles) the road passes along a 
 narrow neck between two great landslips, one on either side 
 of the plateau : their depth might be 300 feet, and the fall 
 quite precipitous. The direction of the landslip is towards 
 N.E. and S.W. All this part of the country would, so far 
 as I can see, answer magnificently for cattle-raising : there 
 is neither tsetse nor the hurtful spear-grass so destructive 
 to herbivorous animals. From the N.W. extremity of the 
 plateau the road, descending slightly, turns for 4J miles N. 
 by E., when we come to a deserted town beside a stream : 
 the former being surrounded, the latter fringed, with wood. 
 
 This stream runs towards the south-west, probably to the 
 Miaw, into which drainage area we must thus have again 
 descended on leaving the plateau. Leaving the river, the 
 road goes W. by N. for 2^ miles, and thereafter due north 
 for four miles, the ground rising rapidly until the level of 
 another fine plateau is gained. Here we are crossing into 
 the area drained by the Musisi, which rises presumably 
 among a range of low hills running S.W. and N.E., visible 
 across the wide depression forming the basin of that river. 
 From this point the road turns in a north-westerly direc- 
 tion, gradually and continuously rising for 3|- miles over 
 grassy uplands until Beni-Muamba is reached. As the road 
 approaches this town it skirts for some distance the edge 
 of a vast landslip where the plateau has given w^ay on its 
 western side, falling into the lower grounds of the valley, a 
 depth of not less than 400 feet. Up to this point my journey
 
 LVXIiSUr iT BEyi-JfTAMSJ
 
 BENI-MUAMBA. 
 
 1 29 
 
 had been entirely uneventful, but arriving at Beni-Muamba 
 at 1 1.40 A.M. on the 2 ist, I found the place in great excitement 
 owing to the recent ravages of some wild beast of unascer- 
 tained species that was haunting the vicinity. Consequently 
 my men could not sleep in the open, and other precautions 
 had to be taken. In the afternoon I went down and sketched 
 part of the nearest and most recent landslip — not a beautiful 
 subject, indeed, however curious — and on returning to camp, 
 I found the chief Mukanu anxious that I should see his 
 wife, who, he said, was very sick. I found the poor woman 
 suffering from inflammation of the lungs, and prescribed 
 such simple treatment as the circumstances permitted. (She 
 subsequently recovered, and showed a very grateful sense 
 of the brief attention I had been able to give her.) During 
 the night there was a terrible outcry, and on going out to 
 inquire the cause, I was told that a lion (?) had just sprung 
 into a hut where a number of people were sleeping and had 
 seized a boy by the wrist, but that upon the others shouting 
 out he had relinquished his prey and fled. I went immedi- 
 ately to the hut, and found that the poor lad's hand had been 
 fearfully mangled. Luckily, as I had my case of instruments 
 with me, and also a supply of caustic, I was able to dress 
 and trim his wounds properly ; otherwise, I am afraid the 
 lad's life would have been sacrificed. On making a search, 
 we found the footmarks of a very large beast, whether a 
 huge leopard or a lion I cannot say. Thinking that the 
 brute might possibly return, I took my rifle and waited about 
 for him, but though during a vigil of some three hours' 
 duration I heard several growls and similar noises from 
 
 the long grass and neighbouring wood, I saw nothing of 
 
 I
 
 I30 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 him. Limo, oTir caravan leader, an Angolese, volunteering 
 to bear me company, remained by me for some time. Never 
 could any man boast more of his valour and deeds of daring, 
 or promise more bravely what great things he would do 
 should the enemy present himself, when, suddenly, a loud 
 harsh growl was borne to our ears, and poor Limo instantly 
 collapsed : he rushed into his hut, and barricaded the door, 
 which nothing could induce him to open until daylight 
 dispersed his terrors, not much more than an hour before 
 we resumed our journey at 7 a.m. on the 22nd. 
 
 Leaving this village, the road takes a north-north-west 
 and a half northerly direction, and leads along the high 
 grassy plains parallel with the Musisi (which is here flowing 
 deep down in its densely wooded ravine some seven miles 
 distant on our left), until, 8| miles from Beni-Muamba, the 
 Luisi is reached. 
 
 This small river, an affluent of the Musisi, flows swiftly 
 from the east towards that river at the bottom of a deep 
 and thickly wooded gorge, a descent of between 600 and 
 700 feet. Crossing this depression, and rising to about the 
 same height, the road, holding a north-westerly course, passes 
 a deserted town and plantations in the open grassy country 
 (which is here somewhat diversified by belts of jungle of 
 varying width), and arrives above the Musisi at a distance 
 of twelve miles from the last stream crossed. The descent to 
 the Musisi has been already described : all I have now to 
 add is connected with my experience of the forest on its 
 left bank as a camping-ground. 
 
 Having crossed the river, we camped for the night near 
 to the treeless grassy uplands indeed, but well within the
 
 NIGHT IN THE FOREST. 
 
 overarching wood, and at a height of several hundred feet 
 above the water. In this region, save just at sunrise and 
 before sunset, when nearly all the birds salute in noisy 
 chorus the rising and the setting sun, the hours of daylight 
 are the hours of silence. The sun, truly the most glorious 
 emblem of omnipotence, makes the round tropic world his 
 temple, and by his all-penetrating power compels to silence 
 those that dwell within his presence ; but when that presence 
 is withdrawn, the animal creation wakes from its day-long 
 constraint, and in a thousand ways tells forth its gladness 
 and content. Thns, whether you camp within the forest 
 or on the open plain, yon have a ceaseless concert of strange 
 sounds on throngh the hours of darkness, till the jungle- 
 cock, fully two hours before the other birds awake, the 
 earliest herald of approaching day, proclaims the silence 
 that precedes the dawn. In crossing the river. I had ob- 
 served that the spoor of buffalo and other game were deeply 
 marked beside the ford, and determined, after camp was 
 pitched and I had dined, to take my rifle, and ensconcing 
 myself behind a sheltering bush, be ready for a shot, should 
 any of the herd come by to drink. Accordingly, when night 
 set in, the head-bearer going with me, I betook myself 
 to the place of ambush. We clambered down through the 
 thick tangle of the forest, where the long lianas of the dark- 
 leaved india-rubber vines festooned the bright red cliffs ; 
 down through the thickets, where the delicate fresh green 
 trails of creeping bamboo wreathed into almost impenetrable 
 masses the creamy-flowered and jasmine-scented shrubs, all 
 tints and colours blurred alike within the deepening gloom ; 
 down farther still into the darkness, where, above the trees
 
 132 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 that overarch the steep descent, the lovely lace-like orchilla 
 weed spreads far her flowery veil ; down almost to the mur- 
 muring river's edge, where, amid a clump of thorn-studded 
 acacia, we had our ambush laid : a bush before us and 
 a hastily constructed fence behind. When we began our 
 watch, the myriad-voiced cicada and the croaking bull-frogs 
 were in wildest chorus. Soon as the darkness deepened 
 into night, the frequent hoot of owls was heard on all sides, 
 followed by the plaintive whistle of the night-plover, the 
 prolonged birr of the goat-sucker, so weird in its ventri- 
 loquial effect, and the booming of the bittern beside the 
 stretches of still water underneath the fern-fringed hollowed 
 banks. As w^e watched and waited for the buffalo, great 
 bats came flitting overhead, the smart snapping of their 
 teeth and their shrill mouse-like cries betraying what the 
 noiseless movement of their wings concealed — their presence. 
 Suddenly a wild scream strikes through the many voices of 
 the night : it is repeated again and again as it comes nearer ; 
 — the cry of the fierce mbaku swinging himself from branch 
 to branch in search of prey. And now, just overhead, once 
 more that hideous shriek rings out triumphantly above the 
 frantic chatter of a luckless colony of apes, for the mbaku 
 is upon them, and their only safety lies in flight. At last, 
 far off, we hear the buffalo, at first a distant lowing, and, as 
 they near our ambush, now and then a crash, as the herd 
 force their way through the thick undergrowth towards 
 the water. But we wait and wait in vain : they are not 
 coming to the ford, but are already going off" by other 
 brakes and openings farther up the stream. It would 
 be worse than madness to attempt to follow in the dense
 
 FROM THE MUSI SI TO THE LUEBO. 133 
 
 and trackless wood, and so we seek our camp, climbing 
 the steep rough path from out the darkness of the gorge. 
 Just as we gain the safe circle of our fires, the rising moon 
 breaks through the forest glades, and pours a silvery flood 
 of light around us. Immediately the bull-frogs and the all- 
 pervading chirrup of the crickets hush, while other sounds 
 more distant reach our ears, borne from the prairie on the 
 cool faint breeze : the answering cries of jackals, the hateful 
 laugh of the cruel hyena, and now and then the mournful 
 call of the spur-winged plover, silent in the dark. 
 
 Leaving the Musisi, the road almost reverses its direction, 
 which, hitherto N.N.AV., is now south-westerly, and pro- 
 ceeds for 7^ miles through magnificent forest until a small 
 stream is reached, which, like the Musisi and its affluent, flows 
 at the bottom of a deep and wooded gorge. The direction 
 of this stream is due north, and as it finds its way to the 
 Lulua either independently or in conjunction with the stream 
 next to be mentioned, this section of the road has thus 
 brought us out of the area drained by the Musisi. 
 
 From this river the road turns for i^^ miles W. by S., and 
 then suddenly changes its direction to N.N.W., going across 
 a high plain for i^ miles, at which distance another stream 
 is reached, also deeply embosomed in a forest-covered ravine. 
 
 Crossing this river, the road next leads N. by W. half 
 W. for 4f miles, of which distance 2^ miles are dense 
 forest. Thence inclining N.W. by W. for a distance of 
 seven miles, the road brings us over grassy plains, from 
 which towards the S.S.AV. rise low hills more or less clothed 
 with forest, into the basin of the Lucbo. On our left we 
 look down into the densely wooded valley, and skirting the
 
 1 34 
 
 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 landslip which I had observed in my journey to Lulua- 
 burg, we come to Beni-Kashia. At this place I had now a 
 somewhat unpleasant duty to perform, which lack of time 
 
 LIANAS AT BENI-KASHIA. 
 
 alone had prevented our discharging previously. Consider- 
 ing its strategical importance, its pastoral advantages, and 
 its command of the land approach to Luebo, it would, in
 
 CHIKABO OF BENI-KASHIA. 135 
 
 auy case, be highly desirable for the welfare of the station 
 that Beni-Kashia should be in friendly hands ; as long as 
 the Luluaburg road, pursuing its present circuitous route, 
 passes the village, an entente cordiale with its occupants is a 
 necessity. Unhappily, the chief, Chikabo, was anything but 
 a friend, except in word and outward show. As a matter of 
 fact, he was a churl, and had been behaving with unprovoked 
 hostility towards our people. He had in the first instance 
 declined upon any terms to undertake the grazing of my 
 goats and sheep, thereby causing us very great inconvenience ; 
 and when that question had been submitted to him, had 
 seized the opportunity of my representative's presence to 
 make certain disparaging remarks as to the order and 
 government established at the station. Subsequently he 
 refused to allow our messengers to and from Luluaburg to 
 purchase food at his village, and had, in every possible way, 
 done his utmost to nullify the civilising influences lately 
 introduced into his neighbourhood. I had therefore to 
 interview the chief upon this subject, and while our camp 
 was being pitched, I gave him distinctly to understand that 
 it was due to my reluctance alone to adopt extreme measures 
 that his conduct had not been reported to Calemba, and I 
 concluded by assuring him that if he did not at once change 
 his policy he might expect very serious consequences indeed. 
 I had not long returned to my camping-place when a 
 thunderstorm that had been brewing all day burst suddenly 
 right over our heads. The lightning struck a hut in the 
 village, setting it on fire, and nearly killing a man who 
 chanced to be within. On hearing of this, I went at once 
 to the place where the poor fellow had been laid, and en-
 
 136 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 cleavoiired to restore him to consciousness. As nothing of 
 a fatal character is ever held in Africa to happen ex ordine 
 natiirce, the catastrophe was instantly ascribed, and that as a 
 matter of course, to my magic agency and skill. In my haste 
 I had overlooked this contingency, or I should not have 
 placed myself in the power of so vindictive and savage a 
 gang as that by which I now found myself surrounded. I 
 saw that the people were eyeing me with looks of anger and 
 suspicion, and, without appearing to do so, I watched them 
 arming themselves and stringing their bows. Perhaps it 
 was for the best, but at the time I could not help most 
 ardently wishing that I had not left all my arms in the 
 tent, nor ventured thus alone into the village. Luckily the 
 restoratives I had applied speedily availed to reanimate the 
 injured man, and before the wretches had made up their 
 minds to despatch me, or possibly before they were quite 
 ready for the deed, I turned, and looking deliberately upon 
 them, Malked out of their village with as nonchalant an air 
 as I could assume. More than one savage I saw fix his 
 arrow to the bowstring, and as I strode back to my tent, 
 leaving the scowling crowd behind me, I felt that any 
 moment might bring my death-blow, and that the crisis of 
 my life was come. Each second seemed an age, and when I 
 regained the shelter of my tent, I had a momentary feeling 
 as if years had gone since I left it. But it was no time for 
 indulging thoughts or feelings ; immediate action would, I 
 knew, be requisite if an appeal to arms was to be avoided. 
 Accordingly I sent Limo — he was less afraid, I fancy, of 
 the Chiplumba than of lions — to inform Chikabo and his 
 people that unless they should instantly disarm, and pro-
 
 THE POWER OF MAGIC. 
 
 137 
 
 mise to behave with more amicability, I would call back 
 the thunderstorm and utterly destroy them and their town. 
 This preposterous message had the desired effect : we were 
 
 TEViv^ {GoHiniphim). 
 
 kf^ 
 
 suffered to remain unmolested during the night, and to 
 continue our march at 7 a.m. on the 24th Avithout further 
 adventure of any kind.
 
