31 
 
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Cornell University Library 
 DT 646.B97 
 
 Land of the pigmies, 
 
 3 1924 028 653 271 
 
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 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tlie Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028653271 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
O/'^^-Z'-t'^^ /^-T-t-/ 
 
The Land of the Pigmies 
 
 CAPTAIN GUY BURROWS 
 
 {Captain Coinniandaiit, Congo Free State) 
 
 WITH INTRODUCTION BY 
 
 H. M. STANLEY, M.P. 
 
 II7ii/ ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS, SKETCHES BY THE AUTHOR, 
 AND MAPS 
 
 XonCon 
 C. ARTHUR PEARSON LIMITED 
 
 HENRIETTA STREET, W.C. 
 
Q 
 
 X. 
 
 L 
 
BY PEEMISSION, 
 TO 
 
 HIS MAJESTY THE KING OP THE BELGIANS. 
 
INTPvODUCTION 
 
 HAVING been the means through which the 
 author of this latest volume of Congo 
 travels was induced to take a part in the 
 development of the more distant regions of the 
 Congo Free State, it is but fitting that I should 
 give a few particulars respecting him. 
 
 Captain Guy Burrows descends from a well- 
 known English military family. His great-grand- 
 father was a General of Engineers, so likewise 
 was his grandfather. Two of his uncles were also 
 distinguished oflicers who attained similar rank in 
 the same branch of the service, while his father, 
 General G. E. S. Burrows, became Quarter-Master 
 General in the Bombay army. It was therefore 
 but a natural bent in our author to adopt the same 
 honourable profession, and since he was gazetted 
 to the 7th Fusiliers in August, 1880, Captain 
 Burrows has seen considerable service. In 
 December, 1880, he joined the 2nd Battalion at 
 
viii INTBODUCTION 
 
 Kandahar, and remained continuously in India 
 until invalided in June, 1885. On reporting for 
 duty, he was sent to Egypt to be attached to the 
 1st BattaHon, and in February, 1887, he had the 
 command of Shellal (1st Cataract) given to him. 
 In the following April he was promoted to a 
 captaincy, and commanded the British detach- 
 ment at Assun during the summer and autumn 
 of that year. He retired from the Army in 
 November, 1888. 
 
 In 1894 the Congo State authorities being 
 desirous of opening the region around the Upper 
 Welle-Mobanghi, requested me to nominate a few 
 unemployed British officers who would be disposed 
 to serve a term in that remote corner of the State. 
 Among those who hailed the opportunity and 
 expressed themselves eager for service was Captain 
 Guy Burrows. As both figure and appearance 
 recommended him as physically qualified, and he 
 was possessed of indisputable credentials, he had no 
 sooner presented himself at Brussels than he was 
 engaged as a district commander in the Welle- 
 Mobanghi division. That his services were appre- 
 ciated may be judged by his promotions, for in less 
 than a year he was appointed to the command of 
 the Makua (Upper Welle) Zone, and in February, 
 1897, was placed in charge of the Eubi- Welle 
 Zone. As his three-year term drew to a close he 
 was attacked with a severe htematuric fever, but 
 
INTBODUGTION ix 
 
 unwilling to leave before he had fulfilled his con- 
 tract, he held on to his post, and only when he 
 had exceeded his term did he consent to retire. 
 He reached Europe on the 17th of September, 1897, 
 having been absent from home nearly three and a 
 quarter years. He has now completely recovered 
 his health, and before this book will be published 
 he will be well on his way back to the Congo to 
 take up his new appointment of Commissioner of 
 the Aruwimi Districts. 
 
 With regard to this first literary effort of Captain 
 Burrows I need say but little. Its title is a 
 fascinating one, and suggests the satisfaction of 
 our legitimate curiosity respecting the little people 
 whom the Emin Belief Expedition discovered in 
 such numbers in the great forest traversed by the 
 Aruwimi. As our author had an enormous num- 
 ber of unknown tribes to describe within limited 
 space, he has selected for treatment only a few of 
 the principal, such as the Mangbettou (Monbuttu), 
 Ababwas, Azande, Maigoes, Mabode, Momvus, 
 among whom the Pigmies live. Our information 
 respecting these tribes has been hitherto but scant. 
 Schweinfurth, Junker, Casati, and Emin reached 
 the threshold of the region herein specified as the 
 Land of the Pigmies ; but since their time circum- 
 stances have altogether changed, and the country 
 has been penetrated through and through several 
 times. Fortified stations dot the banks of the 
 
X INTBODUCTION 
 
 Welle-Makua, and caravans are constantly passing 
 and repassing between the Lower Mobanghi and the 
 White Nile. Most of the country was an absolute 
 terra-incognita until the gallant Van Kherkhoven 
 led his column to the Nile from the west ; and 
 therefore this first description of the country and 
 its wild inhabitants by an Enghsh officer who has 
 assisted in its administration for a number of years 
 ought to be welcome. 
 
