contained a French factory and several Portuguese establishments. At
9.30 we got under weigh again, and in about an hour afterwards entered
a part of the river where it assumes the appearance of an inland lake,
some parts nearly two miles wide. The scenery here is varied, but
principally hilly, the highest of the hills being about 1,500 feet
above the level of the river. Here we met a native chief in his canoe.
He came to levy contributions from us. His people, who were armed with
guns and hatchets, made various warlike gestures and ordered us to
stop. Monsieur Pisseaux being our guide and adviser, we were compelled
to pay one bottle of rum and a piece of cloth twelve fathoms in
length.
Captain Perry shot a fish-eagle, which was considered a fine
achievement, as very few of that species can be shot on account of
their inclination to fly high in the air and to perch on the highest
trees. About three o’clock we landed to rest, the scenery still
bearing the same character, only perhaps the hills were a little
higher than those we had passed. The grass was dry all over the hills
(indeed, everywhere except close to the water’s edge); and little
animal life being visible, the country had a very barren and desolate
appearance. The trees were not of much consequence, and most of those
we saw were stunted and leafless. The chief were the baobab, or monkey
bread-fruit tree, the fan palm, or palmijra, a few palm-nut trees, and
a species of large spreading tree well scattered over the water side.
Its leaves were of a dark green colour, about the size of the lime
leaf; its fruit, a long reddish plum, was said to be eaten by monkeys,
and also to be fit for human food.
Here was the farthest extent of Monsieur Pisseaux’s knowledge of the
river, and, to our future sorrow, we landed in the banza, or district,
of Nokki. We cooked some food on shore, and messengers were despatched
with a bottle of gin to the king of Kayé.
_Tuesday, September 8th._――We now left the river for the interior, and
found the road excessively irksome and trying to our wind and legs;
nothing but hills and dales, the descents and ascents very difficult,
and stony withal, the soles of our feet receiving a most disagreeable
grating on small quartz and schistus. Passing one or two fields of
native beans, we arrived at the village of Kindemba.
After resting here for a short time we again started, and ascended a
hill some six or seven hundred feet in height, and came to another
village, where we saw something like a large baracoon for slaves, but
it turned out to be a fetish house for circumcised boys.
Not many minutes’ walk from this was the village of Kayé. On entering
it we were marched off to see the king. We found him seated in state,
dressed in a motley garb of European manufacture: a white shirt with
collar turned down, a crimson velvet loin-cloth, fringed with gold and
tied round the waist by means of a belt, and a beautifully mounted
sheath-knife stuck in the belt. The handle of the knife was made of
nickel silver, and very showily ornamented with imitation emeralds and
ruby garnets. Over all he wore a red beadle’s cloak, and on his head a
helmet somewhat resembling those worn by English Life Guardsmen, but
it was evidently of French manufacture. The king was very young,
apparently not more than twenty years of age, very smooth-faced, and
looked quite shy when he came _vis-à-vis_ with his illustrious
visitors. When we were all seated, I on a chair, and the others on a
covered table, the courtiers sat down on the ground at a respectful
distance. The king’s old father was seated on the ground before his
son.
The king’s name was Sudikil, and that of his father Gidi Mavonga, both
of them very bright specimens of their race. After some compliments,
Sudikil received his presents――one piece of fine fancy cloth and a
bottle of gin. The carriers received five bunches of beads. But it
appeared that the king was not satisfied with his presents, and he
would give us nothing to eat. Therefore my companions, Captain Perry,
Dean, and Monsieur Pisseaux, at once started for the river to return
to Embomma. I, however, remained, and engaged Nchama, a native who
spoke African idiomatic Portuguese, to act as interpreter and
go-between. I may here mention that our party when it first started
from the river consisted of fifty-six persons, but it continued to
augment until our arrival at Kayé, when it mounted up to one hundred
and fifty. We were domiciled for the night in the house of Siko Chico
Mpambo, a man who put himself up as a French interpreter, without even
knowing one personal pronoun of that language. In the evening the
rabble that pretended to have escorted our party down to the canoe
returned and requested some gin, and I gave them a bottle. The prince
likewise sent for a bottle, which he received.