 138 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 Leaving Beni-Kashia. the road goes N.W. for 2^ miles 
 across the open plain. Then a belt of forest is reached, 
 which the road, still going N.W., crosses for 1^ miles. Next 
 a small grassy plain three-quarters of a mile broad is passed, 
 after which we again come to the forest, and going through 
 it N.W. by N. for two miles, we reach a small stream flowing 
 W. to the Luebo, into which all the rivulets that are subse- 
 quently crossed between this and the station likewise drain. 
 
 At this point the road takes another direction. It now 
 trends N.E. by N., crossing a small plain three-quarters of 
 a mile broad, and thereafter a narrow belt of jungle rather 
 less in width. Next going N.E. by E., we cross another 
 plain i^ miles broad, and then enter the dense and uninter- 
 rupted forest, through which the road gradually descends 
 for 1 3f miles in a general direction of N.E. by E. half E., 
 until we emerge once more into the dazzling sunlight and 
 free air not far from the station at Luebo, of whose proximity 
 the ceaseless boom of falling waters echoing for miles through 
 the moist close woods has forewarned us.
 
 'A>?w 
 
 
 
 BAKETE CHIEFS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Senhor Carvalho'.s adniiiiistration — The plantations and our crops^Misunderstauding with 
 the Bakuba — Our Bakcte allies — Fireworks — Boat accident to Baketo hunters on 
 the Luebo — Ingratitude — Luebo Falls — Bakote hunting-parties — Game of district — 
 Slave-dealers. 
 
 Luebo was altogether much as we had left it. I fouiid 
 more work accomplished in tlie way of clearing and prepar- 
 ing for our plantations than I had anticipated. Everything 
 else was in excellent order, and I felt that I had abundant 
 cause to be grateful to Senhor Carvalho for his painstaking 
 management during my absence. Before leaving for Lulua- 
 burg I had assigned to him a plot of ground whereon to 
 build huts for his workmen and a store for himself, I was 
 now glad to find that, for all practical purposes, the worthy 
 man — whom I had learnt entirely to dissociate from his 
 partner — was likely to be a fixture at our station. His
 
 I40 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 history and circumstances appealed in many ways to my 
 sympathies, while he, for his part, was not unsympathetic 
 with us : he was thoroughly our well-wisher, and he was 
 fitted by long intercourse Avith the natives, and his own 
 bitter experiences of the hard dealings of traders, to be a 
 trustworthy adviser in many a difficulty. Yet in respect of 
 one matter, occurring soon after my return, I always thought 
 that had Carvalho chosen to enlighten me as to his deal- 
 ings with our Bakuba neighbours during my absence, an 
 unfortunate misunderstanding that threatened at one period 
 to originate a very considerable trouble might have been 
 avoided. But before I go fully into that story I must turn 
 to what was engrossing my almost undivided attention at 
 this time — I mean the plantations. 
 
 Unless we ^vere to continue for another season to be 
 dependent upon our native neighbours for such supplies 
 as the precarious steam communication with Leopoldville 
 did not furnish, our clearings must be finished, the ground 
 tilled, and the crops sown before the rains should set in.* 
 The method we pursued was to clear away the jungle 
 undergrowth and the upper branches of the larger trees 
 with axes, and then, having selected and removed all those 
 straight pieces which promised to be useful for carpentry 
 and building purposes, we piled the smaller boughs together 
 in heaps round the trunks w-e wished to get rid of without 
 the labour of felling them, and set fire to the whole. The 
 roots were next carefully stubbed up and burnt, all the 
 ashes being evenly spread over the ground, with which 
 
 * Some few statistics calculated to give an idea oi the difference between the seasons 
 at Luebo will be found in the Appendix K.
 
 THE PLANTATIONS AT LUEBO. 
 
 141 
 
 they Avere incorporated by u thorough hoeing, ^^'e then 
 fenced in the land, and parcelled it out according to the 
 nature and requirements of the crops we intended to 
 
 MroNDii {Sorghiim). 
 
 iiTow. Eventually deei) drains made of broken stone were 
 put in, but not until after we had reaped our first harvest. 
 Some ten acres of the lowest ground next the river were 
 sown with Indian-corn, slips of manioc six feet apart being
 
 142 
 
 UaXDer the lone star. 
 
 put in at the same time, and a crop of yams was also set 
 in this part of the plantations. Another ten acres at a 
 higher level was planted with mtama [Holcus sorghum) and 
 hill-rice. Besides these principal crops we grew a number 
 
 of vegetables and es- 
 culents, many of them 
 for my own especial 
 use : onions, cabbage, 
 okras, tomatos, gourds, 
 turnips, lettuce, en- 
 dive, celery (a com- 
 plete failure), beans, 
 some pot-herbs, beet- 
 root (a failure), a little 
 cotton and sugar-cane. 
 I planted also an 
 abundance of pine- 
 apples and grenadilhas, 
 and some fruit trees, of 
 which more anon. I 
 had made a large clear- 
 ing in the jungle at a 
 considerable distance 
 from the station, on 
 the road towards Bcni- 
 Kashia, where I established the burial-ground, and also a 
 plantation of ground-nuts (" mpinda ") some fifteen acres in 
 extent. 
 
 T may now give the narrative of the misunderstanding 
 referred to above. Senhor Carvalho complained to me on 
 
 MPINDE NGUBA {Arackix).
 
 A DISQUIETING RUMOUR. 143 
 
 my return that the Bakuba farther down the river had become 
 hostile, that they had been vowing all manner of vengeance 
 against us, and he attributed an importance to their threats 
 which seemed to me quite unmerited, — an opinion wliicli lii^ 
 persistence in denying that he had had any quarrel with 
 them tended to confirm. Of the nature of the Bakuba's 
 feelings towards us I was not. however, kept long in doubt. 
 Lieut. Wissmann having given me instructions to make a 
 thorough survey of the Lulua from the Luebo to the Kasai, 
 I took an early opportunity of going down the stream for 
 the purpose of beginning this business from near the Luebo 
 end. Senhor Carvalho was to bear me company, but on 
 embarking he was so urgent that I should take arms for the 
 rowers, that, since I saw no reason for such a proceeding, 
 I suggested his remaining behind. This, however, he refused 
 to do, and as I compromised matters by taking my own three 
 rifles and an ample supply of ammunition, his courage so 
 far revived as to enable him to profess his belief in the 
 absence of real danger, a belief which I now think I myself 
 should not have shared had I only known as miu-h as he 
 could have told me. Having gone some little distance and 
 well out of view of the Luebo mouth, we drew near a land- 
 ing-place on the right bank, where we saw a crowd of 
 Bakete beckoning us to approach. We immediately steered 
 to them, and learning that some of these people were 
 bearing fish and palm-wine to the station for barter, v^v 
 relieved them of their loads without further trouble to 
 themselves, for, when practicable, I always carried witli 
 me a stock of the small change of the country, viz., beads, 
 cowries, and brass rods. The Bakete then inquired whether
 
 144 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 I intended going- farther down-stream, and on hearing 
 that I did, endeavoured to dissuade me, alleging that the 
 Bakuba were greatly exasperated, and were preparing to 
 attack us should they obtain any chance of doing so suc- 
 cessfully. As I deemed this to be mere idle gossip, I con- 
 tinued our course down the river to the point at which 
 I had determined to begin the survey. We had not gone 
 far from the Bakete, and were still keeping to the same 
 bank, when we saw a Bakuba chief sitting just outside a 
 fishing-hut, who no sooner saw us than he gathered up his 
 bow and arrows and made off into the jungle. Wondering 
 what this unwonted conduct might portend, I ran the boat 
 on the beach and jumped out, but the only people I could 
 see were two men on a large partly wooded island about 
 ninety yards from the shore. Thither 1 proposed we should 
 immediately go, both to demonstrate our friendliness, and to 
 ascertain the true state of the Bakuba disposition towards 
 us : the excuse for our approach being the purchase of fish. 
 As we neared the island the men raised shouts and cries, 
 which were speedily echoed from the jungle, whence almost 
 immediately a number- of fully armed men sprang out. I 
 stood up in the boat, brandishing beads and brass rods, calling 
 out that we wanted to trade. The only answer was a flight 
 of arrows, by which one of our poor fellows in the bows was 
 severely wounded. We replied as rapidly as we could with 
 our rifles, and four of the enemy went down, their comrades 
 taking to flight. I thereupon deliberately began my surveying 
 operations, tacking from side to side of the river for the sound- 
 ing as occasion required. Probably onlookers in the wood 
 believed we were occupied in setting some irresistible fetish.
 
 OUR BAKETE ALLIES. 145 
 
 destined to ruin the fisheries or destroy their arms. On 
 returning to the station, we found every one in a wikl state 
 of excitement. A report (which had lost nothing in the 
 telling) of what had occurred having long preceded us, the 
 Niapara had placed the Zanzibaris under arms, and was busy 
 with preparations for defence when we arrived. Several 
 Bakett^ chiefs also were anxiously awaiting our return, 
 being extremely desirous, on their own account, to prevent 
 any further hostilities between their formidable neighbours. 
 After a time, more Bakete arrived, and earnestly implored 
 me to send messengers to the dreaded Bakuba, to acknow- 
 ledge that w^e had trespassed in going down the river with- 
 out their permission, and to offer compensation for having 
 fired upon them at the island. To such preposterous de- 
 mands only one reply could be given. Telling the Bakete 
 that they must choose whom they would befriend, I assured 
 them that if they elected thenceforth to serve the Bakuba, 
 and help them against me, I had no objection to fight their 
 united forces ; but if, on the other hand, they desired to be 
 free from an ancient thraldom, and to cast in their lot with 
 us, I was willing to undertake their defence against the 
 Bakuba, as I had previously done against the Batua Ban- 
 konko.* This assurance ended their doubtful attitude, and 
 they agreed to help me in defending the station should occa- 
 sion render such defence necessary. We passed a somewhat 
 restless night, our fortifications being incomplete, but next 
 day (July 5th) our Bakete allies mustered in great force, 
 about a thousand camping near Kassenge, on the other 
 
 * Whom I had forcibly expelled in March iSS6 from two of tlio small villages near 
 Kassongd, of which they had possessed themselves. 
 
 K
 
 146 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 side of the Luliia. In the course of the day the Bakuba 
 advanced to the attack, but seeing the odds ranged against 
 them, they refrained from making any demonstration until 
 late in the afternoon, when their war-canoes, on rounding 
 the point below the station, came within range of our 
 howitzer, and their hopes of success were speedily anni- 
 hilated. When night closed in, I had a grand pyrotechnic 
 display, as we were so fortunate as to possess a large 
 quantity of fireworks amongst our stores. The coloured 
 lights especially caused some curious and beautiful effects, 
 and a couple of war -rockets, that went screaming and 
 hissing over the river and through the trees, drawing for 
 so great a distance a trail of light behind them, caused the 
 utmost terror and consternation alike to friends and foes. 
 Next morning, in answer to a general invitation given 
 through our Bakete mediators, two Bakuba chiefs ventured 
 to the station. One, whom I recognised as the chief of 
 the men who had fired upon us on the 4th at the island, 
 I singled out for reproach ; to the other I showed such 
 complaisance as I thought fitting, and made him a small 
 pi'esent. I gave them distinctly to understand that if they 
 had any complaints against our people, they need not fear 
 to come to me and make them known, for I would redress 
 all grievances, but that causeless hostility to the station 
 people would not only be resented by us, but very severely 
 and surely punished. It is worthy of note that I was never 
 able to ascertain the precise nature of the offence that had 
 been given to the Bakuba ; but whatever it may have been, 
 the storm had the effect of clearing the atmosphere, for 
 we had no subsequent misunderstandings — in fact, we con-
 
 FORTIFICATIONS AND ROADS. 147 
 
 tinued excellent neighbours during the remainder of my 
 residence at Luebo. 
 
 This war-scare quickened our movements as to the com- 
 pletion of our defences. The ramping along the river fronts, 
 and the palisading on the land side, were soon finished. 
 Here we made a regular fosse, 1 8 feet broad at the top, and 
 14 feet at the bottom, the depth being about 8 feet. The 
 approach from the land was over a gorge, flanked by a loop- 
 holed house, and the entrance through the palisade was secured 
 with bars. Other progress had been made, and my own house 
 was finished soon after the fortifications, but the bath-house 
 and some minor offices were not completed until a later 
 date. We had begun road-making also in the only direction 
 in which road-making could be undertaken, viz., towards 
 Luluaburg. The old native path meandered through the 
 limits of the new roadway, which is perfectly straight, an 
 even and gradual ascent at about one in twenty-five from 
 the station to the burial-ground, a distance of some 1200 
 yards. The road lay between the plantations and the thick 
 forest, and was planted on both sides in its lower portion 
 with plantains and bananas, chiefly the former, as for some 
 unknown reason they succeed better in this district than 
 bananas. I set other fruit-trees also, such as are to be met 
 with in the native plantations, but I cannot, of course, say 
 how they succeeded. 
 
