Ibembo to Stanley Falls.
The _Delivrance_ a steamer built on the same lines as the _Florida_
arrives at Ibembo on December 5th with a large cargo of cloth, clothes,
beads, salt and other articles for barter, and also cases of food for
the Europeans. This is almost her last voyage up the Itimbiri this
season, for soon the waters will have fallen so low that the river will
be navigable only by canoes. No time is wasted in the Congo State. As
soon as the cargo was discharged, the empty holds were filled with
baskets of rubber and ivory and in less than twenty four hours after her
arrival, the steamer was ready to depart.
Having arranged to travel by this boat, my baggage was soon on board,
and we left Ibembo at midday on the 6th of December. At first the river
passes between the cliff fronting the plateau, on which the Mission
stands and low lying forest on the opposite bank. The cliff is red, and
is evidently full of iron. In a short time however, both banks become
flat and are covered with forest broken at intervals by villages which
are well arranged, clean and tidy. Some of them are wood posts, and one
is occupied by old soldiers, who have built themselves very good houses.
These veterans have no pension, but are given materials to form
plantations, and also supply the steamers with wood at the usual rate.
They rarely, if ever, return to their native villages, which they left
seven or ten years before as naked savages, for they are now smart
civilised men and imitate the appearance and manners of the Europeans as
closely as possible.
About 6 p.m. we reach the Post of Mandungu, situated on the right bank
of the Itimbiri. It is very well built and scrupulously tidy. Behind is
a high wooden stockade, and in front, along the river bank is a small
wall broken by a kind of arbour, in which is a brass gun with the
interesting inscription G.R. III 1799.
On again at daybreak down the swiftly running stream. The Itimbiri
indeed, like its principal feeders, the Likati and Rubi, is rapidly
falling, for the dry season has now commenced in earnest, and although
thunder-storms are frequent, they are not accompanied by rain. We stop
at Moenge, a small post on the left bank of the river, for the mail, and
then on again until the Congo is reached an hour before sunset. The
great river is still very full of water, which shows no signs at
present of falling. This is, only to be expected, for all the
tributaries are now emptying themselves into the main stream, which is
thus kept high for some weeks after they have commenced to fall. We turn
down the Congo and after passing some villages and a post of the S.A.B.
Trading Company, reach Bumba at sunset.
This is an important shipping port, for the large vessels stop here
owing to the difficulty of navigating the Congo higher up. All the cargo
for Stanley Falls and the Upper Congo, as well as that for Uele, has
therefore to be transhipped here. The place is designed in a series of
squares, one side of each being formed by the river while the spaces
thus left are filled with well kept gardens, the whole being very
effective. Mr. Simon, the commandant of the Station kindly lends me a
house and also arranges to allow the _Delivrance_ to take me up to
Stanley Falls as soon as her cargo has been discharged. On each side of
the Post are villages extending along the river bank. The men here wear
a loin cloth, but the women only bangles, and the tatouage is varied and
extensive.
Next day the _Delivrance_ was charged with sheets of corrugated iron for
building purposes and it was very interesting to watch the natives
carrying these to the ship. Like some civilised people, the natives are
so lazy that they often give themselves a great deal of work in the
effort to avoid it. The plates were of various sizes and shapes and
consequently of various weights. Sauntering slowly up to the stack on
the beach, one of the porters would examine it carefully and search for
as small a load as possible. Then he would either lift the upper ten or
twelve plates or try to pull the one he had chosen out from the stack.
Having accomplished his object thus with great exertion, he would put
the plate on his head and carry it leisurely the few yards to the boat.
Of course the larger ones had to be moved some time, and in reality at
the end of the day the lazy fellows had thus done more work than was
necessary. Compared with Hindu or Chinese coolies, the Central Africans
indeed both in the plantations and at the dock side, accomplish rather
less than half the amount of work in the same time. The paddlers, on the
other hand, cannot be called lazy, and when propelling canoes against
strong currents or up rapids, exert themselves to the utmost.
We leave Bumba on December 9th in the _Delivrance_ and turn up stream.
After passing the mouth of the Itimbiri the banks are unoccupied for
many miles, dense unbroken forest lining each shore. Here and there is a
wood post and we pass also two considerable areas which had evidently
been cleared some time ago and occupied by villages. The people,
however, were very troublesome in these parts and have since migrated
into the interior leaving the ancient sites to elephants and other
beasts. It is very much more comfortable on the _Delivrance_ than on the
larger steamers, for, being the only passenger, I have plenty of room in
the cabin below and as usual in these small craft, we have all our meals
on the bridge.
[Illustration: LOADING A BARGE.]
On the 11th we arrive at Barumbu, a small Post with a large brick house
for the Commissaire when he visits the place. Here most of the natives
were dancing and looked very ridiculous. They did not move over the
ground and seemed to be doing a kind of physical drill. First one leg
was kicked forwards and backwards while the other did a heavy stiff
looking hop. Then perhaps the arms were thrown up and down and the whole
body advanced from the hips, and finally the head was jerked to and fro.