_Wednesday, September 9th._――Early in the morning we received a visit
from Gidi Mavonga and his son King Sudikil. They examined all our
travelling-gear, whilst my servant kept sentry at the door to prevent
their escort from going into the house. This consisted of ten men,
four of whom carried matchlocks. After about half an hour’s palaver,
everything was handed over to Gidi, who promised to start for the
Congo in three days, and, in consideration of receiving the said
goods, bound himself to take us there, bring us back, and feed us by
the way. This arrangement was a good one, as it secured the friendship
of the old chief and prevented him and his people from robbing and
poisoning us.
We later received a visit from Tetu Mayella, king of an adjacent
village called Neprat. He was accompanied by about twenty followers,
all of whom came to us for the express purpose of getting some rum.
Tetu Mayella wrangled for two hours with Gidi and another half-hour
with Sudikil about a bottle of grog, and ultimately despatched Nchama
to plead with me for him. I referred him back to Gidi Mavonga, and,
after a further consultation, Tetu received one bottle of gin, in
return for which he came personally and presented us with two fowls.
This was a godsend, as the day before we had nothing to eat but a few
pieces of dry bread, and water to wash it down. A pig was then
slaughtered with great ceremony. The carcass was cut up and divided
according to custom, the king getting the lion’s share, and the other
personages an allowance in accordance with their rank. We made ready
to retire to rest after eating a good bush dinner and drinking plenty
of palm wine. Gidi Mavonga paid us a visit late in the evening, and
final arrangements were made with him to proceed first to Yellalla, or
the Congo Cataracts, and afterwards to St. Salvador, or Great Gongo
City.
_Thursday, September 10th._――The direction of the Yellalla Cataracts
from the village of Kayé was east-north-east, and that of St.
Salvador, or Congo, east-south-east. This morning we had dandelion
coffee for the fourth time. It was a most excellent decoction, acting,
when used judiciously, on the liver and kidneys. We found that the
natives breakfasted on beans, ground nuts, fish, and beef when it can
be had, and the second course is a good jorum of palm wine. At noon we
began packing up, in order to start for Gidi Mavonga’s village. The
natives of the Congo are divided into two classes only, the mfumo, or
freeman, and the muleque, or slave. The mfumo marries amongst his own
slaves, or, properly speaking, retainers, and the children born by him
are in their turn mfumos, or freemen. The word slave is here quite
improperly used, for the slave in reality is a freer man than the king
himself. Everything the king possesses, except his wives, is literally
at the disposal of the slave. Unquestionably the slave is the
bodyguard of the mfumo, and, as regards work, he does what he likes,
sleeps when he chooses, attends to his private affairs when he
pleases, and if his master finds fault with his conduct, the chances
are, if his own country be not too far away from the place of his
thraldom, he will leave his master and make a bold effort to reach his
native land.
_Friday, September 11th._――Very early this morning we were astonished
by hearing a yelling noise from a lot of women. To use a Scotch
phrase, it was a regular “skirl.” It so happened that a woman was
bearing a child, and these noises were made either to drown the pains
of labour or to welcome the little stranger into his trouble. In any
case, we pitied the poor sufferer in travail, for the screeching must
have given her an awful headache.
Gidi Mavonga came to take us to his village of Chingufu this morning.
It was not a long journey, we found. Gidi’s house was a facsimile of
the one we had left at Kayé: an oval building upheld by two upright
posts, and the roof supported by a long stout beam laid on the top of,
and tied to, the uprights. The hut boasted of three doors, one at each
end and one at the side. Doubtless, fox-like, the suspicious native
makes all these doors to serve as mediums of escape in case of war or
a slave-hunt. There was a partition in the centre dividing the hut
into two rooms, the first being a general room, and the second the
_sanctum sanctorum_, accessible only to the husband and wife. The
furniture was very simple, consisting of a native bed in each room.
The walls and roof were composed of bamboos and grass very neatly tied
together. There was no flooring but the clay bottom, and the whole
looked very clean and simple.
