January 30, 1907.
MUCH has been said of flogging and the chicotte. There is no question
that flogging is general throughout the Congo Free State. The English
word “flogging” is one which is generally known and understood by
officials of every nationality throughout the country; it is known, too,
by a surprising number of natives. The chicotte is known to everybody
within the state limits—its name is Portuguese. In all my journey in
the Congo, while I frequently heard the word “flogging” and constantly
heard the word “chicotte,” I never heard the French term for either. Nor
do I think the native has. It is plain that neither flogging nor the
chicotte was introduced by Belgians. These found them in the country on
their arrival, introduced by English and Portuguese.
It is not the fact of flogging in itself that raises objections; not
only the state and traders but the missionaries find it necessary to
whip their black employés. In fact, at a missionary conference—I think
it was—one missionary referred laughingly to the boys whom another (by
the way, one of the chief witnesses against the state) “had flogged into
the kingdom of heaven.” He did not mean the boys had died as a result of
the flogging, but simply that they had found salvation through its
means. It is, then, the amount, severity, and undeservedness of the
whipping which are reprobated.
I saw, of course, plenty of flogging. Not, indeed, with such an
instrument as has been recently shown throughout the United States by a
complaining missionary. I was conversing recently with a friend who had
been profoundly stirred in connection with Congo atrocities. He happened
to mention the chicotte, then said: “Have you ever seen a chicotte? You
know it is made of six thongs of hippopotamus skin, twisted tightly
together.” I told him that I had seen hundreds of chicottes, but that I
had never seen one such as he described. As a matter of fact, I have
seen chicottes of a single thong, and of two or three twisted together,
but I have never seen one composed of six. I do not know whether such an
instrument would cause greater suffering in punishment, but it certainly
is better suited for display to sympathetic audiences who want to be
harrowed by dreadful reports. The first flogging that I happened to see
was at a distance. I was busy measuring soldiers; hearing cries, I
looked in the direction whence they came, and saw a black man being
publicly whipped before the office of the commissaire. An officer of
proper authority was present inspecting the punishment, which I presume
was entirely legal.
In the second flogging which I witnessed, this time at close quarters, I
was myself implicated to a degree. We were at a mission station. The
mission force and practically all the people from the place were
attending Sunday morning service. It was fruiting time for the mango
trees, which were loaded with golden fruit. Suddenly we heard an outcry,
and in a moment the mission sentry, delighted and excited, came up to
our veranda with an unfortunate prisoner, whom he had taken in the act
of stealing fruit. He insisted on leaving him with us for guarding. I
turned him over to my companion, who set him on his veranda, telling him
to stay there until the missionary should come from the service.
The prisoner squatted down upon the veranda without a word of
discussion, laying the fruit, evidence of his guilt, upon the floor at
his side. We were so angry at him that he made no attempt at escaping,
and did not even eat the fruit which he had stolen, that we washed our
hands of the whole affair, and believed he deserved all that might be
coming. The service over, the missionary appeared, accompanied by the
triumphant sentry. When the prisoner had admitted his guilt, the
missionary asked whether he preferred to be sent to the state for
punishment or to be whipped by him, to which the prisoner replied that
he should prefer the mission flogging.
With great formality the instrument of punishment was produced; it
consisted of two long and narrow boards, perhaps six feet in length and
two or three inches wide; between them was fixed a board of the same
width, but of half the length. At one end these were firmly screwed
together, while the other end was left open. It will be seen that when a
heavy blow was given with the instrument the free ends of the two long
sticks would strike together, producing a resounding whack which, no
doubt, produced a psychic suffering in the victim in addition to the
true physical pain. However that may be, fifteen blows, I think, were
administered, and the prisoner discharged.
One day, upon the Kasai steamer, we witnessed a wholesale whipping,
which was typical of this mode of punishment as regularly administered.
The night before we had been forced to tie up beside the forest. The
night was dark and the cutters refused to make wood for the next day’s
journey. This was a serious act of insurrection, involving delay and
trouble. When, finally, the next morning the wood had been loaded and
the steamer was under way, ten of the rebels were marched up to the
captain. In turn each lay down upon the floor, a friend held his hands
and wrists, while the capita administered twenty blows. It is
comparatively rare that the white man himself does the flogging; usually
it is the regular capita who is in charge of the workmen, or a special
one of the working force detailed to play the part.
It makes a notable difference in the way in which the punishment is
received whether the hands are firmly held to prevent struggling. An
English-speaking white man not in the government or company employ, who
had had more or less opportunity for observation in our Southern states,
and whose experience in the Congo extends over several years, told me
that flogging with the chicotte was a rather mild and simple punishment;
that it hurt but little, and that, for his part, he preferred to hit the
workmen on the head and kick them in the shins, those being places more
tender to the application than the part subjected to the chicotte. On
the whole, I am inclined to think that there was something in what he
said. It is certain that in most cases the suffering from a flogging is
momentary. I have even seen persons undergoing serious flogging exchange
significant glances and signals with their friends, in which the
suggestion of pain was quite absent. Many a time, also, I have seen a
man immediately after being flogged, laughing and playing with his
companions as if naught had happened. Personally, though I have seen
many cases of this form of punishment, I have never seen blood drawn,
nor the fainting of the victim.