 Captain Burrows's book possesses several merits. 
 In the first place it is brief, and gives us a very 
 good idea of the lands haunted by the Pigmies, as 
 well as of the characteristics of the larger 
 aborigines, some of whom, it appears, have qualities 
 that must prove of great value when their savagery 
 has been softened by greater intercourse with the 
 whites. What the Congo State has been doing in 
 the countries bordering the Welle, or how it is 
 progressing in its work of clearing the darkness and 
 mystery that have so long shrouded them, seems 
 to be a secondary matter. Of his marches and 
 countermarches he says little, the incidents of his 
 daily life he leaves untold, and of his hunting 
 exploits, harassments, fevers, feelings and emotions 
 he is unusually shy. Captain Burrows has pre- 
 ferred to treat only of the natives and their ways, 
 and I am bound to admit that I found his book so 
 interesting that I read it through at a sitting. 
 
 Lord Salisbury's recent reference to " dying 
 
INTBODUCTION xi 
 
 nations " in his late speech has led a writer in the 
 Spectator to include the Congo State as among 
 the moribund, though singularly enough people in 
 Brussels and on the Congo profess to be entirely 
 ignorant that there is anything to justify such a 
 statement, and personally I have not the remotest 
 idea what he can refer to. The author of this 
 novel jeremiad will perhaps excuse me if I ask him 
 not only to read but to study King Leopold's letter 
 attached to this book, and if he does it with a clear 
 understanding I venture to say he will entertain a 
 different opinion. 
 
 Brief as Captain Burrows's description of the 
 regions of the Welle countries are, they yet suffice 
 to bring to me very vividly the realities of savage 
 anarchy. They remind me of the state I found 
 the Congo basin to be in between 1876-1884, but 
 when I think of what the banks of the Congo are 
 to-day I am compelled more than ever to acknow- 
 ledge what great gratitude the civilised world owes 
 to King Leopold for his matchless sacrifices in 
 behalf of the inhabitants of this region. 
 
 Carlyle says that "to subdue mutiny, discord, 
 widespread despair by manfulness, justice, mercy, 
 and wisdom, to let light on chaos, and make it 
 instead a green flowery world, is great beyond all 
 other greatness, work for a God ! " Who can doubt 
 that God chose the King for His instrument to 
 redeem this vast slave park whence Dongolawi 
 
xii INTBODUCTION 
 
 and Arab, Bakongo and Portuguese half-caste 
 slave traders culled their victims for the slave 
 market. King Leopold found the Congo region 
 " stained by wasteful deformities, tears, and 
 hearts' blood of myriads," cursed by cannibalism 
 savagery and despair; and he has been trying 
 with a patience, which I can never sufficiently 
 admire, to relieve it of its horrors, rescue it 
 from its oppressors, and save it from perdition. 
 Some who have marked what he has been doing 
 think he has been too slow, others say he has been 
 going too fast ; some are out of patience with the 
 tedious process of conversion and civilisation, and 
 think the betterment of a few thousand of the 
 inhabitants of no account; others again jibe and 
 mock and sneer at all his efforts, and predict 
 certain failure ; still the King continues to keep his 
 treasury open, spends his million francs every year 
 with undiminishing faith that in the end all will 
 come right. 
 
 I am sorry to have to admit that our Press have 
 been the severest critics of the King, and the most 
 persistent in fault-finding. It almost seems as 
 though the civilisation of the Congo was for some 
 reason peculiarly obnoxious to the English. 
 From the very beginning in 1877, when I mooted 
 the idea first, every one who has been prominent 
 in this work has been the subject of censure, and 
 English opposition to it has been strenuous and 
 
INTBODUCTION xiil 
 
 untiring. The English would have nothing to do 
 with the Congo themselves, they were averse from 
 recognising the Portuguese claims, the French 
 were denounced for coveting it, and the efforts of 
 the Belgians to improve the portion allotted to 
 them by the Berlin Conference have been always 
 discouraged and followed by ominous prediction. 
 I can make nothing of this temper because it is 
 so unreasonable and unjustifiable, and I cannot 
 even guess as to what the British Press would 
 wish to have done to the Congo. It cannot be 
 abandoned to revert to a wilderness, it cannot 
 belong to England, and it would scarcely suit the 
 English to have it transferred to Prance, Germany, 
 or to Portugal. Why do our writers, then, object 
 to hear of steady progress being made on the 
 Congo under Belgian administration, and prefer 
 to publish malignant letters from some dismissed 
 official or splenetic missionary on which they may 
 base their prognostications of speedy dissolution, 
 rather than on facts which cannot be disproved 
 and which point to opposite conclusions ? 
 