Gidi appeared to be a great worshipper of the native fetish Ibamba, or
Nzamba, a variation of the devil. The natives called him Masjinga, and
he is a house-god, usually keeping guard at the bedsides. The idol in
Gidi’s hut was a peculiarly droll-looking object. He was an image
about three feet in height, with his mouth wide open, his under lip
hanging down, and the upper drawn up as if by some strong convulsions,
his nose flat as Africa, and the nostrils very much inflated. His eyes
were composed of pieces of looking-glass, and in his belly was
inserted a penny mirror, but for what purpose we could not discover.
On his head was an English billycock hat, and about his shoulders were
hung different kinds of medicines, a calabash, and a knife. The face
of this wonderful figure was part black, part red, and part white. On
the walls of the house, and particularly about the bed, were hung
medicines, spells, and potions of every description, supposed to be
antidotes against every evil to which the human frame is subject;
medicines to prevent gun-shots from taking effect, spells against
ill-luck, potions to have wives and plenty of children, and, in fine,
charms to protect against the wrath and subtlety of Nzamba.
About midday we had a visit from some neighbouring chiefs, all gaily
attired. They wore red nightcaps on their heads, and this was the only
head-dress I ever saw adopted by the men on great occasions, Sudikil’s
military helmet excepted. The women always went bareheaded. I had
often wondered where in the wide universe old clothes went to after
they are purchased by the Jews in London. The mystery was here solved,
for I found kings wearing second-hand livery suits, with the coronet
and crest of a marquis on the button, and princes disporting
themselves in marines’ jackets of the last century, besides a variety
of heterogeneous habiliments, such as old superfine black coats which
had been worn threadbare, and pantaloons whose seats had become quite
glazed from long service. All these had been cleaned and turned inside
out by the Jews; and, although some would scarcely bear the tug of
needle and thread, they were sent out to the west coast of Africa as
bran-new garments, love of dress entirely blinding the natives to
their defects. Our visitors were regaled with palm wine and a bottle
of gin, and after laughing and talking for a long time they went away.
About sunset we witnessed a native game, which certainly was one of
the liveliest sights since our start up the river. A number of Gidi’s
slaves assembled in a large open space between the houses, and,
dividing themselves into two parties, began throwing a ball from one
to another. Upwards of twenty were engaged in this game, and the fun
consisted in the one side dodging about in all directions, and
preventing its opponents from catching the ball by playing the game
into each others’ hands. The ball was made of palm fibre tied round
with a central fibre of the plantain leaf. After sunset there was a
wild country-dance, which was kept up to a late hour.
_Saturday, September 12th._――The chief Furano, who was expected from
Embomma, arrived the next morning, and we started at once for the
cataracts. After marching for a short time and passing two or three
small villages, we commenced a descent in a north-easterly direction,
and, journeying at a rapid pace for about three miles, we entered the
village of Chinsawu, the residence of Prince Nelongo. Arrived at
Nelongo’s, we were detained for about half an hour, waiting in the
verandah of an empty house, after which we were honoured by the
presence of the prince, who intimated his pleasure to us by asserting
that unless the same presents as those given to Sudikil were given to
him, it would be impossible for us to pass his place. This was
preposterous, for we only stopped to breakfast here, whereas we were
four or five days in the territory of Sudikil. It was remarkable that
nearly all the people in this region, from the prince down to the
smallest child, were diseased with the itch. We observed them lying on
the ground from morning till night, with their skins so covered with
dust that a hippopotamus was a clean beast when compared with these
beings, who ranked in animate nature as lords of creation.
We were comfortably housed at Nelongo’s village, but Gidi and Nelongo
were palavering all day, hammer and tongs. I noticed at Nelongo’s
village, as I did in other places on the banks and neighbourhood of
the Congo, that all the children were afraid of the white man, for
when any person attempted to bring them in proximity with me, the
little brats howled as if Satan from the infernal regions had got hold
of them. Most of the women were of the same texture as their progeny.