These movements were repeated time after time, evidently in a regular
set order, for once started, several people performed exactly the same
in perfect time whether they could see each other or were back to back.
The whole affair looked stiff and ungracious, but was keenly enjoyed by
the natives.
[Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF BASOKO.]
An hour later we arrived at Basoko, the capital of the Aruwimi District.
It is different from other Posts, for it has a wall running along the
river front with a square tower in the centre, giving the appearance of
fortification. There are indeed a few guns here, but not many troops.
After paying a short visit to the Commissaire General of Aruwimi,
Captain Pimpurnieaux, we continue our journey.
Next morning was pay day, all the ordinary seamen receiving 21 mitakos
a week, but the capitas and wheelmen were given more. These latter are
usually a very responsible set of men, for after a few journeys they
remember every island and land-mark on the river and often steer all day
without a word of command from the captain. About midday we met the
_Ville de Paris_ which differs from the other steamers in having her
wheels at the side instead of at the stern. This arrangement has not
however, proved a success, for this boat is neither so fast nor so
easily steered as the others.
I am now troubled with a new complaint, synovitis of the knee joint with
a good deal of effusion, which makes it very difficult to walk. It is
curious why this malady should have appeared, for I had not knocked or
otherwise injured the joint and had indeed been sitting quietly on
steamers all day for the previous week.
On the afternoon of the 12th we reach Isangi, a Post at the junction of
the Lomami and the Congo. This river drains the territory occupied by
the Company of the same name and we turn up it to visit Hambi, the chief
town. There are a few large villages on the banks where the natives
exhibit a curious method of hair dressing. It is allowed to grow long,
which is very unusual in the Congo, and is then turned up and matted
together on the top of the head with grease and the red powder of the
cam-wood. The effect is, that each appears to be wearing a red and black
cloth cap.
We reach Hambi, which is a large Station well built and very tidy, the
next day. The Company leases a very extensive territory along the river
banks and does a large trade in rubber and ivory, the Brazilian variety
of the former growing here very well. The natives are quite satisfied,
work well and give very little trouble, although it is necessary to
punish them sometimes, and as usual, the prisoners on the chain are
given work to do outside the prison. We stay here one day and then
descend the Lomani, and turn up the Congo. The banks of the river now
have a new appearance, for they are higher and no longer densely wooded
and at short intervals are villages thickly populated and containing a
high percentage of children. Most of the men fish or build canoes, and
all the people seem to be constantly trading with each other, selling
food or curiosities for mitakos or cloth.
We stop for the night at Yonanghe, a Post which has been built by a true
native of the Congo, who at one time was the boy of Inspecteur d'Etat,
Malfeyt. He has travelled to Europe, speaks French and English and makes
an excellent Chef du Poste, which rank he enjoys officially, with all
its rights and privileges. Everyone agrees he is thoroughly responsible
and a very good friend, but if a captain of a steamer offends him, he
will not sell him a chicken or even an egg for any sum.
On the 15th we reach Yakussu, where is a Mission Station of the English
Baptists. As I cannot go ashore, the missionary, Mr. Stapleton, comes on
board and we have an interesting chat. He has known the Bangala District
for many years and has seen the riverside population diminish very much
during the last fifteen years. This he ascribes partly to the Sleeping
Sickness and partly to emigration to the State Posts. At first it was
very difficult for the people to raise enough food for themselves and
for the soldiers in the Posts, and to avoid the hard work, many
accepted service under the State. Here however, near Stanley Falls,
there is plenty of food and the people have no difficulty in providing
for their own wants and in supplying the State Posts as well. He thinks
that after the cruelty of the Arabs, the rule of the white man appears
as heaven to the native. All are therefore contented and happy, and as
there is very little Sleeping Sickness, the population is increasing.
The Mission boys are taught to be carpenters, masons and brick makers,
for food is so plentiful that there is no need to establish plantations.
The chief grievance of Mr. Stapleton is, that the Government will not
permit the missionaries to settle where they wish and will not grant
them land. Several other missionaries have also complained of this, but
some districts are certainly not civilised at present, and it would be
dangerous for any white man to live in them without a military guard. It
thus happens that while there are a great number of Mission Stations
along the Congo in the part where the population has diminished greatly,
there is not a single Mission on the State side of the Ubangi river
where the people are very numerous.
We arrived at Stanleyville in the afternoon. The town is situated on the
north bank of the river and consists of streets of large well built
houses with much space in between which is laid out in gardens. On the
opposite bank are the works of the railway to Ponthierville, a number of
corrugated iron buildings and a large native village. In front, a
hundred yards up the river, the lowest of the Stanley Falls can be
seen, the white foam glistening in the sunlight as the water rushes
over the rocks. The Commissaire of the District--the Province
Orientale--Lieutenant De Neullemeister, kindly lends me a house and acts
as my host. Fish is very plentiful here, but a sudden and terrible
disease has suddenly carried off most of the goats and chickens and we
are therefore, rather short of fresh meat for a few days.