 For 1898 the revenue of this State said to be 
 "dying" is estimated at iJ590,000, inclusive of 
 the subsidies of King Leopold and the Belgian 
 Government — that is to say, the sum of ^470,000 
 will be drawn out of the State itself, and be it 
 remembered this revenue has grown from ml 
 within fourteen years. The debt is no doubt 
 
xiv INTBODUCTION 
 
 large having regard to the present revenue, and 
 the continued annual expenditure which exceeds 
 it, but a glance at the condition of the State, 
 say in 1885, when it came into being, ought to 
 satisfy any intelligent person that without such 
 generous external aid its existence would have 
 been impossible. It is also better to have incurred 
 such a debt in creating and preserving the State 
 than to have forfeited it through allowing it to 
 stagnate and neglect of effective occupation. 
 The present question of Boussa and Nikki has 
 arisen through our neglect of the obligations which 
 were imposed upon all Powers possessing African 
 territory. Our indifference to our boundaries has 
 resulted in France annexing territory far within 
 our own borders. 
 
 King Leopold in his letter remarks that "the 
 Congo is a state whose boundaries are occupied 
 and guarded — a result nearly unequalled in the 
 history of colonisation, but which is explained by 
 the concentration of all my efforts in one field of 
 action." It was for this object of securing the 
 boundaries that the greatest expenditure was 
 incurred. To judge whether it was a proper 
 prudence must be left to those who remember 
 the history of the State. At any rate it will not 
 be denied, even by the writer in the Spectator, that 
 had we paid similar attention to our boundaries 
 in Nigeria, East Central Africa, and on the Nile 
 
INTliODUGTION xv 
 
 we should have had no anxieties respecting Boussa 
 and Nikki in the West, Fashoda on the Nile, or 
 the extent of the Abyssinian incursions. Eelying 
 upon our prestige and dignity as a first-class 
 Power, we thought that by merely painting our 
 spheres red we should be safe against intrusion. 
 We were, however, deceived, and it may cost 
 us a hundred millions to recover our rights. 
 
 Now the question is : Had the infant State, 
 which had no force, no past, and no prestige, left 
 her bomidaries unoccupied and unprotected, how 
 much would have been left of it by now ? The 
 next question is. Was the avoidance of contentious 
 questions between France and the Congo State 
 worth the large expenditure lavished on the 
 frontier stations ? 
 
 The experience of the South African Company 
 also goes to show that if you would reap you must 
 sow, and that as you sow you may expect to reap. 
 The debt and revenue of the Chartered Company 
 approximate that of the Congo State. Ehodesia 
 has hitherto suffered, and still suffers, from want 
 of sufficient means of transport. True, we know 
 the railway has recently reached Bulawayo, but 
 the Goldfields, on which Ehodesia depends for 
 revenue, are still distant from that town, and 
 much remains to be done in the way of railway 
 extension to satisfy the needs of the country, and 
 justify the faith of investors. 
 
XVI INTRODUCTION 
 
 Four months after the arrival of the railway at 
 Bulawayo the locomotive reached Stanley Pool, 
 but instead of railway extension the Congo State 
 only requires larger steamers to bring to the upper 
 terminus the 60,000 tons of produce, which the 
 railway will need to have its full capacity 
 employed. It will not be long before the 20,000 
 miles of the upper river banks now accessible will 
 be abundantly able to furnish that amount of 
 freight. What the gold output of Ehodesia will 
 do for Khodesian revenue, the rubber, gum, and 
 timber products of 400,000 square miles of forest 
 are expected to do for the Congo State. 
 
 Since 1891 there have been planted on the 
 Upper Congo 1,500,000 coffee and 200,000 cocoa 
 plants, and the export of rubber has risen from 
 a few pounds in 1885 to 3,570,756 lbs. in 1897. 
 The value of this amount is stated to be ^6357, 056. 
 In 1884 the exports from the Upper Congo were 
 nil, in 1897 they were valued at .£621,688. It 
 ought to be remembered that this produce was 
 carried on men's shoulders ; and now that the 
 railway is at Stanley Pool, what may we not 
 expect in a few years when the coffee and cocoa 
 plants are in full bearing, the saw-mills turning 
 out their hard-wood logs — mahogany, teak, green- 
 heart, and ironwood — by the hundred thousand, 
 every river-bank with rubber-bearing plants dili- 
 gently searched, and the gum deposits yielding 
 
INTRODUCTION xvii 
 
 up their wealth to the prospectors ? But it is 
 unnecessary to dilate upon the prospect. It is 
 enough to say that out of England few people 
 are pessimistic in regard to the future of the 
 State. 
 
 The King further says that now the difficulties 
 encountered in establishing and provisioning the 
 distant posts, and maintaining the communications, 
 " will be greatly reduced by the completion of the 
 railway to Stanley Pool; " the progress which was 
 hitherto but moderate, considering the means of 
 transport, must be greatly accelerated. ' To the 
 State and its 1,600 white officials, merchants, and 
 missionaries, most of whom are on the Upper 
 Congo, the gain will be substantial. The tedious 
 journey past the cataracts occupied twenty days, 
 but the train, though only running during day- 
 light, will do the distance in two days. On the 
 Upper River are some sixty steamers and steel 
 boats, all of which were carried by black porters 
 in weights of 60 lbs. It also required an army of 
 40,000 native carriers to annually convey the 
 goods and provisions needed for business and 
 existence by the Europeans. It was cruelly severe 
 labour these natives were engaged in, though they 
 volunteered readily for the transport service. 
 Now, however, these carriers are no longer needed, 
 and the State is suddenly enriched by the departure 
 of these men, who have been trained by years of 
 
xviii INTBODUCTION 
 
 industrious habits, to other fields, to collect rubber 
 and gum, oil and palm nuts, &o., &c., which they 
 know will be bought for cash at every depot. The 
 expense of transport will be lessened by two-thirds, 
 and this economy will be net gain to the State. 
 