_Sunday, September 13th._――After coffee this morning all the great
folks assembled in front of our house and recommenced the
half-finished palaver of last evening. Council present: myself, Gida
Mavonga, Nelongo, Furano, Siko Npamba, and Interpreter Nchama. All
ended in talk, and Nchama threatened to resign. The native idea of the
riches possessed by a white man is fabulous. Nelongo refused to
believe that we had not sufficient cloth with us to answer his most
exorbitant demands. We had a respectable present for him; but that did
not satisfy his avarice, and he wanted more than we had taken with us
for the whole road. As there was another prince to consult in the
matter, it was agreed, at my suggestion, that the whole of our gear
should be submitted to examination. The expected prince arrived,
carried on a hammock, and, after a heavy palaver and a great deal of
yelling from the women, he went away; and then we had another visit
from Nelongo, who made some very noisy demonstrations, but as the
noise was conducted in the language of the country, we were not able
to understand a single syllable. Suffice it to say that the whole
affair ended by his receiving an additional supply of cotton, not from
us, but from Gidi Mavonga. This Nelongo handed to one of his armed
slaves, and then went away; but he returned again in about five
minutes and intimated that the palaver was all right, which caused
Gidi and his men to make demonstrations of approval by jumping up and
running some paces from the house and attacking a supposed enemy. Then
they returned to the house, Furano holding the supposed wounded head
of Gidi Mavonga. But the truth must be told: the whole batch of the
debaters had got drunk on a mixture of palm wine and Hollands. Hence
the noise, which, however, I did not allow to affect me, for I assumed
during the greater part of the row the most stoical silence, and
pretended to go to sleep. These tactics were successful, and we were
shortly afterwards informed that we could depart in peace.
We were ready to start by twelve o’clock noon. The sun was very hot,
and the thermometer stood at 90° in the shade; but we were glad to get
out of a place which reminded us of Bedlam, and therefore set out in
all haste, making a slight descent into a valley, and then ascending a
peculiarly formed hill, the perpendicular height of which might be a
hundred and fifty feet, and from whose summit we obtained a glorious
view of the river, which was seen some eight hundred feet below us,
flowing down rapidly and majestically to the sea. But the utter
barrenness of the country in the vicinity of its banks carried away
every association of fertility. This view of the country, however, is
given at the end of the dry season, when almost every tree loses its
leaves, and the green grass becomes withered and dried up.
From this point we began a decline down hill which beggars
description. We had not walked above a quarter of a mile before we
arrived at a part of our road where, without the least exaggeration,
the path, if such it could be called, was only two degrees from the
perpendicular, and as slippery as ice, owing to the loose stones and
dry grass that created a stumbling-block for the feet, and we had
frequently to descend sitting instead of walking down. Alpine and
Vesuvian mountaineers, do try the banks of the Congo.
The distance from Nelongo’s village to the banks of the river was
about five miles, and on reaching the water-side we found ourselves
exactly at the junction of the Nomposo with the Congo River. The
Nomposo, we were informed, extended all the way to St. Salvador, but
was not navigable, even for canoes. There were some fishermen who
followed their vocation at the mouth of this small river, whose
services were soon brought into requisition to take us across the
Nomposo and land us a little above its mouth, but on the bank of the
great river. This landing was the place where the fishermen dried
their fish, and was called Munyengi Asiko. Being heartily tired, we
very gladly sat down, and ultimately got ourselves ready to pass the
night in the open air, not for the first time. Just about sunset this
evening we were visited by one of those nasty drizzling showers,
commonly called a Scotch mist. In about an hour it increased to a
smart shower; but, luckily, we were well provided with good waterproof
sheets and coats, so that no harm happened to the gear or to
ourselves.
_Monday, September 14th._――Great excitement this morning, having on
the previous night lost my tablets of daily memoranda. An offer of
four fathoms of cloth was made to any person who would recover the
same and return them to their owner. The whole batch of carriers and
fishermen were instantly hard at work trying to find the missing
tablets. After twenty minutes’ search they were found in Captain
Tuckey’s book on the Congo.