It is common to speak of the chain-gang with great sympathy. One sees
chain-gangs at every state post; it is the common punishment for minor
offenses to put the prisoner on the chain. Sometimes as many as twelve
or fifteen are thus joined together by chains attached to iron rings
placed about their necks. They are employed in all sorts of
work—bringing water for use about the station, sweeping roads, clearing
fields, carrying burdens. On our arrival at a state post, immediately
after we had presented our introductions to the commandant, the
chain-gang would be sent to bring our freight and baggage to the rooms
to which we were assigned. The ring around the necks of these prisoners
is a light iron ring, weighing certainly not to exceed two pounds. The
weight of chain falling upon each prisoner can hardly be more than six
or eight pounds additional. In other words, the weight which they are
forced to carry in the shape of ring and chain does not exceed, probably
does not equal, ten pounds.
From the viewpoint of service rendered, the chain-gang has little value.
It dawdles, lags, idles, and plays; only when it is carrying burdens
does it really work. I have never seen a chain-gang composed of women,
nor have I seen women on the same gang with men. It is stated by the
missionaries that such things occur. Certainly, every one would object
to the chaining together of male and female prisoners. Apart from this,
the chain-gang does not particularly arouse my sympathy. It is a very
mild form of punishment, and one which, of course, is common in as bad a
form or worse throughout many of our Southern states. To grieve over the
weight carried in the form of chain and ring is simply ridiculous; there
are to-day thousands of women among these Congo tribes who for the sake
of decoration carry about their neck a heavy ring of brass weighing
twenty, twenty-five, or thirty pounds. It is no uncommon thing for both
men and women to have a weight of thirty, forty, or fifty pounds of
brass and iron rings and ornaments upon them.
I cannot believe that the ordinary flogging, such as I have seen, causes
notable suffering to people who, for purposes of decoration or treatment
of rheumatism, submit without evidence of pain to such operations as I
have described in detail in an earlier article. Nor can I feel that the
mere fact of carrying chain and ring of less than ten pounds’ weight
involves terrible suffering for people who regularly carry much heavier
burdens of ornaments.
Much has been said of late in regard to hostages. The taking of hostages
and holding them until some obligation or agreement had been performed
was a common native custom. Stanley frequently captured women and
children, or even men, of tribes in the districts through which he was
passing and held them as hostages until they should show him the trail
he should follow, or until their people supplied him with the food or
other things which he desired. At the ill-fated Yambuya camp the rear
guard frequently seized the women of the natives who had failed to bring
in food supplies in return for the trade stuffs offered. This seizure of
hostages is mentioned repeatedly in the writings of the early travelers,
and seems to have caused no outcry on the part of the sensitive
civilized world at that time. Why should it now?
It is a common practice, though a disagreeable one to us, for one who
sells a thing to keep back a part of it in making delivery of the goods.
On one occasion we bought a musical instrument, a marimba, which
consisted, in part, of a dozen gourds as resounding bodies. Every one of
these gourds was necessary to the instrument, yet the seller, after we
had examined it with care to see that it was perfect, removed three of
the gourds, in accordance with this custom. The instrument was sent to
us by the son of the seller’s chief, old Chicoma. When we found the
instrument at home we at once noted the absence of the three gourds. Old
Chicoma’s son had a companion with him. We at once decided to hold the
chief’s son as a hostage, sending word by his companion that he would be
set free only on the appearance of the missing gourds. When we told the
youth that we had “tied him up,” that being the expression for holding a
person hostage, he looked sheepish, but made no complaint, recognizing
the justice of our action.
This was at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. He made no attempt to escape,
although we had not in any way actually interfered with his freedom of
movement. We gave him supper when the time came and breakfast in the
morning. He found his stay tedious, however, and finally, when none was
looking, slipped away. He must have met the messenger bringing the
missing gourds before he was any distance from the house, as he appeared
with our property about half an hour after the flight.
The only other personal experience in the matter of hostages that we had
was in the High Kasai. A white man, agent of the Kasai company, was our
guest for the night. In the early morning our friend, Chief Ndombe,
appeared, in great excitement, begging us to loan him cloth, as the
white man had seized one of his slaves and would not release him until
he had fully paid a debt which the white man claimed he owed him. The
question appeared complicated, and we let him have the cloth, after
which we went over to hear the palaver accompanying the payment. Both
sides told their story, with much gesticulation. The white man’s boy had
owned a woman, for whom he claimed to have paid six pieces of cloth; she
had run away, and he had sought in vain for her. The chief, old Chicoma,
told him that the woman was at Ndombe and in the house of the great
chief. So they seized Ndombe’s slave—a little lad about 11 years of
age, whose bright face and curious head shaving always had greatly
attracted me. This boy our visitors were holding as a hostage until
Ndombe should produce the woman or pay her value.
Of course, the whole procedure was illegal, and I was inclined to take
up the matter vigorously. There were, however, so many elements of doubt
in the matter that I finally concluded to let it pass. Of hostages held
by company agents or by state people we saw but few, and never learned
the circumstances under which they had been taken. They were rarely in
actual confinement, and we saw no evidences of bad treatment toward
them. In native custom, the hostages are regularly well treated and fed
regularly, while held in captivity. While we have never seen
maltreatment of hostages, we can readily understand how such could
arise. Taken, as they usually are, in order to force the bringing in of
food or forest products, if their holding does not produce the desired
effect the feeling of vexation resulting may easily lead to cruelty.
[Illustration: MEN SENTENCED TO THE DEATH PENALTY FOR MURDER
AND CANNIBALISM, BASOKO]