 Captain Guy Burrows and his companions now 
 on their way to the Congo will doubtless greatly 
 appreciate the advantages of the railway. On the 
 twentieth day from Antwerp they will reach the 
 railway station at Matadi, and towards the even- 
 ing of the day after they left it they will reach the 
 Pool, and ten days later they will be comfoi^tably 
 housed within the fortified station at the mouth 
 of the Aruwimi — nearly 1,300 miles from the 
 Atlantic. Before their contract term has expired 
 the speed of steamers and railway will have been 
 so accelerated that they will be able to reach home 
 in twenty-four days. Neither in their going out 
 or their return home will their strength and energy 
 be exhausted as in the past. When the gallant 
 Captain comes home again I hope he will be able 
 to furnish us with another book, wherein he will 
 tell us about the newer developments in the State 
 which followed the introduction of the railway, and 
 the linking of the Upper Congo flotilla with the 
 Ocean Mail steamers and what resulted from the 
 abolition of the carrier system. 
 
 HENEY M. STANLEY. 
 Maij 16, 1898. 
 
 2, Richmond Terrace, Whitehall, London, 
 
PREFACE 
 
 THE mouth of the Congo was discovered in 
 1484 by Diego Cam, a Portuguese naval 
 officer, and member of the household of 
 King Juan II., who at that time took part in 
 an expedition which was coasting the African 
 continent with the object of discovering the East 
 Indies. To commemorate this finding of the 
 Congo a pillar was erected on the southern pro- 
 montory of the Delta, which is still known as 
 the Padrao Foreland, ■padrao being the Portu- 
 guese for pillar. The explorers called the stream 
 the Zaire, from the word Nzadi, which means 
 river ; and it was not until the early part of 
 the seventeenth century that the stream was 
 first described on maps as the Eio de Congo. 
 
 Ancient descriptions, which date back to the six- 
 teenth and seventeenth centuries, are based upon 
 stories brought home by traders, and in po way 
 raise the veil of mystery which enshrouds the 
 interior of the country, of which they give most 
 fanciful accounts. From that time until the be- 
 ginning of the present century the history of the 
 
XX PBEFACE 
 
 Congo is taken up by the Portuguese, who spread 
 the gospel among the people subject to their 
 rule. 
 
 The kingdom of the Congo proper was bounded 
 on the north by the river whence it derives its 
 name, on the south by the river Kuanza, and 
 stretched some miles in an easterly direction. 
 
 A cathedral was erected at Ambassa which 
 became the seat of a bishopric in 1534. When 
 the King of the Congo was converted to Chris- 
 tianity the name of the city was changed to San 
 Salvador, and later on the Eoman Catholic see 
 was transferred to St. Paul de Loanda. 
 
 In 1784 the Portuguese built a fort at Kabinda, 
 thirty miles north of the mouth of the Congo, in 
 order to mark the occupation of the kingdom by 
 Portugal ; but a French squadron compelled them 
 to dismantle this stronghold. Along the Congo 
 there were also stations at which slaves were 
 embarked ; these were transferred to St. Paul de 
 Loanda together with the bishopric. 
 
 James Kingston Tuckey, the leader of the expe- 
 dition dispatched by the British Government in 
 1816, gives the first precise description of the 
 Lower Congo, from its mouth to a distance of 170 
 miles into the interior. Tuckey mentions the 
 presence of numerous slave-dealers along the 
 banks — owners of "baracoons," with which they 
 did a lucrative business. In 1810, when the 
 
PREFACE xxi 
 
 European Powers resolved to abolish the slave 
 trade, Portugal alone refused to adhere to the 
 convention, and in 1816 two thousand slaves 
 were still being shipped annually from the Congo. 
 
 In 1867 Livingstone discovered the Tchambesi, 
 running westward to the south of Tanganika, 
 and mistook it for the source of the Nile. He 
 explored the river as far as Lake Bangwelo, and 
 between 1868 and 1871 he came to the conclusion 
 that it issued from that source under the name 
 of Luapula, flowing northwards into Lake Moero, 
 from which it emerged under the name of Lualaba. 
 He again found the same river at Nyangwe, a 
 town in Manyema, at a distance of 1,300 miles 
 from its source. At this point it had attained 
 an enormous breadth. 
 