 For some weeks after the unpleasantness witli tlic 
 Bakuba nothing of importance occurred to vary the mono- 
 tony of our administrative routine. The plantations and 
 the building operations were close at hand, and their super- 
 vision took me no distance from my own door. The survey
 
 1 48 
 
 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 of the river afforded some change, as long as it lasted, and 
 an occasional day of hunting was quite a pleasing excite- 
 ment. Once or twice I went with the Bakete hunters, who 
 used frequently to come across to our side of the river in 
 pursuit of game. They were always careful to ask my 
 permission, and were most generous to me in their subse- 
 
 1 f 
 
 
 BAKETE HUNTERS. 
 
 quent distribution of the spoil. The Luebo jungles were 
 favourite hunting-grounds of the Bakete, and thus, and in 
 looking out for timber trees, I got to know a good deal of 
 that quarter of our neighbourhood. One day I came upon 
 some fine grassy plains not above a mile from the station, 
 but upon the other side of the Luebo, and at a consider- 
 able elevation. Being much impressed with the capabilities
 
 CANOE ACCIDENT ON THE LUEBO. 149 
 
 of this position as a site for dwellings and plantations, 
 I made a regular survey of it, and marked out five allot- 
 ments. The comparatively high altitude of this locality, the 
 absence of swamp in the quarters from which prevailing 
 winds blow, the sandy soil, and ample outfall, all combine 
 to recommend it as a sanatorium for the neighbouring 
 station, which cannot, I fear, prove a healthy residence for 
 either natives or Europeans, at least for any long or con- 
 tinuous period. Without making a regular survey of the 
 Luebo, I contrived in the course of several brief excur- 
 sions to become acquainted with the main features of 
 that river in its lower portion, and for some considerable 
 distance above the falls. Here and there stretches of navi- 
 gable water are to be met with, but the interruptions are so 
 numerous that no use is ever made of the upper stream as a 
 means of communication, save in the event of the Bakete 
 and other hunters launching a canoe occasionally on the 
 still water reaches in order the better to pursue their quarry. 
 In consequence of this practice an accident occurred, which 
 only by a miracle escaped a tragic ending. Some half-dozen 
 hunters one day came into the station from Kassenge, 
 asking me to lend them a light canoe in order to launch it 
 above the first falls, their own canoe being inconveniently 
 heavy for the porterage. On inquiry, I found they were in 
 quest of large bats, whicli during the daytime may be seen 
 depending from the branches of trees overhanging the river. 
 As I refused to lend our canoe, the huntsmen were obliged 
 to take their own. Some two hours after they had gone I 
 chanced to be out on the Luebo side of the station, when, to 
 my horror, I saw fragments of the canoe borne past me by
 
 I50 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 the rapid current. Fearing that a really dreadful disaster 
 had happened, I hurriedly sent out some men with orders 
 to search for the hunting-party at and beyond the falls. 
 They returned more speedily than I had anticipated, bringing 
 with them one of the hunters, in a half-drowned condition, 
 whom they had found in the river clinging to the branch of 
 a tree. This man reported that, in the excitement of securing 
 the bats, they had somehow lost their paddles, and shoving 
 off from the trees beneath which they were before their 
 loss was known, the canoe had been caught by the swift eddy, 
 and was hurried over the rapids immediately above the falls. 
 It was instantly upset, and the men, none of whom could 
 swim, were engulfed in the rushing torrent. What had be- 
 come of them he knew not, and indeed was quite unable to 
 give any account as to how he himself had contrived to reach 
 the branch whence my people rescued him. However, we had 
 no sooner given the others up for drowned than, to our utter 
 amazement, they one and all came in, more or less exhausted, 
 and bedraggled indeed, but safe and sound, having in various 
 ways succeeded in reaching the bank, I administered 
 such restoratives as seemed requisite, and had them ferried 
 across the Lulua, remarking that they ought to be grateful 
 to a kind Providence for their truly wonderful escape. Will 
 it be believed that any human beings could be so utterly 
 sceptical of the simplest laws of nature, so absurdly blind 
 to the most evident connection between cause and effect ? 
 These hardened and ungrateful blockheads could see nothing 
 wonderful in their unaccountable deliverance from the jaws 
 of instant death, but only in the fact of their coming into 
 any kind of misadventure at all — a circumstance which they
 
 FALLS OF THE LUEBO. 
 
 positively ascribed to my black magic, and not to tlieir own 
 foolhardiness ! This truly African disbelief in physical law- 
 is doubtless inseparable from a low position in the scale of 
 human knowledge, and we laugh at it : — Are we to consider 
 a corresponding belief in Divine interference with the law^s of 
 nature as equally ridiculous, or as indicative of a complete 
 and perfect knowledge of the universe ? 
 
 THE WESTERN FALLS OF THE LIEBO. 
 
 The falls of the Luebo, thus frequently referred to, occur 
 in the course of that river about a mile above its junction 
 with the Lulua, and at a point where the stream is divided 
 into two nearly equal portions by an island measuring 
 somewhat under a mile in length. The waters in the 
 eastern channel are broken into several separate cascades, 
 that farthest down the stream having a fall of over iS
 
 152 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 feet, and being by far the most imposing in appearance. 
 Tlie western channel, on the other hand, is, with the excep- 
 tion of a considerable step at its base, a continuous boiling 
 rapid, unbroken in its course by any marked variation in the 
 angle of its descent. The total difference in the level of the 
 river-bed from top to bottom must be considerably over one 
 hundred feet. The surrounding forest is dense on all sides, 
 and though it enhances the general beauty of the prospect, 
 its rank luxuriance in places greatly intercepts the view of 
 the water, and, in union with the extremely tortuous char- 
 acter of the river's course, mars, to some extext, what would 
 otherwise be an unusually fine piece of water-scenery. 
 
 The Bakete hunting-parties that ranged these forests 
 and the adjoining plains were generally large corhpanies, 
 consisting of as many — sometimes — as two hundred mem- 
 bers, and about half that number of dogs, the latter being 
 provided with wooden bells strapped under their bellies. 
 Each man is armed with a bow, a number of arrows, 
 a spear, and a knife. Most of them carry nets. The 
 principle on which the Bakete manage their hunting is 
 identical with that practised in India by the Government 
 elephant-hunters under the name of " Keddah." The plan 
 of the chase may be said to consist of a vast triangle, of 
 which the base, and sides in the direction of the base, are 
 of indeterminate length, but having the apex cut off by a 
 circle described from a centre without the triangle, the said 
 circle, and adjacent portions of the sides, being formed of 
 nets stretched upon stakes. The base of the triangle is, of 
 course, the jungle district which it is intended should be 
 beaten for game. When the Bakete huntsmen have observed
 
 BAKETE AND CHIPLUMBA HUNTING. 153 
 
 the recent spoor of any kind of smaller game and antelopes, 
 they enclose with their hunting-nets and stakes a suitable 
 piece of bush-ground for the "hot corner" as described. 
 The company then disperse, keeping at as regular intervals 
 from each other as possible, and thus going round the out- 
 side of the area which they design to drive, they enclose a 
 considerable tract of country, sometimes miles in extent. 
 Then, as the hunters gradually converge, the game, frightened 
 by the approaching and increasing noise of men and dogs, 
 charge along towards the only point in which silence seems 
 to promise safety. The hunted creatures, thus nearing the 
 vortex, are guided in their flight by the enclosing wings or 
 netted sides of the triangle into the fatal corner, whence 
 few indeed escape alive from the spears and arrows of the 
 huntsmen, who are already there before them. Sometimes, 
 however, a buffalo or other large animal will be enclosed 
 within the nets, when not unfrequently the conditions of 
 the chase are reversed, and the hunters become the quarry. 
 On one of those occasions on which I was present a large 
 buffalo — than which, in my opinion, no animal in Africa is 
 more dangerous to be hunted — destroyed some of the nets, 
 and gored one poor fellow so frightfully that he died almost 
 instantaneously. 
 
 As I have before intimated, the game preferred by the 
 Bakete are the smaller animals to be found, I cannot say 
 abundantly, for game is not abundant, if indeed we except 
 bats, rats, and other vermin, in tlicir part of the country. In 
 this region much of the larger game common enough in 
 East Central Africa simply does not exist — zebras, giraflcs, 
 rhinoceros being unknown. There is, however, one animal
 
 154 
 
 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 belonging to the catalogue of large game which I believe to 
 be a speciality of this countryman extremely fine antelope, 
 called by the natives Barabangala. I have not met with it 
 elsewhere in Africa, nor seen it figured or described by others. 
 In size it is as large as a mule, of a bright chestnut colour, 
 striped with creamy-white, much in the manner of a zebra, 
 on the back and sides, and dappled on the neck and flanks. 
 The belly is white, as is also the scut. The horns are not in 
 
 BAMBANGAI.A. 
 
 any way remarkable either for size or form. Besides buffaloes, 
 which arc numerous only in the grassy tracts of the Bashi- 
 lange country, I have observed leopards, panthers, civets, 
 hyenas, the snow-leopard, numerous species of wild cats, otters, 
 oncas, the Cape hunting-dog, jackals, the sloth-like creature 
 called " mbaku," and, very rarely, the lion. Elephants 
 abound in the forests about the Luebo, and there are hippo- 
 potami in all the rivers. There are quantities of ichneumon,
 
 GAME OF THE COUNTRY. 155 
 
 the mention of which little creature reminds me of the 
 unfortunate abundance of alligators, which, however, cannot 
 possibly be accounted as game. Amongst the creatures 
 hunted by the Bakete for food are, occasionally, the eland 
 (though it is rather large game for them to tackle, and 
 is rarely met with), the water-buck, the smaller kudu, the 
 red bush-buck, the water or reed buck, and the saddle- 
 back or harnessed antelope, so called from the curious 
 white markings on back and sides ; the bush-pig, the porcu- 
 pine, the earth-pig, the large jungle-rat, a kind of squirrel, 
 an ant-bear, the sibissi (a species of hare), and monkeys of 
 every description. They also trap and eat a large field-rat, 
 the ordinary field-mouse, and bats. The common house- 
 rat they do not eat, and being much plagued by their 
 depredations, they highly appreciated the achievements of 
 a domestic cat that I had imported. Other creatures that 
 they take for food are the iguana and several kinds of 
 lizards ; the land-tortoise (the water-tortoise and fish of 
 all kinds being generally obtained from the Bakuba or 
 Baluba fishermen) ; snakes, including the boa constrictor ; 
 grubs and caterpillars ; the larvae of the white ant, and also, 
 at one stage of its existence, the white ant itself, and locusts, 
 but these last-named are happily rare. Of birds, they 
 take, by means of nets and traps, as well as by shooting 
 with arrows, pigeons both green and grey, guinea-fowls, 
 giant plantain-eaters, toucans, parrots, quails, water-hens, 
 a kind of partridge, and occasionally wild ducks and 
 Egyptian geese, the various waders, ibis, and eagles when 
 they can get them. Altogether I am afraid that, although 
 the list is a long one, the fare it indicates is but meagre ;
 
 156 
 
 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 and although civilisation when introduced may greatly lessen 
 the natural food resources of the country, one of its chiefest 
 blessings will be the supply of nourishing and thoroughly 
 wholesome sustenance to the inhabitants. 
 
 ANT-BKAR AND AXT-HILL. 
 
 Towards the end of August it was reported to me that 
 there had arrived in our vicinity, from the country to the 
 east, a caravan of slave-dealers known as Bihanos These
 
 SLAVE DEALERS OF BIHE. 157 
 
 people, inhabitants of Bihe in Angola, have been long wont 
 to travel into the interior for the purpose of exchanging salt 
 and other articles of barter for such slaves as they could 
 obtain by means so far fair, or those means failing, by kid- 
 napping the unfortunate victims of their cupidity. There- 
 after, in returning to their own country, where their living 
 merchandise has become valueless, or almost so, since 
 Portugal has made serious profession of suppressing the 
 slave-trade, they generally make, for obvious reasons, a con- 
 siderable detour into some suitable region, and there 
 exchange their slaves for ivory, which can, of course, be 
 easily negotiated in Bihe. It was thus that the Bihanos 
 referred to had come into the Bashilange country, and they 
 had made a good many bargains before I was aware of their 
 presence. Commander Cameron has so fully exposed the 
 inhumanity of these people, as he witnessed it just at the 
 end of their palmier days, that 1 need say nothing about 
 them beyond noting the fact that I took immediate measures 
 to secure their expulsion from my district, and it was satis- 
 factory to find that my orders were promptly obeyed ; within 
 three days not one member of the caravan remained in our 
 neighbourhood.
 
 GROUND-NUT UIL-MAKING. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Visit to Liikenga Manena — My namesake — Dishonesty of Jao Domingos — Expedition 
 against Bioinb^ — Temporary imprisonment of the chief — Ground-nut oil — Carvalho's 
 boat-building and project — Arrival of the Stanley with my successor — The Sanford 
 expedition — I leave Luebo — Accident to the Stanley — Sacred island of Kimeh — 
 Kwamouth and the Catholic Mission — The Abbe Krafft — Kiuchasa and LJopoldville 
 once more. 
 
 Shortly after the Bihanos incident I made an excursion up 
 the country on the right bank of the Luhia, and proceeded 
 farther up the river than Luhiaburg, though of course in a 
 different direction. My object was to visit Lukenga Manena,
 
 A BRIEF HOLIDAY. ,59 
 
 a powerful and remarkably well-disposed Bashilange chief, 
 who had repeatedly pressed me to do so, and had been at 
 some pains to conciliate my good opinion. The road lay 
 through Kassenge and the Bakete country, passing throu'di 
 fine undulating grass-lands, forest, and jungle, but inter- 
 cepted by no deep ravines or uninhabited districts. On 
 the contrary, our eyes were constantly gladdened by large 
 and beautifully kept plantations, many neat and populous 
 tow^ns, and a happy and industrious people. Only four 
 streams worthy the name of rivers had to be crossed, and the 
 descent in each case was easy and gradual. On my way 1 
 saw Congolemosch, but not Chilunga Meso, who was away 
 from home ; whether having betaken himself to his hermi- 
 tage or not I forget, but my impression is that he had gone 
 to visit Calemba. Nothing occurred which could be esteemed 
 of special interest, at least of a kind different from that 
 which I have described as having happened elsewhere. I 
 regret much that I did not take any observations or make a 
 route chart, but, as a matter of fact, the damp heat of Luebo 
 had told upon me a good deal, and I was disinclined to 
 uncalled-for exertion of any kind when out, as I was, for 
 a little holiday. In the course of my journey I stopped to 
 visit a namesake of mine, a chief called Chienvu. I say 
 "namesake" because, when first I came into the Bashilange 
 country, the people, believing in metempsychosis, had named 
 me " Chienvu," deeming me to be the embodiment of a 
 chief of that name who had died some years previously. In 
 this I only shared an honour done to Lieut. AVissmann 
 and Dr. Wolf, who, in like manner, received from the 
 natives appellations denoting their identity with departed
 
 i6o UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 chiefs. I had left the station once more in Senhor Car- 
 valho's hands, and found everything in excellent order on 
 my return. Our crops in the new plantations were a success : 
 the sorghum, a fine heavy crop, being by this time reaped 
 and in store : the rice having been sown so as to ripen in 
 relays, only a small quantity was harvested, but it was ex- 
 cellent. I was thus enabled to begin the draining in the 
 plantations and elsewhere. The drains were square built, 
 of rough stone, a quantity of small or broken stones being 
 superimposed between the roof of the drain and the soil. 
 