Another row amongst the natives. It appears that some two days
previously a man had supplied another with two jars of palm wine upon
condition of his receiving some fish in return. The unlucky fisherman,
after drinking the wine, did not succeed in catching fish for two
days, and consequently was unable to pay his debt. Hence the high
words and brandishing of hatchets on the part of the wine merchant and
his people. But that was all; no blows were struck, for the dog that
barks very loud seldom bites.
It is always advisable in travelling through Africa to keep guides and
interpreters ignorant of your possessions, for they are sure to make
some excuse or other to fleece you. This morning we had evidence of
this. We had paid our guide everything that was necessary for the
road, yet he sent the interpreter to ask us for a piece of fancy cloth
which he knew I had. I had to grant his request, otherwise I might
have had to give up the journey, for ten chances to one he would have
left me in a huff.
At eight o’clock we crossed the river, the time occupied being a
quarter of an hour. We reached the village of Vivi after half an
hour’s march; distance, one and a half miles. Nesalla was the name of
the king at Vivi; he spoke Portuguese and dressed plainly. One of his
attendants, however, wore a hussar’s jacket. Nesalla sent three
bunches of plantains and seven fowls for the expedition. At twelve
o’clock I washed, more or less in public, and, in the meantime, the
women and children performed a grigri for goodness to be bestowed on
their town and prince. One of the children beat on a long native drum,
another performed on a native whistle attached to an image of
Diabolus, and the women used their tongues very freely. It was a
horrid din.
About two o’clock Nesalla came with upwards of one hundred men and
commenced a long palaver about our going on to Yellalla. Five or six
persons spoke, and the conference lasted one hour. The conclusion
showed that the cloth we had with us was not enough, and that the
princes at Yellalla must get a different piece from that which was
before the conference, and no division into two pieces must be made of
it under any consideration whatever. As the whole affair was conducted
in a most good-humoured manner, I agreed to the terms.
In the evening the inhabitants of the village had a dance. Those who
have witnessed the Spanish cachucha need scarcely be told what this
dance was. The cachucha is a very good dance in its way; but the Congo
dance beats it hollow, because it has more pith in it than the
cachucha. The fun was kept up till a late hour, every one, both great
and small, young and old, joining in it, so that in the end, what with
palm wine and excitement, the people became quite unruly, and when
they left off the babel of tongues was unbearable. They came to our
quarters, aroused us out of our sleep by opening the door and very
unceremoniously pulling our clothes from us. They wanted some sort of
covering, and thinking we might be kind enough to let them have
something, took the liberty of taking without asking. We could not,
however, submit to this. We permitted old Gidi Mavonga to sleep in the
house, and turned the rest out of doors.
_Tuesday, September 15th._――Early this morning we started for the
Banza Nculu. The scenery along the road was varied and picturesque.
The first view we had of the river was from an eminence about a mile
from Vivi on the road to the Banza Nculu. Here we had a view of the
Congo as it was flowing onwards, and round about in all directions
were hills and dales adding a panoramic beauty to the scene. We had to
descend from the summit of the first hill and ascend a second one much
higher than the first, and from here we again obtained views of the
Congo. One, the lower view, appeared like a lake, apparently shut in
on all sides by hills, whose lofty summits stretched far and wide on
every side, and some of them peered to the height of above a thousand
feet into the heavens. Proceeding onwards, we ascended a third
eminence, but by this time we had lost sight of the river, and our
path became more level for a short distance.
We now commenced a gradual descent, but before doing so we obtained an
open and extensive view of the valley that lay between us and the
Banza Nculu. On descending into the valley, we found the soil a dark
clay mould with fewer stones on it than on that of the country through
which we had hitherto passed. It was certainly a fine sight to behold,
and the best addition to the scene was the caravan which formed the
expedition now disappearing down a valley, now rising to the top of
one of the many hillocks with which the valley abounded. The fertility
of the soil may be observed here from the fact of the grass growing to
the height of ten or twelve feet, and here also the native beans grow
to a greater height than did those we saw in other parts of the
country. In the valley we crossed three streams of running water, all
feeders of the big river; and considering that it was the latter end
of the dry season, these streams all had a fair supply of water.