 In October, 1876, the expedition despatched by 
 the Daily Telegraph and the New YorJc Herald 
 under Stanley reached the Arab town of Nyangwe. 
 It was from here that Stanley made his famous 
 descent of the river to the ocean. After travelhng 
 two hundred and eighty-one days, the expedition 
 came in sight of the Atlantic, having traversed 
 1,660 miles by water and 140 miles by land. 
 
 The Tchambesi, Lake Bangwelo, the Luapula, 
 Lake Moero, and the Lualaba were then all 
 proved to be parts of the Upper Congo, which 
 was thus followed in its entirety four hundred 
 years after the discovery of its mouth by the 
 
xxii PREFACE 
 
 Portuguese, and shown to cross Central Africa 
 from east to west, and to form a natural means 
 of communication with the very heart of the Dark 
 Continent. 
 
 The first African expedition to start from the 
 East Coast left Europe on the 23rd of January 
 1879, with Stanley at its head, proceeding first to 
 Zanzibar, where a number of servants of the 
 former expedition, and many Zanzibaris, were 
 recruited. Stanley reached the mouth of the 
 Congo on the 14th of August, and there found the 
 Belgian flotilla awaiting him. On board the 
 Esperauce he ascended the Congo as far as Yivi, 
 the furthest navigable point, where he erected a 
 station under many difficulties. In March 1880, 
 he began to construct a track between Yivi and 
 Isangila, which he reached in February 1881, 
 having transported his heavy loads and his boats, 
 mounted on waggons, and dragged by negroes, 
 through a country bristling with almost impassable 
 forests. 
 
 I am well aware that several earlier explorers 
 have given to the public interesting accounts of 
 their travels and discoveries in remote African 
 regions, and it is a pleasure to me to have been 
 able to record some further and fresh information 
 gathered by personal experience in parts where 
 no white man had trodden before. 
 
 G. B. 
 
PAGE 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 jMr. Stanley's Advertisement — I am ordered to Semio — The 
 journey — Matadi — Lukungu — Leopold ville — The principal 
 races — Their food — Their dresses — The JIusseronges — 
 Fetich-Priests — The Babuendi — The voyage up the river 
 — The Eoman Catholic Mission — Equator station — The 
 Ubanghi — We journey in dug-outs — Jlokoangai — Banzyville 
 — A native's idea of a flogging — A ransomed slave — 
 Yakoma — I become a "blood-brother" — The ceremony 3 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A tornado — Extra paddlemen wanted — Lieutenant Devenyns 
 obliged to proceed by land — Strike of canoe-men — The 
 rapids — A canoe sinks — Desertion of the paddlemen — We 
 sm-prise a village — A press-gang — Interpretation under 
 difficulties — A portage — Dahia breaks his promise — I camp 
 on an island — Canoe-men anxious to work — Konirah — I 
 learn my destination — Djabbir — M'Bima — The ransom of 
 a conderimed wizard— Arrival at N'Yangara . . 31 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A punitive expedition — A deserted country — The column sur- 
 prised — The Azande charge — Rout of the Sierra Leone — 
 We fall back to Dongu — I am sent to establish a new post 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 — I am given charge of the District of the Upper \\elle — 
 Its aspect — Altitude — Navigation — Climate — Nati\e names 
 for the months — Tribal divisions — The Azaude — Their 
 origm a mj'stery — Their country — Hunters — Pottery — 
 Status of the women among them — War-dress of the chiefs 
 — JMorality — The warriors — Their \\'capons — Beer — Their 
 methods of execution — Superstition — Not nomadic, but 
 absorbing — Then- villages — Type of face — Possible Semitic 
 origin — The chiefs — Crafts, military science, primitive 
 jurisprudence and trial by ordeal — The oracle of llefigc . SO 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Mang-bettou tribe — The conqueror and \anquished — 
 Modern Mang-bettous — Villages — Good husbandmen — 
 Skilful craftsmen — Aristocracy — Chieftam — Camiibals — 
 The war-drum — The mapingo — Tlie women — Giving paint 
 — No divorce — Arms — Tobacco and pipes — Smoking cus- 
 toms — The beer — Drinldng customs of the Mang-ljcttou — 
 Harvest — Mang-bcttou "gold cure" — No knowledge of 
 tactics — Huts — Intermarriage — Head-dress of the men — 
 The chief's "ball" — Their i-eligious superstitions — Spiri- 
 tualists — Funeral customs — The attaro — Funeral customs 
 of the chiefs — Morality non-existent — Nicknames — 
 Mourning . 77 
 
 CHAPTEB V. 
 
 visit the Mabode country — Eetm-n to Pokko — Attacked by 
 fever — The Mege — Their country and customs — The Niapu 
 — A buffer state — No intei-est talien in the \\ hite man — The 
 mule a fabulous animal — The "lucundoo ' — Poison resorted 
 to — The methods of working \\itchcraft — Cleanliness of the 
 Jlege — I interview a tribe prexiously un\isited by the wliite 
 man — Good reception spoilt by an accident — I talve the 
 initiative — Bout of the Mabode — I turn off eastward — 
 Fresh attacks b,\- the Mabode — Cross .the Nava — Attack 
 and capture of the zarcba — Nineteen jiien of my party are 
 \\ounded — Relief by Lieutenant Laplume — Tlie Mabode 
 \illages — Cannibalism rampant among them — The under- 
 ground rivers — Dances — The Momvus tribe — Tlicir 
 customs — Equality of the sexes — Return to N'Yangara . 110 
 