 Immediately after my return from visiting Lukenga 
 Manena a circumstance occurred, which, although perhaps 
 trivial in itself, serves to illustrate some of our adminis- 
 trative difficulties. We had in our service at Luebo an 
 Angolese, by name Jao Domingos, a pure-bred negro, but 
 acquainted with the Portuguese language, able to read and 
 write, and withal, nominally, a Christian. I naturally felt 
 that a man of this kind could be more or less trusted, and 
 accordingly, despite a word of warning from Dr. Wolf, I 
 detached him for service on the Bakete side of the river. 
 There I had placed him as guard of the flock of goats be- 
 longing to the station, which, in consequence of our failure 
 to obtain pasturage for them from Chikabo of Beni-Kashia, 
 were kept on the other side of the Lulua, pursuant to an 
 agreement for their grazing concluded with the Bakete 
 chiefs. I had been home a day or two — a fact of which, as 
 it afterwards appeared, Jao was ignorant — when a couple 
 of miserable goats were received at the station to be entered 
 on the books and branded ; which being done, I forthwith 
 forgot all about the occurrence. Not long after I was per-
 
 ^.V INGENIOUS FRAUD. i6i 
 
 plexed by the arrival of a messenger from a Bashilange- 
 Baluba chief, Debinga Debeha, who resided across the lAihia 
 some six days' march eastward from Lnebo, requesting the 
 gift of a gun. As I had never received a visit from this 
 chief nor come into contact with him in any way, I con- 
 sidered the request unreasonable, and said as much, adding 
 that not only were we unacquainted, but that as Debinga 
 Uebeha had never sent me a present, I did not see whv I 
 should send one to him. To my surprise the messenger, a 
 young man, who was, by-the-bye, the chiefs son, replied that 
 I was surely mistaken, for that his father had only recently 
 sent me a present consisting of two slave-boys, but that his 
 messengers had been told that I would not see them, the 
 present being quite inadequate, and that they must bring 
 in addition a bullock, a girl and a boy. Further conversa- 
 tion and reflection decided me to give the gun, with which 
 the young man departed, promising to return as speedily as 
 possible with the fullest proofs of the truth of his allega- 
 tion. In the meantime, although nothing had transpired 
 which directly implicated Jao, yet my suspicions and the 
 whole circumstances surrounding the transaction pointed 
 him out as the culprit, and I therefore lost no time in 
 sending for him. Being interrogated, Jao at once admitted 
 having encountered Debinga Debeha's messengers, and hav- 
 ing received the present — two goats ; but he asserted that 
 believing me to be away from home, he liad relieved the 
 messengers of their charge, and dismissing them, had sent 
 the goats over to the station to be duly entered in tlie 
 books — a circumstance, he remarked, that must surely be 
 within my knowledge and recollection. He acknowledged 
 
 L
 
 i62 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 receiving- the two lads, and volunteered the statement that 
 he had also sold them for his own profit, but he maintained 
 that they were sent to him by Debinga Debeha in payment 
 of a debt due by that chief, and that they had nothing to do 
 with the present sent for me, which consisted solely of the 
 two goats. Kabembe, the chief of the village where Jao and 
 the goats were located, and who accompanied him on this 
 occasion, confirming all his statements, my perplexity was 
 increased. However, I told Jao that, by his own confession, 
 he had been guilty of a most serious breach of the law in 
 trading in slaves, who, had they come into my hands, would 
 have been immediately emancipated, but that, as he did not 
 appear to have acted from any evil intention, I would this 
 once overlook his misconduct, provided that he would 
 redeem the two unfortunates. This did not satisfy Jao ; he 
 would have no complicity with crime; his probity had been 
 impugned, and he preferred quitting the station ; and con- 
 cluded his protestations by requesting that he might be 
 removed to Luluaburg, where he had a brother in the 
 service of Lieut. Wissmann's expedition, from whom he 
 could obtain the means to repurchase the two slaves, as 
 I demanded that he should. Duly impressed by this edify- 
 ing exhibition of injured honesty and refined feeling, I 
 hastily granted his request, giving him a transfer note for 
 his pay, four days' rations and annnunition for the journey, 
 and I allowed him to take his rifle. Some two days after 
 Jao's departure, Debinga Debeha's son returned with his 
 witnesses, and I had to send for Kabembe. To my amaze- 
 ment, this worthy, on being confronted with the witnesses, 
 reluctantly confessed his cognisance of Jao's fraud, which
 
 DETECTED AND PUNISHED. 163 
 
 had, he admitted, consisted not only in misrepresenting my 
 disposition towards Debinga Debeha, and demanding a 
 larger present, as the witnesses had alleged, but in appro- 
 priating the two lads, and then representing part of the price 
 he had received for them, viz., the two goats, as the present 
 Debinga Debeha had sent to me. Moreover, the story of 
 that chief's indebtedness to Jao turned out to be a pure 
 fabrication. Thus enlightened, I sent forthwith to M. de 
 Mdcar, requesting him to arrest Jao should he arrive at 
 Luluaburg, and to send him to me. At the same time I 
 sent expresses to all the chiefs in those directions whither 
 Jao was likely to turn in order to effect an escape from the 
 country, commanding them to stop the man and bring him 
 uninjured to Luebo, In consequence of these measures, Jao 
 was soon brought into the station, very much against his will 
 indeed, but securely. He had, of course, never attempted to go 
 near Luluaburg, but only to escape to Angola. Other accusa- 
 tions Avere brought forward, and he was tried and convicted 
 of slave-dealing and breach of trust, being finally taken 
 down to the coast, there to undergo two years' hard labour 
 on board the hulk. 
 
 The next event that I have to chronicle in the history 
 of my work at Luebo necessitates a reference to the period 
 of our misunderstanding with the Bakuba, or rather to the 
 week preceding that trying and critical occasion. Not many 
 days after my return from Luluaburg I received a despatch, 
 dated 26th June 1886, which had followed me froui that 
 station. It was accompanied by a letter from M. Le Marinel, 
 and the purport of both communications was that I was to 
 prepare and hold myself in readiness to co-operate at an
 
 1 6+ UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 early date in a military demonstration against the people at 
 Biombe, the Chiplnmba-Bashilange town, or rather towns, 
 situated between the Kasai and Lulua rivers, some three 
 hours' march from Luebo. The chief of that place, Kalonda, 
 a cousin of the churlish Chikabo at Beni-Kashia, was imbued 
 with similar feelings towards the State, and the root of bitter- 
 ness was in both cases one and the same, viz., the intrigues 
 of the Matchioko. These mischief-workers, finding us a 
 hindrance to their own traffic, or suspecting that we should 
 soon become one, lost no time in representing to the Chip- 
 lumba that the authorities of the Congo State came into the 
 country for the one purpose of imposing taxes and oppress- 
 ing the aborigines. This poison, which at Beni-Kashia had 
 produced the immediate result of that hostility towards our- 
 selves which I have already mentioned, developed at Biombe, 
 removed by its situation from all friction with lis, a spirit of 
 rebellion against Calemba. The whole subject had been 
 under discussion w^hen I was at Luluaburg, and it was then 
 determined that I should remonstrate with Chikabo, as already 
 detailed, and that Kalonda should be left to more forcible 
 treatment by Calemba. From the despatch of the 26th of 
 June it now appeared, however, that Kalonda Avas to be 
 brought to reason by a force from Luluaburg under M. Le 
 Marinel, and that Luebo was to form the basis of operations. 
 The news I received from Luluaburg, I may here remark, 
 was to the efi'ect that on the following day Lieut. Wissmann 
 was to set out for Ulungu in company with Kasongo and 
 his party. As things turned out, the demonstration against 
 Biombe never came ofi"; the prolonged absence of Lieut. 
 Wissmann and other deterrent causes delayed the business
 
 INTRIGUES OF THE MATCH lOKO. 165 
 
 at Luluaburg, while at Biombe and Liiebo the mere lapse of 
 time and practical experience of our pacific conduct concilia- 
 ted the native good-will, and gradually produced a better state 
 of feeling both towards Calemba and the State. About the 
 middle of the Bakete harvest, however — in September — cir- 
 cumstances rendered necessary the adoption of active and 
 stringent measures. Food getting scarce, and there being 
 many to feed, I had sent parties far afield to procure grain and 
 other provisions at as reasonable rates as might be met with. 
 Finding that Biombe was the cheapest market and best 
 supplied in the country at the time, my people went thither 
 and returned more than once, making bargains to the satis- 
 faction of all parties. This was precisely what the Matchioko 
 did not desire. They renewed their calumnies against us, 
 and on receiving the reply that while experience had shown 
 us to be inoffensive in conduct, and altogether unlike what 
 had been pictured, yet it was equally clear that we were 
 formidable neighbours, and that it was therefore unadvis- 
 able to disoblige us, the Matchioko rejoined with clamour, 
 insisting that the Bakwa Biombe must decide between 
 friendship with them or with us. Accordingly, valuing 
 above all things the skill of the Matchioko as blacksmiths, 
 the Bakwa Biombe elected to retain their services at the 
 expense of their own trading relations with us, and when 
 next my people came to market, they were insulted, fired 
 upon, and driven off. This being reported to me, I took 
 steps for bringing our neighbours to reason. In tlie iirst 
 place, having acquainted Calemba with this occurrence, I 
 sent messengers to inquire the ground of such behaviour, 
 and demand that the former friendly intercourse should be
 
 1 66 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 restored. These messengers were insulted and dismissed 
 without any reply being given to my message, and all 
 further attempts to open communications having failed, I 
 determined to give the Bakwa Biombe a salutary lesson. 
 The operation I proposed undertaking was of the nature 
 of a surprise, Avith the object of capturing the chief, and 
 detaining him a prisoner until he and his people should 
 give security for better behaviour : it was, of course, in the 
 highest degree desirable to avoid all destruction of life or 
 property, and instructions were issued accordingly. I made 
 a plan of the line of march, and the positions to be occupied, 
 and divided the attacking force into two companies, the 
 larger of which, under the command of Bimba, our inter- 
 preter, and Mohamadi, the Zanzibari niapara, I despatched 
 at nightfall. They were to reach the vicinity of Biombe as 
 speedily as possible, halting there some hours for rest, and 
 were finally to take up a position close to the towns about 
 3 A.M. I myself went down the river later with the smaller 
 force, landing at two o'clock, and proceeded through the 
 dense forest along the beaten track towards the towns. I 
 was careful to send out feelers in advance along either 
 flank, but we arrived at our destination without misad- 
 venture of any kind. We had, of course, brought rockets 
 with us, and on coming within a short distance of the 
 stockade fired one — the appointed signal — which had 
 scarcely burst when our co-operating party fired a volley, and 
 we all advanced to enter the town. The Bakwa Biombe 
 were not wholly taken by surprise, and they resisted a short 
 time, so that we had seven men wounded. However, we 
 succeeded in our object without much further difficulty,
 
 KALONDA'S PUNISHMENT. 167 
 
 capturing Kalonda and taking him away a prisoner. We 
 marched back to the landing-place, leaving the towns and 
 plantations uninjured, the land party returning by the river's 
 bank and keeping parallel with us. The Bakwa Biombc 
 were greatly alarmed by this prompt manifestation of our 
 power, and fled temporarily from their towns. After a few 
 days, when their return and submission had been reported 
 to me, I restored Kalonda under certain conditions and 
 promises, and I believe that he was more impressed by the 
 mildness of the restraint imposed upon him during his brief 
 captivity than by the promptitude with which he had been 
 arrested. 
 
 The last agricultural, or quasi-agricultural, operation over 
 which I presided at Luebo was the making of gi'ound-nut 
 oil. Our crop of these nuts being ingathered, I reserved 
 some for seed, and devoted the remainder to the manu- 
 facture of oil. The method I adopted (which is that 
 pursued by the Zingas) is as follows : — The ground-nuts are 
 reduced to a kind of coarse flour by pounding them in a 
 mortar. This flour, which is highly oleaginous, is rolled up 
 into large balls, and is in that form exposed to the sun until 
 the oil is seen to distil from the balls, wdiich are then 
 crumbled by very small quantities into a mortar, boiling 
 water being added with each quantity of flour. As the mass 
 increases in the mortar, it is most carefully pressed, and 
 worked with clean peeled sticks. By means of this pressure 
 the oil is separated from the pulp or residuum of flour, 
 which is, of course, disintegrated by the boiling water. The 
 oil being then poured off", the remaining flour is further 
 subjected to a process of wringing in a cloth, by which
 
 i68 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 means yet more oil is extracted. All the oil is then set over 
 the fire in large cooking-pots, and when brought to the boil- 
 ing-point the heat is abated, and so regulated as to keep the 
 oil at the same temperature for some days. This amount of 
 heat gradually brings all impurities to the surface as a scum, 
 which is carefully removed from time to time until the oil 
 is perfectly clear like the finest olive-oil, which it closely 
 resembles in flavour, or rather, absence of flavour. It is 
 then allowed to cool, and is bottled off for use. In this 
 manner I made about twenty gallons of oil, which was 
 highly appreciated by all who tasted it ; but there are other 
 and more frequently adopted methods of extracting it, which 
 result in the manufacture of a very inferior article, that 
 has brought discredit upon ground-nut oil in the world of 
 commerce. 
 