Many of the natives have the Arab type of features and their village is
quite Arabian in appearance. They are all very civilised and work well,
so that much rubber is collected, although the population about Lake
Tanganika is not very dense. The women here are clothed and do not work
in the plantations at all.
Next day Lieutenant De Neullemeister and I, cross the river and are met
by Mr. Adams, the Director of the Railway Company. We enter a truck and
proceed along the new line which plunges into dense forest immediately,
turning and twisting in many directions in order to avoid the numerous
soft places and ravines and although there are a few steep gradients,
most of the way the line runs on fairly level ground. The soil is a kind
of ferruginous clay in some places and sandy in others and all the
bridges are constructed of wood. Mr. Adams says the natives are good
workers and that they have had no trouble with them and very little
sickness. The gauge of the line is considerably wider than that of the
Matadi-Leopoldville railway and at present about thirty kilometres have
been finished the whole passing through thick forest with clearings here
and there for the huts of the workmen. The difficulties of construction
are very great, but these are being surmounted and the cost of transport
of material is enormous, for every steel rail six of which weigh a ton
has to be carried from Europe to Matadi by ship, then by the railway to
Leopoldville, and then up the river for nearly a thousand miles. The
Company has its own private steamer, the _Kintamo_, a stern wheeler of
500 tons which is the largest vessel on the Congo, but like the rest was
carried out in sections and put together and launched at Leopoldville.
The construction of this railway will thus be costly, and it is doubtful
if the amount of produce carried will be sufficient for some years to
pay a dividend. The advantages of it will however, be very great, for at
present the falls render the river useless for navigation, and
everything has to be carried round by hand. Everywhere indeed, there is
evidence that the State not only spends enormous sums in opening up the
country, but welcomes the formation of private companies who will help
them in their gigantic undertaking. It is difficult to realise that
probably no man, white or black, has ever set foot in the forest a few
hundred yards away, and yet we are travelling smoothly along a steel
railroad through a tractless desert of trees propelled by a modern steam
locomotive. The line does not pass near a single native village, for
this part is not thickly populated and the only creatures whose paths
are interrupted, are the elephants, buffaloes and wild pigs. On our
return we visit the house of Mr. Adams, a solid structure of brick and
European cement, and the Mess of the thirty or forty whites employed on
the line who live here very well for mutton as well as goat can be
purchased from the natives. The price of everything which has to be
carried from Europe is very high at Stanleyville for the cost of
transport is very great. In the afternoon, we make a tour of the town,
and as it is impossible to walk, I am conveyed in a kind of bathchair
resting on one wheel. One boy goes in front and one behind and when the
road is very bad or an obstacle is met, they lift the machine bodily
over it. It is however, a bumpy ride, for the roads are very rough and
the chair has no springs. We pass the Mess, capable of dining sixty men
and visit the prison. This is a brick building arranged as a quadrangle
with an exercising yard in the centre. The cells are lofty and airy and
only one prisoner occupies each, but many sleep in one dormitory.
Everywhere great cleanliness is observed, so that one is not altogether
surprised to learn that the mortality due to Sleeping Sickness is very
small among the prisoners. Some of them are making mats and baskets in
the yard, but most are working on the chain outside. In a separate
building, the women, who also wear light chains, are cooking dinner for
the prison. Indeed, on the whole the lot of a prisoner in the Congo is
better than he would be likely to experience in a native village, with
the exception that he is compelled to work. Most of the people are
sentenced for theft or violence, but one woman was imprisoned for
throwing a solution of pepper into the face of her husband and nearly
blinding him. There is a separate room set apart for white prisoners,
but it has not yet been used and is at present much more satisfactorily
occupied by the instruments of the band of the Force Publique.
Near the Mess we pass the house of Tippo-Tip, a small mud structure with
a verandah and a roof of grass. It is not used at all now, but is
allowed to remain as an historical monument. Stanley was compelled to
negotiate with Tippo in order to avoid a conflict at the time when the
State was not sufficiently armed to undertake such a task but since
then, Arab rule has been entirely driven from Central Africa. Almost
opposite the Falls, a fort is being constructed with a ditch all round.
When finished, it will be capable of holding the whole garrison and
supplies for eighteen months. It is of course, only constructed as a
defence against native attacks and is not built strong enough to resist
big gun fire.
The quarters of the Force Publique here are very comfortable. Each man
has a room to himself about seven feet square constructed of brick and
the sergeants have a small house, each containing two rooms and a
verandah. I looked into one or two and they were well arranged. Bed and
mosquito curtain, table and chair with a few pictures and ornaments,
showed what an advance the native had made in civilisation since he
slept in a hut on the mud floor.
Finally we visited the motive power which enables all this to be done,
the rubber stores. Here people were busy sorting and packing the
precious material into baskets ready to be carried to the Barge which
was waiting to sail.