CONTENTS XXV 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Cannibalism — Its possible origin discussed — Livingstone and 
 the Manyema — The question never properly discussed — 
 Prehistoric cannibalism — Superstition or choice — Cannibals 
 not necessarily degraded — Pigmies not cannibals — Body- 
 snatohing — The Bangala — The Bateke — The Mabode made 
 no secret of it — The way it is done — Among the Bangala — 
 Among the other tribes 138 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Eeturning down the Welle — The name of hippopotamus — I 
 shoot one — The scenery of a Congo river — Elephants' play- 
 ground — A night expedition — A chance shot — The second 
 elephant — AVe follow the wounded elephant into the bush — 
 Ammunition expended — A further supply obtained — The 
 delighted natives — Elephant-shooting by daylight — The 
 Mobanghi paddlemen — The dug-out — I miss — The first 
 elephant killed — The second afraid — Bull elephants travel 
 in couples — A " pictm-e puzzle " — An elephant's gentle 
 shufHe . 158 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Early traces of the Pigmies — Possible relation to the people of 
 fairy legends — The Akka — Division — Tribe mark — Villages 
 — ilental state — Physical state — Instruments — Dancing — 
 Hunting — Weapons — Bananas — Purchase their instruments 
 — Chiefs — Nominal protection — The Albino — Nomads — 
 Burial rites — Under AVhite influence — Then- language — 
 Making fire . . 172 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Ababwa people — Fictitious reports had reached me con- 
 cerning them — The reasons for this — The middlemen — The 
 deference paid by the Ababwa to the Azande — The country 
 — Customs of the Ababwa — Language — I arrive at Djabbir 
 — An expedition against the mm-derers of Grahame — The 
 doctor — Wild firing — Terror of the doctor — VoUeys heard — 
 No trace of the other column — Attacked by the Azande — 
 The men demorahsed — I foi-m a, square — Azande driven 
 back — The doctor's idea of warfare — Deserted by the other 
 
xxvi CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 two columns — We return to the station— The chief Djabbir 
 — The corporal promoted — News of Dhanis's disaster — 
 Becruiting — The Mobanghi — Their tribal customs — Make 
 the best soldiers — Franli ci'iticism — Hunters and watei'men 
 — Reading the river — The mission station at Upoto — Arrival 
 at Boma . 200 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The Government of the Congo Free State — Local Adminis- 
 tration at Boma — The Consultative Committee — The State 
 Offices — Districts and their Commissioners — Native Head- 
 ships — Department of Justice — Coinage — War Office — 
 Native Service — Regulations the same as in the ]3elgian 
 Army — The medical service — Powers of the State medical 
 officers — The Red Cross Society — The missions — The 
 Scheut Fathers — Missionary newspapers — Methods of the 
 workers — Probationary period — The Protestant Missions 
 wealthier than the Roman Catholic — English taught to the 
 natives — Publication of native grammars .... 219 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 The geology of the Congo — Prehistoric axe-heads — Fauna — 
 The gorilla and the chimpanzee — African elephant — 
 State decrees regarding elephant-shooting — The tusks — 
 Rhinoceros — Birds of prey — Reptiles — Domestic animals 
 — Fisli — Methods of the natives in catching fish — Flora — 
 Equatorial vegetation — The banana — Manioc introduced 
 from America — Other edible vegetables — Tinctorial plants 
 — Rubber — Textile plants — Cocoa- trees — A relic of Stanley's 
 experiments — Tobacco, and smoking customs — Barter . 237 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The transport of goods on the Congo — Native deserters — Rail- 
 ways in Africa — A wonderful piece of engineering — Railway 
 lines in prospect — The schemes of the Congo Government 
 — An express from Alexandria to the Cape . . . 267 
 
 Appendices : — 
 
 Letter from the King of the Belgians ..... 285 
 A Glossary of Words and Phrases . ... 289 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FRONTISPIECE THE AUTHOE . 2 
 
 MATADI (down-stream) . . i 
 
 LEOPOLDVILLE . . . . .5 
 
 AMERICAN MISSION SCHOOL, LEOPOLDVILLE 9 
 
 POTTERY OF LOWER UBANGHI . . . 11 
 
 MASK OF. MEDICINE MAN . 13 
 
 TYPE OF RECTANGULAR HUT . . .17 
 
 THE "goodwill" STARTING FROM BOPOTO . . 19 
 
 YOUNG GIRL, HIGHER UBANGHI . . . 20 
 
 NATIVE OF HIGHER UBANGHI .... 22 
 
 CONGO MISSION SCHOOL ... .25 
 
 WOODEN SPOONS FROM THE EQUATOR . 28 
 
 IN THE RAPIDS 
 
 BANANAS 
 MOBANGHI NATIVE 
 
 CONGO CANOE 
 
 29 
 
 LULUABOURG ... . 33 
 
 35 
 
 37 
 
 THE SULTAN DJABBIR . . . . 39 
 41 
 
 SULTAN DJABBIR AND FAMILY . . . 43 
 
xxviii LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 FOET AT DJABBIE . . . . . .47 
 