 Senhor Carvalho, whose business at Luebo I have omitted 
 to say was canoe-building, had now (Nov. 1886) been some 
 time absent from the station. He had gone to Muansangoma, 
 to procure ivory, with which he returned to Luebo, in order 
 that he might send it down to the coast on board the 
 Stanley, which might be coming up at any time. He was 
 also shipping the ivory he had already stored with us, a total 
 altogether of considerably more than one hundred points. 
 While he was away I had, at his request, looked after the 
 canoe-building, which had been so far successful in that he 
 now possessed two really fine canoes of large size, and 
 several smaller. The idea of the partners was to utilise the 
 river down to Kwamouth as a highway by which to carry 
 their merchandise to the riparian tribes. Whether this idea 
 be really practicable or not remained to be proved when I
 
 THE SAN FORD EXPEDITION. 169 
 
 left the district, but my own opinion is, that although the 
 punishments inflicted upon the towns of the predatory 
 Basongo-Meno may have sufficed to make the river safe for 
 the passage of any boats or canoes, it is assuming too much 
 to conclude that it must therefore be safe for traders to 
 sojourn amongst the inhabitants, coming and going from 
 town to town, and trafficking, it might be for days at a time, 
 in one place or another. In fact, I am sadly afraid that 
 should he have attempted thus to carry out his plan, all that 
 is mortal of Senhor Antonio Lopes de Carvalho may be now 
 long since assimilated to the baser nature of some sable 
 warrior upon the banks of the Kasai, 
 
 When the Stanleij at last arrived — in December 1886 — 
 she had been long expected. There were on board, besides 
 M. Legat, who was to succeed me at Luebo, Lieut. Taunt, 
 United States Navy, and the Commercial Agent of the State 
 from Leopoldville. Lieut. Taunt was at that time in command 
 of the Sanford expedition, which had been organised by, and 
 largely at the expense of, General Sanford, the United States 
 Minister at Brussels. Its object was to explore the Congo 
 and its tributaries, with the view of acquiring the most 
 reliable and exact statistics that might be obtained as to the 
 commercial capabilities of the vast countries lying within 
 their drainage area, the present state of trade in those 
 regions, and the disposition and nature of the inhabitants. 
 This was a necessary preliminary to the formation of a rail- 
 way between Mposo and Leopoldville or Kinchasa : a work 
 of supreme importance for the future of the Congo State. 
 My term of service having expired, I was now about to 
 return to Europe. Under some circumstances 1 would
 
 I70 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 gladly have embraced the opportunity afforded me of en- 
 countering new adventures and seeing other countries in 
 the vast basin of the Congo, in farthering the objects of 
 the Sanford expedition ; but many signs warned me that my 
 health, which had been wonderfully good throughout the 
 whole period of my life on the Kasai, required recruiting. 
 So when I had embarked my effects, and taken a somewhat 
 regretful farewell of Senhor Carvalho and many friends 
 amongst the natives — Lieut. Wissmann, who had left Lulua- 
 burs: for the East Coast on the i6th of November, had 
 written me a most kind adieu on the previous day — I went 
 on board the Stanley, and looked my last upon the dark 
 woods and swirling waters of Luebo on the i8th of 
 December 1886. 
 
 A few particulars as to our voyage to Leopoldville will 
 bring my narrative of the first ascent of the Kasai to a 
 conclusion. Nothing of any moment occurred until, on the 
 fourth day after leaving Luebo, we ran upon a snag, which so 
 injured one of the floats of the paddle-wheel that we had to 
 camp at the nearest available island for repairs. This was 
 no great distance above the Basongo-Meno towns burnt by 
 us in the October of the preceding year, and as we had very 
 much less ammunition than we ought to have had, our situa- 
 tion might thus, in an enemy's land, have become somewhat 
 critical. As it happened, however, the wheel was effectually 
 cobbled, and we continued our voyage on the following day 
 without further adventure. Passing the mouth of the 
 Nzali Mpini, we stopped for about half an hour in order to 
 obtain firewood at the island of Kimeh. In our ascent of 
 the river we had not visited this singular spot, which is con-
 
 KIM EH. 1 7 , 
 
 spiciioiis from a considerable distance by reason of its lofty 
 trees. It would appear that for ages this island has been 
 held sacred by the Wabuma as the burial-place of their 
 kings, who lie here interred beneath numerous tumuli and 
 under the ghostly protection of their tutelary fetish. The 
 sepulchral mounds, overshadowed by lofty redwood and 
 similar trees, are formed of well-beaten earth, and are about 
 sixteen feet long, of rather less breadth, and eight feet in 
 height. They are kept fairly free from grass and weeds, and 
 are studded with stones and bits of broken crockery, some 
 choice specimens of the latter being fixed upon poles erected 
 on the mounds. I looked into the fetish-house, and saw 
 many figures of various sizes, male and female, all of them 
 equally hideous and obscene. The island may measure 
 about 2^ miles in length, with a breadth of one mile, and 
 is densely wooded. The only inhabitants we saw were the 
 people who kept the graves, and who had on hand a large 
 stock of firewood, from which they 'svere very glad to sell us 
 a supply at a fair price. 
 
 On the eighth day of our voyage we arrived at Kwaraouth, 
 where we were most warmly welcomed and hospitably enter- 
 tained by the Superior and Fathers of the French Mission, to 
 whom the station buildings and enclosures have been handed 
 over. It was intended to establish a new governmental 
 station on the opposite or right bank of the Kwa, and the 
 site had been marked out before our visit : very proljubly 
 the rapid changes effected by the climate have long since 
 obliterated all traces of anything of the kind. Although only 
 some six months had elapsed since the worthy Fathers had 
 entered into possession, a large number of improvements had
 
 172 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 been completed in the badly constructed and worse planned 
 station. The water at the landing-place had been deepened, 
 so that steamers could come close inshore, large gardens and 
 plantations had been laid out and brought into cultivation, 
 whose productiveness was testified by an abundant supply of 
 excellent vegetables, including some superb tomatos which 
 the good Fathers kindly gave us. The wretched tumble-down 
 house that stood in the centre of the station had been re- 
 moved, a new kitchen erected, and all the other buildings thor- 
 oughly repaired. The Superior entertained us at luncheon, 
 and I w^as delighted to meet my former acquaintance, the 
 Abbe Krafft, whom I had last seen at Isanghila. The solitari- 
 ness of my recent life, broken only by the limited, and occa- 
 sionally uncongenial company of Europeans, contrasted with 
 the engaging manners, the witty and cultured conversation, 
 the simple but dignified hospitality of the company in which 
 I now found myself, did not fail to impress me deeply ; 
 it made me feel already returned and welcomed back to 
 civilisation ; W'hile the sacred character of my hosts, no less 
 than their gentle breeding, brought one nearer to the Source 
 from which that civilisation springs. And there is another 
 contrast which always recurs to me whenever I encounter 
 the Fathers of the Catholic Mission in Africa, viz., the 
 enormous difference between missionaries and missionaries, 
 between the highly-born and educated man of great intel- 
 lectual power, and, it may be, knowledge of the world, who, 
 in a divine enthusiasm for the work, abandons all the prizes 
 that the world can give, and the less than half-educated 
 sectary to whom the mission-field abroad offers a solid 
 advancement from uncertain and ill-paid occupations at
 
 THE MISSION AT KWAMOUTH. 173 
 
 home, and who may possibly, if smart eiiougli, turn out a 
 good geographer, but rarely indeed an efficient pioneer of 
 Christianity. The Fathers had built a small house to serve 
 as an oratory, but as yet there was no attempt at a church. 
 I make no doubt, however, but that, when it shall Inue 
 become a necessity, the church will be there. These men 
 are competent missionaries : personal contact with the 
 people ; the going about amongst them doing tlicm physical 
 good ; the bettering the general condition of their lives — 
 these things are made to accompany preaching, and to pre- 
 cede theology; and since such was also the method of the 
 First Teacher of Christianity, it is not wonderful that the 
 success of these priests should be sometimes proportionate 
 to their consistency. There is at Kwamouth a large native 
 population within hearing of the mission-bell, and as it daily 
 sings at morn and noon and night the first of all the gospel 
 canticles, we may well hope that ere long it shall not find 
 its only echo in the mighty rivers and the waving woods, but 
 also in the living hearts and lives of men. 
 
 AVe encamped this evening at Ibani, on the south bank 
 of the Congo, and on the following day, the ninth of our 
 voyage, we reached Leopoldville early in the afternoon. 
 At Kinchasa, where we disembarked Lieut. Taunt, we had 
 the pleasure of seeing Mr. Swinburne again ; and at Leopold- 
 ville we were welcomed by M. Le Marinel, Senior, chief of 
 station ; Captain Yangele, administrator of the Upper Congo ; 
 M. Steleman, commercial agent ; and other Europeans i)revi- 
 ously known to us. 
 
 Thus the record of my experiences in connection A\illi 
 the first attempt to plant civilisation in a vast region of
 
 174 
 
 UNDER THE LONE STAR. 
 
 Central Africa is closed. I trust the narration of circum- 
 stances of which, be they great or small, it must be written 
 "ef quorum joars magna fui'' may be helpful to others 
 similarly placed, and of interest to all Avho have at heart 
 the regeneration of long-degraded races of their fellow-mcn. 
 
 KALLINA POINT.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Note A. — African Servants. 
 
 Kegeo servants, if good, are justly renowned for fidelity and efficiency, 
 and those cliaracteristics are not less marked in their own land than in 
 Enrope and America. During my African experiences I had a large 
 number of servants through my hands, of whom the majority gave 
 me satisfaction. Some of the least satisfactory were Christians, and 
 quite the worst, a young fellow known as John Henry, having been 
 trained in Bishop Steere's Mission at Zanzibar, wrote and spoke English 
 perfectly, but was a fearful drunkard, and an accomplished, mischievous, 
 and impudent liar. Of the two servants whom I took with me on 
 the voyage up the Kasai, the elder, a huge and very ugly Houssa, 
 named Bakari Egba-Ali, a Moliammedan, was the best servant I ever 
 had or ever man need wish to have : trutliful, faithful, and ingeniously 
 expert in all things pertaining to personal attendance. I have much 
 cause to feel grateful to him for his unwearied and self-denying 
 attention in health and sickness. Before he came into my service 
 he had been shamefully ill-used by his master, an Englishman, I am 
 sorry to say, but presumably unaccustomed to the command of ser- 
 vants in his native land. Bakari and I parted with mutual regret. 
 The other servant, a lad named Mualo, a native of Lutete, was a 
 faithful creature, a fact proved by his voluntarily offering to accom- 
 pany me up the Kasai, at that time a nanjc of ill savour down the 
 Congo. 
 
 Note B. — Central African Scenery and its Critics. 
 
 I have (in the text) below pointedly remarked the occasional 
 beauty and variety of the African forest in the same spirit as 1 iiave
 
 176 APPENDIX. 
 
 here admitted (and ascribed to wliat I believe to be its true cause) 
 that feeling of desolation with which the Congo scenery impresses 
 the beholder. It is pure affectation to pretend that the sunlight in 
 Equatorial Africa is unlike the sunlight in Equatorial anywhere else, 
 or that the magnificent tiora which contributes to the glory of many 
 an European hothouse is incapable of endowing with the smallest 
 interest or beauty the land that gives it birth ; but! I am sorry to 
 observe that although this affectation is as absurd as its pretensions 
 are false, yet it is nevertheless fashionable. Poor Mr. Smellfungus 
 could never see good in anything except in himself, but then, of course, 
 that v/as what nobody else could see. Not much happier are such 
 writers in their complaints as to the impoverishing character of the 
 food obtainable in Central Africa : their only ground of plausible 
 excuse being the impossibility of their glutting themselves with vulgar 
 masses of British beef, stodgy potatoes, and bile-creating beer. 
 
 Note C. — Forest Trees and Plants. 
 