 WOMAN CAEEYING MANIOC .... 49 
 
 WOMEN CAEEYING EICE APTEE THE HAEVBST . . 51 
 
 MOBANGHI NATIVE . . . . 52 
 
 WITCH PEOCESSION : GIELS DECOEATED WITH BEADS 54 
 
 AZANDE FETICHES . . 56 
 
 AZANDB NATIVE . . . . 57 
 
 AZANDE KENIBA ... 59 
 
 NATIVE DANCE . . .63 
 
 AZANDB WEAPONS . . 65 
 
 TYPE OP HUT . . 68 
 
 SECTION OF HUT ..... 69 
 
 DENDI WOMAN, HIGHEE UBANGHI . . 70 
 
 POTTEEY OP AEUWIMI . . 71 
 
 NATIVE OF THE EQUATOE . . . 74 
 
 DBUMS FEOM THE EQUATOE . 76 
 
 MANG-BETTOU NATIVE ... 78, 
 THEOWING KNIVES . . .79 
 
 INTEEMENT OF A CHIEF . . . .81 
 
 A DANCING WOMAN ..... 85 
 
 WAE MASKS AND THEOWING SPEAES . . .87 
 
 TOBACCO PLANTATION ... 89 
 
 WEESTLING MATCH ON THE CONGO . . 93 
 
 NATIVE AXES . . . . 97 
 
 TYPES OP CHIEFS . . . . 99 
 
 ABABAMBO WOMAN AND MAN .... 101 
 
 NATIVES OF THE UPPER CONGO . . 105 
 
 WAR DEUM ...... 109 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTBATIONS xxix 
 