 Besides the two or three remarkable trees mentioned in the text, 
 there are others almost equally beautiful and of great utility. The 
 bamboos and palms are as well known as they are universally useful. 
 The Cottonwood tree is often to be seen towering above the rest of the 
 forest to a height little short of 200 feet. It is deciduous, and is 
 noticeable both for its immense height, the curious buttress-like supports 
 which grow up from its roots on all sides, and its smooth slate-grey 
 coloured trunk rising branchless almost to the point at which the 
 umbrella-like crown terminates its upward growth. The wood of this 
 tree is perfectly white, very soft, and, when seasoned, as light as cork. 
 It is used for a variety of purposes, and out of the flat slabs obtained 
 from the buttresses the natives form platters and dishes. The Kusio- 
 Jcusu — another lofty, straight, and branchless tree — is much used for 
 " dug-out " canoes. The leaves are leathery, dark, and evergreen. 
 The water-loving Redwood also occasionally attains a great height, 
 although its habit of growth is somewhat spreading. Its foliage, 
 which is very dark and glossy, grows in dense and handsome 
 masses. Very similar is the Camwood, from which the red powder
 
 APPENDIX. J -7 
 
 of native commerce is obtained. The Teak tree must be reckoned 
 amongst the larger timber trees, and is common enough: tall and 
 straight, with dark, glossy foliage, decidedly handsome. The Siikabu 
 is also a lofty tree, often growing to a height of from 100 to 150 feet. 
 In form and outline it much resembles the silver fir, though its folia<Te 
 is of course— for it is not a conifer — utterly dissimilar. The bark is 
 rough, and brown in colour ; the branches leave the trunk almost at 
 right angles ; and the leaves, dark hued and lanceolate, are evergreen. 
 This tree is chiefly valued on account of its resinous exudations, which 
 are used in the manufacture of torches, known on the coast as " bush 
 candles." The Baohah, another forest giant, is, in my opinion, unsightly, 
 although it has many admirers. Its most striking peculiarity is the 
 position of the fruit, which hang singly on long caudicles — I lack a 
 more exact word — from two to six feet from the parent stem, precisely, 
 of course, where the blossoms have been. It is always grotesquely 
 branched, and differently in different specimens; some possessing 
 great undivided trunks, and others branching almost from the ground. 
 There are no twigs properly so called — only small but comparatively 
 thick branchlets, from which the leaves and the long flower-stems 
 grow. The bark, which is quite smooth and somewhat glossy, is grey 
 in colour, and the evergreen foliage, which is very sparse, is light 
 green. The blossom is large, something like an enormously exaggerated 
 myrtle flower, and of a greenish white colour. The fruit is a curious 
 gourd-like globe, with a velvety surface, at first green, but ripening 
 into brown. In size the fruit varies from a diameter of four inches 
 to one of eight. On being opened, a fibrous brush-like lining to the 
 shell is laid bare, which is utilised for brushes and scrubbers. The 
 wood is worthless, but Senhor Monteiro, believing that excellent paper 
 could be manufactured from this tree, experimented successfully wiili 
 the inner bark, and eventually established a small mill with suitable 
 machinery for the manufacture at Maculla on the west coast, north of 
 Ambrizette. The natives, however, judged that Senhor Monteiro and 
 his machinery were weaving charms and a diabolical fetish against them, 
 and they accordingly soon made an end of the whole concern by smash- 
 ing up and destroying the mill and its contents. Amongst less lofty 
 trees we have the acacias already named, with flowers pink, white, and 
 
 M
 
 J78 APPENDIX. 
 
 yellow; ieoihexj mimosas ; the ebony tree, the ^?'6or 'vitce, and many 
 others the names of which I do not know. Two of the most note- 
 worthy of the trees of moderate height are the hush mangrove and the 
 Banyan or Saffu. The former is chiefly remarkable for resemblance to 
 its salt-marsh kinsman, from which, however, it differs in that it is 
 a deciduous tree, and lacks those peculiarities which make its rela- 
 tive a harbourer of pestilence. The Saffic, a most umbrageous tree, is 
 always planted by the natives in their towns, where its shade affords a 
 convenient shelter for the village conclave. The fruit, closely resem- 
 bling in appearance a magnum-bonum plum, though larger, is very acid. 
 As an article of food it is best roasted on the wood ashes, and so 
 roasted is frequently made up into a very agreeable confection with 
 sugar and cream. There are two remarkable trees very commonly to 
 be met M'ith bearing quantities of fruit which, although of large size 
 and tempting appearance, are useless for food, whatever their medicinal 
 qualities may or may not be. The Elephant-apple or Jack-fruit tree 
 •is a denizen of the woodlands, where it grows to a considerable size 
 in moist soils. The apple, as it is called, is considerably larger than 
 the average unhusked cocoa-nut, and when ripe is a gorgeous-looking 
 fruit, bearing all shades of yellow, from a pale lemon colour to the 
 most brilliant orange. Its outer skin is marked and embossed in small 
 hexagonal compartments, which, on an attempt being made to tear 
 them off, are found to -continue through to the centre of the fruit, 
 precisely like the sections of a fir cone. As an article of food, how- 
 ever, this superb-looking fruit is utterly disappointing, being slightly 
 sweet indeed, but very dry, and redolent of turpentine. The natives 
 use it for "medicine." The utmost praise I can bestow upon it is to 
 say that I believe it is not poisonous. The other M'ild fruit tree that 
 I allude to is called " Zilu " by the natives, and is to be found every- 
 where on the grassy plains and old clearings in tlie neighbourhood of 
 villages. It is a low-growing, round-topped tree, with rather bright 
 evergreen leaves. The blossom is white and star-shaped, but unin- 
 teresting. The fruit, quite globular in shape and smooth skinned, of 
 the size of a large orange, is remarkable for the changes its colour 
 undergoes in the process of ripening : green, lead-colour, and finally 
 oramre. The rind is extremelv thick, and almost as tough as wood.
 
 APPENDIX. 179 
 
 The interior contains a yellow pulp, very sweet, but painfully astrin- 
 gent. The natives employ it as " medicine," but not for food. Lieut. 
 Wissmann ate two of these fruits, and in consequence suffered a good 
 deal from nausea. He stated that the fruit contains strychnia, and I 
 believe that it is slightly poisonous. Throughout the forest multitudes 
 of creeping plants and trees are to be found, notably the indiarubber 
 vine (not the small-leaved Ficus rcpens of our English hothouses), the 
 creeping bamboo, the orchilla weed, and many other parasites, as 
 ferns and orchids, which drape the greater stems and weave the lesser 
 trees into an impenetrable screen, or bring fresh light and beauty into 
 many a shady place. There are a multitude of shrubs, many of them 
 of great beauty, curious plants, ferns, and mosses, some known indeed 
 to botanists and collectors, but many more, I am persuaded, still await- 
 ing discovery and classification. 
 
 Note D. — The Kwango. 
 
 The upper part of the river Kwango was thoroughly explored in 
 1883 by Major Mechow, who descended the river until within 100 miles 
 of the Kwa, where farther navigation downward was stopped by the 
 very considerable falls to which that explorer has given his name. 
 Subsequently Lieut. Massari ascended the Kwango until within a short 
 distance of Mechow Falls, but he had to return owing to lack of provi- 
 sions. The river is about 900 miles long, and deep, but swift and 
 narrow. For long portions of its course it is navigable, but not continu- 
 ously. It drains a large area lying at a much higher elevation tliau that 
 of the Kasai, into which stream it falls at 3° ly' 30" S., 17° 45' F. 
 
 Note E. — The Lukenye. 
 
 It is as yet (March 1888) uncertain where the Lukenye debouches. 
 That there is such a river the reports of Portuguese traders, and 
 the partial exploration by Lieut. Kund of the Berlin African Explo- 
 ration Society, sufficiently demonstrate. If it joins the Kasai at 
 all as an independent stream — and I believe that I am justilicd 
 in saying that Lieut. Kund is of opinion that it does — it must join
 
 i8o APPENDIX. 
 
 it at this point (Mount Pogge) and at none other. It is just possible, 
 however, that the river which Mr. Stanley observed issuing into the 
 Nzali Mpini on its left bank shortly before he discovered Lake 
 Leopold IL, and which in his chart he would identify with the 
 Kasai — the magnitude of which stream he must have underrated 
 enormously — is the Lukeny^. But there is more than one curious 
 point connected with Lake Leopold II. which from its discovery has 
 remained unsolved, and I should not be surprised if by far the greater 
 portion of what its discoverer calls its southern (really eastern) shore 
 should prove to be a vast island contained between the lake and a 
 lacustrine river leaving it wliere Mr. Stanley notes " submerged forest " 
 or "submerged laud," and coming out into the Nzali Mpini, where I 
 have remarked that it may be barely possible that the Lukenye dis- 
 charges its waters. 
 
 Note F. — Basongo Meno. 
 
 In employing this designation for the wild tribes upon the Kasai, 
 I must explain that I am perfectly well aware that there is no people 
 or nation to whom the term specially applies, and that the term itself 
 (of Bakongo origin) simply describes a people with filed or broken teeth : 
 in point of fact, the designation has been used for tribes otherwise very 
 dissimilar and inhabiting the Aruwhimi region. I use it faute de 
 mieux because others use it, and because it is convenient to have some 
 general term for those nearly related tribes inhabiting the banks of the 
 Middle Kasai, and who, however much they may differ from each other, 
 differ still more from their Wabuma and Bayanzi neighbours on the 
 one hand, and the Bakuba, Shammatuka, and Bakete on the other. 
 As a matter of fact, we know very little about them indeed, and 
 despite the pretentious divisions and nomenclature of the recently 
 published Gotha map, we can know but very little about them for an 
 indefinite period to come. They certainly are not kin to the Bangalas 
 of the Congo, though I myself hold that they are closely connected, 
 if not identical, with the Tucongo, and have consequently a south- 
 eastern origin. If anybody knows anything at all about these people, 
 it is Dr. Wolf, who has, I believe, a theory of his own upon the sub-
 
 APPENDIX. i8i 
 
 ject — a theory, however, with which I am not acquainted. As to the 
 names and allotments of these tribes and districts as given in the map 
 above referred to, all I can say is that they are nearly all Ki-Swahili 
 names, manifestly given by Zanzibaris to inquiring geographers either 
 in description or derision of the people to whom they are applied ; e.g., 
 "Muana Makima" = >S'o?is of monkeys ; "Ben-ngonde" = 3foons( ruck folk. 
 It should be remembered that however much akin Ki-Swahili is to some 
 languages of Oongoland, it has no practical connection whatever with 
 those of the Basongo Meno, Tu Congo, or Shammatuka tribes. 
 
 Note G. — Vermin and Household Pests. 
 
 The mosquitos that emanated from the lagoon at Luebo were a 
 serious annoyance in the station, as were also swarms of midges. We 
 were plagued with multitudes of house-flies, and the common man- 
 grove fly, a blood relation to the horse-fly or clegg of our northern 
 British moors, was numerous. There were a few tarantula spiders, 
 scorpions both black and grey, chiefly the latter, centipedes, tliough 
 rare, hornets of three different kinds, and a species of wasp building in 
 the houses. In the station itself there were no white ants, though 
 there was an abundance of them close at hand, and we rarely had any 
 snakes inside our palisades : mice and rats were also uncommon. We 
 had no chigoes — the chigger of the West Indies — but doubtless they 
 are by this time introduced at Luebo, along with civilisation, from the 
 coast. It is said that they die out in places which they have infested 
 for twenty years. 
 
 Note H. — Udamha Song. 
 
 The song most commonly sung during the Ihiamba smoking at 
 nights in the Lubuku towns is a short and extremely simple melody, 
 taken up indiscriminately by men and women, some singing the air, 
 while others sustain a rude liarmony or beat time on the tom-toms. 
 Occasionally it seemed to me that (doubtless by accident) the voices 
 were singing the melody in canon. Subsequently, on writing it down,
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 I saw that my ear had not deceived me : the repeat occurs in the sixth 
 bar. It may be noted as follows : — 
 
 Con spirito. 
 
 Voce. 
 
 Tymp. 
 
 =^-d=:zMz 
 
 h«l=it 
 
 :=q=1: 
 
 jM=^ 
 
 :^: 
 
 M'lengi moio, Bwdl^ moio, Banto, zito n'dei, 
 
 S: 
 
 :f=f^ 
 
 1=: 
 
 M'lengi moio, 
 
 I3=§^ 
 
 
 It 
 
 m 
 
 -h — I — 1-- 
 
 r9 ^ wzl- - 
 
 I 
 
 :^te 
 
 M'lengi 
 
 Bwel^ 
 
 zito n'dei, 
 
 :f=i=^ 
 
 moio Bvv^ld 
 
 g^ 
 
 Bw^le moio, Banto 
 
 zito 
 
 n'dei 
 
 Bw^l^ moio, 
 
 ZftZT-fZ 
 
 f:=^=ftr 
 
 
 :f^:ft:tf:=:~r:fz 
 
 I 
 
 fLi^ftrhezz^ez 
 
 t=t 
 
 %: 
 
 n'dei. M'lengi moio, Bwel^ 
 
 :^=P 
 
 eI 
 
 :^ 
 
 ^=P: 
 
 giigi^ 
 
 - &c. 
 
 Its performance takes place after the Ivinsu has made one or two 
 rounds, and is prefaced by a prelude of drumming in strict time on the 
 tom-toms (ndunga). A man starts up and delivers in wild recitative 
 a rhythmical verse or verses upon topical subjects of the day. The 
 verse is destitute of rhyme — I question much whether the Bashilange 
 have any idea of rhyme — and is delivered in monotone to the accompani-
 
 APPENDIX. 183 
 
 ment of the toiu-toms. At a point in their recitative the chorus break 
 in, the women generally leading off, and the refrain is repeated and 
 kept up for a longer or shorter period ; — the words being pure rubbish. 
 Those given above simply mean, " Welcome, brethren, welcome heartily ; 
 with us all men are kin." Then another reciter stands forth probablv 
 less coherent in his utterances than the former, and the performance is 
 repeated and repeated, together with the concomitant smoking, cough- 
 ing, and screeching, literally usq7ie ad nauseam. I ought to observe that 
 in the above " score " the second part is written in the bass cleff for 
 convenience of distinction merely. 
 
 Note J. — Luluku. 
 
 Lubuku may be described as a secret society or organisation of 
 which the Bashilange-Baluba king is ex officio the head, but it is 
 primarily a social organisation, and only indirectly of political import- 
 ance. I call it a secret society, not only because its rules, regulations, 
 signs, and working are secret, but because the very aims and objects of 
 its existence are unknown to outsiders, while its initiatory rites have 
 never (despite many pretences to the contrary) been witnessed by an 
 uninitiated person or revealed to an European. Certain external 
 evidences of its inward nature are, however, sufficiently obvious to 
 all who care to investigate the subject. One thing it does not effect, 
 and that is anything tangible in the way of philanthropy. On the 
 contrary, the Ihiamba smoking whicli it encourages has a most disas- 
 trous effect on both the health and wealth of its devotees and the villages 
 they inhabit. A dark inference as to its true nature may be drawn 
 from the lax, and, indeed, promiscuous intercourse which it promotes 
 between the sexes, for although Lubuku does not profess to interfere 
 with marriage as an institution, yet by its establishing a conunuuily of 
 wives (and consequently of husbands, for the sexes are treated on an 
 equality) amongst its members, it saps the very foundations of social 
 propriety. Another indication of its licentious nature is afforded by 
 the customs observed at the marriages of its male members, and repeated 
 for three successive nights, in which all decency is outraged m the 
 most revolting and most public way imaginable. The initiator}- rites
 
 i84 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 of the society are performed generally by the King or by Meta Sau- 
 kolla on an islet in the Lulua a short distance above Luluabiirg, but, 
 as I have observed above, what those rites may be nobody knows. 
 There are no funereal ceremonies observed at the death or burial of a 
 member of this fraternity, but it is to be remembered that obsequies of 
 any kind are unknown amongst the Bashilange, although, in common 
 with most African races, and unlike the Basongo Meno, who utilise 
 the bodies of departing relatives, they bury their dead with all requi- 
 site decency. 
 
 Note K. — Tevij^cratiire, dx., during the Wet and Dry Seasons at Luebo. 
 
 Average of Barometer Eeadings at Luebo. 
 
 Barometer (Uolosteric) Station, 1650 feet over sea-level. 
 
 Month. 
 
 7 A.M. 
 
 2 P.M. 
 
 9 P.M. 
 
 July (dry) .... 
 August (dry) 
 October (wet) 
 November (wet) 
 
 1 734-25 
 1 734-5 
 
 735-0 
 733-25 
 
 734-75 
 
 732-75 
 
 Thermometer Readings at Luebo. 
 
 Centigrade Thermometers by Greiner tt Son, Berlin. 
 
 Month. 
 
 7 A.M. 
 
 2 P.M. 
 
 9 P.M. 
 
 July 
 
 August .... 
 October .... 
 November .... 
 
 j 19-5 
 ] 22.5 
 
 30-5 
 36-5 
 
 23-5 
 
 25.5 
 
 Highest point reached in months ^ ^ ^, 
 ° ^ ( October . 
 
 Lowest point reached in months < J^ ^, 
 
 ^ I October . 
 
 Prevailing Avinds during the day (dry season) 
 
 „ „ „ (wet season) 
 
 „ „ night (dry season) 
 
 „ ,, ,, (wet season) 
 
 35-5 
 
 40.5 
 
 17-5 
 
 21.75 
 
 S.S.E. & S. 1 E. 
 
 S.E. & E.S.E. 
 
 N.N.W. & N. 1 E. 
 
 W.N.^Y. & W.'i N.
 
 APPENDIX. 185 
 
 The rainy season begins about the second week in September, and 
 continues variably until the third week of April. Heavy rains com- 
 mence in November, and last about six weeks, being accompanied by 
 severe thunderstorms and tornados. The rivers are at their highest 
 level in March, and lowest in August. Altogether the climate is 
 extremely damp, and had it not been for the excellent air-tight uniform- 
 cases supplied to me by Messrs. Silver of Cornhill (whose travellers' 
 and explorers' requisites I can thoroughly recommend), not only would 
 all my papers have perished, but I should have been destitute of cloth- 
 ing long before my term of service at Luebo had expired.
 
 MAP 
 
 of the navijgatle porlloiis of tlie 
 
 SvASAI MiVEai 
 
 e.g. L\TROBE BATE MAN. 
 
 n
 
 INDEX. 
 
 A. 
 
 Acacias, 13, 132, and Appendix C. 
 
 African servants, Appendix A. 
 
 Alligators, 59, 79, 155. 
 
 Ambakistas, 125. 
 
 Anibrizette, Appendix C. 
 
 Andersson, Liexit., 4, 52, 103. 
 
 Angelus, the, at Kwamouth, 173- 
 
 Angola, 2, 46, 163. 
 
 Angolese, ride En Avant crew, and 125. 
 
 Ant-bear, 155. 
 
 Antelopes, 13, 154, 155. 
 
 Ants, 155. 
 
 Apes, 132, 155. ' . 
 
 Aquatic birds, 53, 59. 
 
 Arabs, 94. 
 
 Arachis, vide Ground-nut. 
 
 Arms (Basongo-Meno), 41. 
 
 Arts, 34, 73. 
 
 B. 
 
 Bailunda, 22, 23, 82. 
 Bakari, Appendix A. 
 Bakete, 19, 22, 23. 
 
 chiefs as allies, 145. 
 
 described, 68. 
 
 industries, 69-73. 
 
 hunting, 152, 153. 
 
 hunters, accident to, 149, 1 50. 
 
 plantations, 68. 
 
 Bakuba, 21, 22, 54. 
 
 cloth, 21. 
 
 fishermen, 56. 
 
 head-dress, 54. 
 
 misunderstanding with, 142 I46. 
 
 Bakvveiigi Babiaha, 22, 57. 
 Baluba, 19. 
 
 and Bakuba, an incident, 55. 
 
 Bashilange, 19, 20. 
 
 Chipluniba, 63, 64, 105. 
 
 Balungu, 23, 123, 124. 
 Bambangala, 154. 
 Bamboo (creeping), 1 3, 13 1. 
 Banana, lOl. 
 
 Bananas, 16, 34, 45, 147. 
 Banyhn, 69, and Appendix C. 
 Baobab, 5, and Appendix C. 
 Bashilange, vide Baluba. 
 Basongo-Meno, 17, 39, an<l Appendix F. 
 
 arts and utensils, 40. 
 
 houses, 37, 41. 
 
 language not understood by inter- 
 preters or by Baluba, 42. 
 
 women and youth, 42. 
 
 Bateke, 8. 
 
 Bats, 25, 132, 149, 153. 
 
 Batua Bankonko, 23, 68, 85, 145- 
 
 Batua Basinji, 23. 
 
 Bayanzi, 24. 
 
 canoe incident, S. 
 
 Beans, 142. 
 
 Beetroot, 1 4 2. 
 
 Bellows, curious Basongo-Meno, 44. 
 
 Benguela, 78. 
 
 Beni Kashia, 64, 105, 134-137. 
 
 Beni Muamba, 106, 128- 1 30. 
 
 Beni Ndumba, 126, 127. 
 
 Bibuko, 27, 28. 
 
 Bihanos, 156, 157. 
 
 Bihe, 157. 
 
 Biniba, 166. 
 
 Biombe, 64, 164-167. 
 
 Bittern, 132. 
 
 Bombax, 13, and Appendix C. 
 
 Boa-constrictor, 155. 
 
 Borassus palm, 45. 
 
 Bosjie-Massari, 31, 32. 
 
 I'ufTalous, 38, 131, 132 
 
 Bugslag, Herr, 2, 107, 
 
 Bull-frogs, 133. 
 
 I'ullock, an eccentric, loS. 
 
 liurning brandy, an incident, 120. 
 
 Busii-pig, 155. 
 
 Cabhage, 69, 142. 
 
 Calemba, 2, 4,67, 112, 1 15 119, 164, 165. 
 and Appendix J. 
 
 . 153. «54- 
 109, 121.
 
 i88 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Cameron, Commander, R.N., 69 (foot- 
 note', 78, 124, 157. 
 Camwood, Appendix C. 
 Camp above laterite cliffs (i6th Oct.), 34. 
 
 at Beni-Kashia, 105, 134-137. 
 
 at Be!ii-Muamba, 129, 130. 
 
 at Bosjie-Massari, 31. 
 
 at ChinyaTiia, 107. 
 
 at Chitabo on Miaw, 107. 
 
 at deserted fishin(r-villa<ce on Lulua, 
 
 59-60. 
 
 at deserted town beyond Beni Mu- 
 
 amba, 106. 
 
 at deserted town beyond Musisi, 106. 
 
 at deserted Wabnma fishing-town, 25. 
 
 at Gates of the Pool, 5, 
 
 at Ibani, 173. 
 
 at Luangi mouth, 45, 46, 
 
 at last borassus palm, 45. 
 
 at Mallag6h5nd, 28. 
 
 at Mbembo, 25. 
 
 at Musskwa (scene of wreck), 7-9. 
 
 at Nganebecca, 30. 
 
 at Sankoro mouth, 49-53. 
 
 near deserted village (17th Oct.), 
 
 35- 
 
 on island (22nd Oct.), 39. 
 
 on island (23rd, 24th, and 25th Oct.), 
 
 39-43- 
 on island (2nd Nov.), 54. 
 
 on Nov. 3rd, 55, 
 
 on Nov. 4th, 56. 
 
 on Oct. i8th, 35. 
 
 on Oct. 19th and 20th, 35, 36. 
 
 on Oct. 26th, 44. 
 
 on sandbank in Lulua, 57, 5S. 
 
 opposite Macan, 11. 
 
 opposite Maliva, II-13. 
 
 opposite Mount Pogge, 36, 37. 
 
 Canoe-building, Senhor Carvalho's, 168. 
 Canoes destroyed, 44. 
 
 Cape hunting-dog, 154, 
 
 Carvalho, Senhor A. L. de, history &c., 
 
 81-86, 88, 89, 103, 142, 143. 
 
 in charge of Luebo, 139, 140, 160. 
 
 letter, 86-88. 
 
 parting with, 170. 
 
 trade prospects, 168, 169. 
 
 Cassava, vide Manioc. 
 Castellated rocks, 27. 
 Caxavalla, Silva da Costa, Senhor Manoel, 
 
 120-123. 
 Celery, 142. 
 Chienvu, 159. 
 Chigoes, Appendix G. 
 Chikabo, 105, 135-137, 160, 164. 
 Chikumba, 51. 
 
 Chilunga Meso, 1 16-124, 159. 
 
 Chinyama, 107. 
 
 Chipaka, 51. 
 
 Chiplumba tribes and country, 63, 64. 
 
 Chissengen^ne, 72. 
 
 Christmas festivities, 75, 76. 
 
 Chitabo, 107. 
 
 Qicada, 132. 
 
 Civets, 154. 
 
 Comber, Rev. T. J., 29 (footnote). 
 
 Congolemosch, ill, 115, 159. 
 
 Congo Manena, 19, 58, 67. 
 
 Cottonwood tree, 97, and Appendix C 
 
 Cotton, 142. 
 
 Courts-martial, 77. 
 
 Cowbirds, 38. 
 
 Custodio, Senr., vide Souza-Machado. 
 
 D. 
 
 Dancing, 75, 76. 
 
 Darling, Rev. F. C. , 29 (footnote). 
 
 Debinga Debeha, 1 61-163. 
 
 Descent of Kasa'i, vide Wissmann, Lieut. 
 
 Dogs, Bakete, 73, 152, 153. 
 
 Domingos, Jao, 160- 1 63. 
 
 " Dover Cliffs," 5. 
 
 Draining (plantations), 141. 
 
 E. 
 
 Eagles, 155. 
 
 Earth-pig, "Ardvaak," 155. 
 Egyptian geese, 53, 155. 
 Eland, 36, 155. 
 Elephant-apple, Appendix C. 
 Elephants, 95, 154. 
 En Avcuit aground, 55. 
 crew, 3. 
 
 disabled, lOO. 
 
 late, 45, 57. 
 
 f>n Sankoro, 93. 
 
 wrecked, 5, 6. 
 
 r. 
 
 Falls, Luebo, loi, 103, 104, 138, 149- 
 152. 
 
 Lulua, 17, 61. 
 
 Wissmann, 104. 
 
 Farinha de manioc, 72. 
 
 Fetishes at cross-roads, 114, 115 (foot- 
 note). 
 
 at Kimeh, 171.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 189 
 
 Fetishism, 20, 21, II4, 1 15. 
 Fireworks, 146. 
 Fish (Liilua), 59. 
 Fish-eagles, 59. 
 Fishermen, vide Bakuba. 
 Forest, description of the, 12, 13, and Ap- 
 pendix C. 
 Forest, camp in the, 131- 133. 
 
 G. 
 
 Game, 13, 36, 132, 133, 154, 155. 
 
 Gankabe, 27. 
 
 Gates of the Pool, 5. 
 
 Goat-sucker, 132. 
 
 Gomez, 108. 
 
 Gourds, 142. 
 
 Grazing land, 1 27, 1 28. 
 
 Grenadilha.s, 142. 
 
 Grenfell, Rev. G., 1 00. 
 
 Greshoff, Meinheer, loO. 
 
 Ground-nut, 68, 142. 
 
 oil, 167, 16S. 
 
 Guinea-fowl, 155. 
 
 H. 
 
 " HARNESS-back " antelope, 109, 155. 
 Heronry at fishing-town, 25. 
 Hippopotami, 35. 
 Hippopotamus collides with Stanley, 56. 
 
 traps, 53. 
 
 Hospitalities, official, 77. 
 
 Howitzer, 92. 
 
 Humba, 40, 93. 
 
 Hunters, vide Bakete. 
 
 Hunting, vide Bakete. 
 
 Huts at Shammatuka fishing-town, 60. 
 
 Hyenas, 133, 154. 
 
 Ibis, 155. 
 
 Ichneumon, 1 54, 1 55. 
 
 Iguana, 155. 
 
 Interpreter, importance of office of, 121. 
 
 Iron, native, how obtained, 35. 
 
 Ivory, trade in, 83-85. 
 
 transmission of, 88, 168. 
 
 ■ value of, 85. 
 
 K 
 
 Kabao, 85, 86. 
 Kabembc, 162. 
 Kafinga. 79, 80. 
 Kalanibai town, 127. 
 
 stream, 127, 
 
 valley, 126. 
 
 Kalonda, 164-167. 
 Kampoto, 70. 
 Kappasiero, 75. 
 
 Kapuku or Muansangoma, 8r, 85, 88, 168. 
 Kasai, abortive attempt to explore Upper, 
 100. 
 
 contrasted with Sankoro. 50-52. 
 
 exploration above confluence with 
 
 Lulua, 50, 51, 102. 
 
 results of exploration, 104. 
 
 Kashia-Caleniba, no, 1 12. 
 
 Kasongo, 123, 124, 164. 
 
 Kassava, vide jNIanioc. 
 
 Kassenge, 68, 69, 145. 
 
 Kimeh island, 170-171. 
 
 Kimpoko, 5. 
 
 Kinchasa, 3-5, 173. 
 
 Kinsu dhiamba, 106, 1 13. 
 
 Kokoro, 28. 
 
 Krafft, Mons. I'Abbe, 172. 
 
 Kudu, 155. 
 
 Kund, Lieut., Appendix E. 
 
 Kusu-kusu, Appendix C. 
 
 Kwa or Kwamuni, i, 24, 25. 
 
 Kwaraouth, 15, 16, 171-173. 
 
 Kwango, 30, 2,'^, and Appendix D. 
 
 L. 
 
 Lakombi, 87. 
 
 Landslip at Beni-Kashia, 105. 
 
 at Ijeni-Muamba, 128. 
 
 near Xduniba, 12S. 
 
 Legat, Mons., 169. 
 
 Le Marinel, Lieut., 103, 105, 164. 
 
 Leopards, 154. 
 
 L(5opold II., Lake, 
 
 Leopold ville, 2, 4, 173. 
 
 Lettuce, 142. 
 
 Leslie, Dr., 9, 25, 66. 
 
 Lhiamba (Cunnablx fiulica), 40. 
 
 smoking, 11 3- 1 14. 
 
 song, .\ppeiidix H. 
 
 Limo, 130, 130. 
 
 and Appendix K. 
 
 Jackals, 133, 154. 
 Janssen, Lieut., 13. 
 Jungle-cock, 131. 
 Jungle-rat, 155. 
 
 Livingstone, Dr. 
 Lizards, 155. 
 Loandii, 84. 
 Log-hut, 66, 67. 
 
 I, 8j
 
 190 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Lomanii, $1, 94. 
 
 Lombali, 51. 
 
 Luangi, 45, 46, 84. 
 
 Lubi, 51. 
 
 Lubiranzi, i, 95. 
 
 Lubuije, 86. 
 
 Lubuku, 106, 112, 114, 1 15, and Appendix J. 
 
 Luburi or Lubudi, 51, 86. 
 
 Luebo Falls, loi, 103, 104, 138, 151, 152. 
 
 fortifications finished, 147. 
 
 plantations, 141, 142, 147. 
 
 river, 2, 51, 58, 61. 
 
 station, 91, 92. 
 
 storehouse built, 74- 
 
 Luisi, 106, 130. 
 
 Lukash, 51. 
 
 Lukenyd, 36, and Appendi.x E. 
 
 Lukenga Manena, 158, 160. 
 
 Lukwengo, 21, 22. 
 
 Lulua, 2, 17, 20, 22, 51, 58. 
 
 Falls, 61. 
 
 fish, 59. 
 
 survey, 143, 144, 147-I48. 
 
 Luluaburg, 2, 64, 109, IIO, 125, 162, 163, 
 164, 165. 
 
 M. 
 
 Macar, Monseigneur le Baron de, 103, 
 
 105, 163. 
 Magic, belief in, 80, 115, 136, 150, 151. 
 Magnolia, 13. . 
 Malange, 2, 83, 84. 
 Mallagohond, 28. 
 Mangangas, 69, 109. 
 Mangrove bush, Appendix C. 
 Manioc, 68, 70-72. 
 
 Manoel and the candle, an incident, 45. 
 Matchioko, characteristics of, 22, 23, 84, 
 
 112, 115. 
 
 intrigues of, 1 64, 165. 
 
 Matjainbo, 22, 82, 83. 
 
 Mbaku, 132, 154. 
 
 Mbeinbo, 25. 
 
 Meta Saiikolla, 112, and Appendix J. 
 
 Metempsychosis, 1 59. 
 
 Miaw, 51, 107, 125, 126. 
 
 Mimosas, Appendix C. 
 
 Mirambo, 94. 
 
 Mission, American Methodist, 5. 
 
 Baptist, loi. 
 
 Catholic, 171-173. 
 
 Mpinda Nguba, ride Ground-nut. 
 Mponde, vide Sorghum. 
 Moero, Lake, 83. 
 Mohaniadi, 145, 166. 
 Monteiro, Senr., Appendix C. 
 
 Mosquitos, Appendix G. 
 
 Msuata, 13. 
 
 Mtama, ride Sorghum. 
 
 Mualo, Appendix A. 
 
 Muanamput, 107. 
 
 IMuansangoma, 51, 81, 84, 88, 102. 
 
 Muata Nzig(5, 102. 
 
 Mukanu, 129. 
 
 Muleo, 24. 
 
 Mummy-pea, 69 (footnote). 
 
 Musisi, 106, 128, 130, 133. 
 
 Musjie, 27. 
 
 N. 
 
 Nganebecca, 30. 
 
 Ngombe Ngolle, vide Bambangala. 
 Niapara, vide Mohaniadi. 
 Night in the forest, 131-133. 
 Night on the Kasai, 47, 48. 
 Nimptsch, Herr Baron von, 100. 
 Nkaka, 59. 
 Nkule, 30. 
 Nyamweze, 94. 
 
 Nzali Mpini, i, 27, 33, 104, and Appen- 
 dix E. 
 
 O. 
 
 Okras, 142. 
 
 Olsen, Mr., 4, 35, 40, 42. 
 
 Oncas, 154. 
 
 Onions, 127, 142. 
 
 Orchilla, 132, and Appendix C. 
 
 Orchids, Appendix C. 
 
 Otters, 154. 
 
 P. 
 
 Palji-wixe, 45, 57 (footnote). 
 Panther, 154. 
 
 Paper-making, Appendix C. 
 Parrot, King, 98. 
 
 Mr. Vander Felson's, 10, ir. 
 
 Parrots, wild, 155. 
 
 Partridge, 155. 
 
 Pavilion at Luebo (how built), 91-92. 
 
 Pea-nut, vide Ground-nut. 
 
 Peace, SS., 100, 102, 104. 
 
 Pigeons, 155. 
 
 Pine-apples, 142. 
 
 Pioko, 109. 
 
 Pipe-clay, 74 (footnote). 
 
 Plantain-eaters, 155. 
 
 Plantains, 37, 147. 
 
 Plantations, Kassenge, 68, 69, lOi 
 
 Luebo, 140-142.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 191 
 
 Plantations, Luluabnrcr, no. 
 Pogge, Dr., I, S3, S4. " 
 
 Expedition, i. 
 
 Mount, 36, 37, and Appendix E. 
 
 Ponde, vide Sorghum. 
 Porcupine, 155. 
 Potatoes, sweet, 68. 
 
 Q. 
 
 Quail, 155. 
 
 Queens, Wabunia, 27. 
 
 Zinga, 91. 
 
 R. 
 
 Rapids, vide Falls. 
 
 Rats, 59, 155. 
 
 Redwood, Appendix C. 
 
 Roadmaking, 92, 147. 
 
 Route survey (Luluaburg to Luebo), 125- 
 
 13S. 
 Routine, daily, 76, 77. 
 Royal, SS., 9. 
 
 S. 
 
 Sakfu, vide Banyan. 
 
 Salt, how extracted, 72. 
 
 Sanford Expedition, 169, 170. 
 
 — — • General, 169. 
 
 Sankoro contrasted with Kasai, 51, 52. 
 
 explored, 93-95. 
 
 mouth, 5 1 . 
 
 Sappoo Sahib, 94. 
 
 Saturnino, Senhor, vide Souza-Machado. 
 
 Saulez, Captain, 2. 
 
 Scenery on Congo, 13, and Appendix B. 
 
 Schneider, Mr., 4, 45, 65, 67, 79, 93 (foot- 
 note). 
 
 Schwerin, Monseigneur le Baron de, 103, 
 104. 
 
 Shainrnatuka, 22, 57, 59-60, 64. 
 
 Sibissi, 155. 
 
 Slaves, trading in, 84, 85, I57- 
 
 Snakes, 155. 
 
 Songo Nzadi, 59- 
 
 Sorghum, 142. 
 
 Souza-Machado, Senhor Custodio, 82-84. 
 
 Senhor Saturnino, 81, 84, 86, 88-90, 
 
 102. 
 
 Spear-grass, 128. 
 
 Spur-winged plover, 133. 
 
 Squirrel, species of, 155. 
 
 Stanley, Mr. H. M., I, 13, and Appendix E. 
 
 Stanley Pool, 4, 5, 1 73. 
 
 Stanley, SS., accident to, in descending 
 Kasai, 170. 
 
 Stank)/, SS., passes En Arant, 9. 
 
 incidents during ascent of Ka.sai, 39, 
 
 42, 45. 47. 49, 55, 56. 
 
 leaves Luebo, 65. 
 
 returns to Luebo and departs, 103, 
 
 105. 
 
 returns again in December, 169. 
 
 crew and passengers, 4. 
 
 Storehouse, how built, 73, 74. 
 Sukabu, Appendix C. 
 Sunday, how observed, 78. 
 Surprises, agreeable, 96, 97. 
 Swinburne, Mr., 9, 173. 
 
 Tanhaxvka, 124. 
 Taunt, Lieut., 169, 173. 
 Teak-tree, Appendix C. 
 Theft on board Staidcy, 55. 
 Thunderstorm at Beni-Kashia, an iucidsut, 
 
 135. 136. 
 Tippoo Tib, 94. 
 Tobacco, 69, 70. 
 Tomatos, 142, 172. 
 Tortoise, 155. 
 Toucans, 155. 
 Trade prospects of riverine, 169. 
 
 expedition, 169, 170. 
 
 Travellers'-tree, 13. 
 
 Tributaries of Kasai and Sankoro, 51. 
 
 Troup, IMr. J. R., 2, 9. 
 
 Ts^ts^ 128. 
 
 Tucongo, 22, 84. 
 
 Turnips, 142. 
 
 U. 
 
 I'l.UN'GU, 124. 164. 
 
 Uruki or Buriiki, I, 95. 
 Utensils, Bakote, 72. 
 Basongo-Meno, 40. 
 
 Vallkv, Luebo, 105. 
 
 Musisi, 106. 
 
 Vangele, Captain, I 73. 
 Vander Kelson, Mr., 3. 
 
 atfects sandbanks, 55, 56. 
 
 at Luebo, 65, 67. 
 
 farewell and death, I or. 
 
 goe.s with l>r. Wolf to tiip Sankoro, 
 
 79- 
 
 ill with fever, 35. 
 
 leaves with Dr. Wolf for Ka-soi, 100.
 
 192 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Vander Felson, loses his parrot, 10. 
 
 i-ecovers his health, 45. 
 
 recriminative, 7. 
 
 returns with many parrots, 97-98. 
 
 • taken down to Leopoldville in the 
 
 Peace, 10 1. 
 Vermin, 155, and Appendix G. 
 
 W. 
 
 Waal, Mr., 4. 
 
 Wabuina fishing-town, 25, 26. 
 
 Waders, 59, 155. 
 
 Walker, Mr., 3, 7, 9, 10, 11, 65. 
 
 War- scare, 145, 146. 
 
 Water or reed buck, 155. 
 
 Waterhen, 155. 
 
 Whaleboat, 17, 37, 39, 52, lOO. 
 
 refitted, 102. 
 
 Whitew.ash, 74, and footnote. 
 
 Wild duck, 53, 155. 
 
 Winton, Sir Francis de, K.C.M.G., 4, 9. 
 
 Wissmann Falls, 104. 
 
 Wissniann, Lieut., I, 2, and Appendi.x C. 
 
 accident at the Pioko, 109. 
 
 discovery and descent of Kasai, 17-19. 
 
 expedition referred to, 39, 44, ill. 
 
 explores Kasai above confluence with 
 
 Lulua, 104, 105. 
 
 goes to Luluaburg with Dr. Wolf, 102. 
 
 native name given to, 1 59. 
 
 receives embassy from Ulungu, 124. 
 
 receives Congolemosch's homage, ill, 
 
 112. 
 
 • returns from Madeira, 100. 
 
 returns to Luebo via Muansangonia, 
 
 102. 
 
 sets out for Ulungu, 164. 
 
 starts for east cc^ast (16/11/86), 170. 
 
 Wissmann, Lieut., starts for Luluaburg, 
 105. 
 
 visits Calemba, 112. 
 
 visited by Chilunga Meso, 117, 118. 
 
 Witchcraft, vkle Magic. 
 
 Wolf, Herr Dr., 2, 4, 65, and Appendix F. 
 
 at Sankoro mouth, 52. 
 
 at scene of En Avani's wreck, 9. 
 
 at Wabuma heronry, 25. 
 
 designs the log-house, 66. 
 
 goes to Luluaburg, 67. 
 
 goes to Luluaburg with Wissmann, 
 
 102. 
 
 his exploration of Sankoro sum- 
 marised, 95. 
 
 in Basongo-Meno country, 36-39, 42, 
 
 leaves in En Avant for the Sankoro, 
 
 79- 
 
 leaves again to explore Kasai, 99-100. 
 
 leaves on board Stanley for Europe, 
 
 105. 
 
 returns for the New Year, 78. 
 
 returns to Luebo, 100. 
 
 returns to Luebo, and leaves with 
 
 Wissmann to explore Kasai, 102. 
 
 returns to Luebo, 104. 
 
 returns on board the Peace, loi. 
 
 Wooding, 28, 29. 
 Wreck, vide En Avant, 
 
 Yam, wild, how prepared, 70. 
 
 Z. 
 
 Zanzibar, 102. 
 
 Zanzibaris, vide En Avant crew. 
 
 Zingas S9-91.
 
 University of 
 
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