 PAGE 
 
 COFFEE PLANTATION, STANLEY FALLS . . . Ill 
 
 DISH FROM THE EQUATOR . . . 114 
 
 GROUP OF YOUNG GIRLS . . . . 117 
 
 COUNCIL OF WAR, BOPOTO . 120 
 
 MASOMA, SOUTH OF NAVA . . 122 
 
 MABODE TATTOOING (BACK VIEw) . 124 
 
 MABODE TATTOOING (FRONT VIEw) . . 125 
 
 NATIVE WITH TATTOO MARKS .... 129 
 
 ENSIGN OF CHIEF . . . 131 
 
 FETICH . . . . 132 
 
 BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION ON THE INKISSI . 133 
 
 MAYIMBA, LOWER CONGO . . . 136 
 
 FIRST BRICK STATION BUILT ON THE HIGHER CONGO 139 
 
 FALLS ON THE CONGO 143 
 
 HUMAN SACRIFICE . . . . 145 
 
 AXES, KASSAI . 150 
 AXES, KASSAI .... 151 
 
 BOY, LEOPOLDVILLE . . 155 
 
 VILLAGE ON THE CONGO . . . . 161 
 
 AMAEY-LLIS .... 165 
 
 SANGO TYPE . , . 170 
 
 TRIBE FROM THE UPPER MONGALA RIVER 173 
 
 PIGMY ..... 175 
 
 METHOD OF FISHING ON THE CONGO . 187 
 
 A BAS-CONGO CARRIER . 189 
 
 A BAS-CONGO CARRIER . 193 
 
 BOY AND GIRL WEARING METAL RINGS . . 198 
 
 VILLAGE OF KUNZI . . . . 201 
 
XXX LIST OF ILLUSTBATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 208 
 
 DANCING-WOMAN AND ATTENDANTS 
 
 A DANCINa WOMAN . . • 209 
 
 FUNBEAL DANCE, BOPOTO . . 2X2 
 
 FUNERAL DANCE, BOPOTO . 213 
 
 A MISSION CANOE . . . 216 
 
 BANGALA NATIVE SMOKING HEMP . . 218 
 
 CONGO HUT ..... 224 
 
 DISPENSARY AT BOMA ... . 226 
 
 TYPE OP NATIVE .... 229 
 
 A COENEB OP THE STATION OP NOUVELLE ANVEES . 231 
 
 MISSION AT KIMWENZA .... 233 
 
 MISSION OF EEEBU .... 236 
 
 GOEILLA KILLED AT STANLEY FALLS . 239 
 
 NATIVE KNIVES .... . 243 
 
 CAMP ON THE CONGO ..... 245 
 
 PISHING SETTLEMENT IN THE EAPIDS . 249 
 
 METHOD OP PISHING ON THE CONGO . . 251 
 
 A LIANA IN THE LAND OF UMANGI . . 253 
 
 YOUNG COFFEE-TEEES SHADED BY BANANAS . 257 
 NATIVE BEIDGE ...... 261 
 
 PISHING ON THE CONGO .... 265 
 
 BXilDGB OVEE THE BUNDI . . . 269 
 
 ON THE CONGO . . 273 
 
 PALLS OF THE TCHOPO . . . 277 
 
 NATIVE CLIMBING PALM TEBE . . 281 
 
CHAPTEE I 
 
 Mr. Stanley's adveitiscment — I riii ordered to Pimio — Ihe 
 journey — ^latadi — Lukungu — Leopoldville — The principal 
 races — Their food — Their dress — The Musseronges — 
 Fetish-priests —The Babuendi — The voyage up the liver 
 — The Eoman Catholic Mission — Equator station — The 
 Ubanghi — We journey in dug-outs — INIokoangai — Banzy- 
 ville — A native's idea of a flogging — A ransomed slave — 
 Yakoma — I become a " blood-brother " — The ceremony. 
 
 IN June, 1894, hearing that Mr. Stanley had been 
 asked by the Congo Free State to find a few 
 English officers for their forces, I placed myself 
 at his disposal, and set out at once ^Yith a letter 
 of introduction from him to their Secretary of 
 State, who was then at Brussels. Arrangements 
 were quickly made, and within a week I was on 
 board the Konigiii WilJielmina, outward bound 
 for Boma, knowing nothing of my ultimate des- 
 tination, but well satisfied at holding a captain's 
 connnission in the Foire Publiqne, and keen for 
 active service on the Upper Congo. 
 
4 THK LA XI) OF THE I'KiMIKS 
 
 Hardly had we landed at Bonia when I was sent 
 forward, with several other officers, to iNfatadi, a 
 rising station some forty miles higher np the Congo 
 river, where wo found everything in bustle and 
 confusion. Caravans were arriving from up-country 
 laden with i^'ory and rubber, and leaving for 
 Stanley Pool with bales of cloth, rolls of brass 
 wire, and other uveful merchandise. Recruits fresh 
 
 JIAT.-VDI (nOWN-STEEASi). 
 
 from the West Coast were amusingly at cross- 
 purposes with their officers, who spoke but little 
 English ; and quarters for new arrivals were so 
 difficult to find that we were glad to be allowed 
 a corner for our beds in the mess-room when our 
 frugal meal was at an end. 
 
 Next day we were so busy arranging our baggage 
 for the carriers, seven of wdiom were allotted to 
 each of us instead of twelve, that time fiew fast, 
 
H 
 > 
 
 a 
 
 O 
 &< 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 
THE LAND OF THE PKfMIES 7 
 
 and the following morning we started along the 
 caravan road for Stanley Pool, distant about 23(J 
 miles. This rough track, which crosses a hilly 
 district east of Matadi, is mere waste land, 
 unbroken by any trees or signs of life. Nothing 
 more dreary can be imagined than its bare rocks 
 and stony slopes, and scanty blades of a coarse, 
 ragged grass ; nothing more cheerless than the 
 dull monotony of the surrounding landscape. 
 
 At each stage small shelters have been built for 
 the use of the State agents — poor huts of poles 
 and grass, too roughly run up to be even weather- 
 proof, and miserable makeshifts until the long- 
 talked-of railway should be made. 
 
 Ten days' march brought us to Lukungu, a 
 station midway between Matadi and the Pool, 
 where we met Baron Dhanis and Doctor Hinde 
 making for the coast, homeward bound with flying 
 colours after their successful raid against Arab 
 slave-dealers. On September 6th we reached 
 Leopoldville, a station first planted by Mr. 
 Stanley on a hill which overlooks the great sheet 
 of water known by his name. 
 
 Waiting here for a steamer to take us on to the 
 Upper Congo, we found ourselves among many 
 white traders and members of the American and 
 French Missions, the latter established with a 
 large and well-built church. The native tribes 
 in these parts include the Musseronges on the 
 
8 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 islands and river-side from Banana to Matadi ; 
 the Kakongos on the right bank, between the sea 
 and Boma ; the BaoiUs along the coast, and the 
 Mayombes inland. 
 
 Speaking generally the people of the Lower 
 Congo are tall and well built, with supple liinbs 
 formed more for agility than strength, and oval 
 heads and faces, quick with intelligent vivacity. 
 Their w^omen are larger and stronger than the 
 men, and they all, in common with other races of 
 the Congo, are remarkable for their small hands 
 and feet, on which are bracelets and anklets of a 
 size that no European could wear. 
 
 Tattooing is very general, covering but a small 
 part of their brown bodies ; and as a rule the hair 
 is worn short. Families are distinguished by a 
 singular method of filing the teeth to a point, or 
 cutting them square, or in regular semicircles, 
 
 The Baoilis, a mixed tribe unfriendly to the 
 Avhites, live upon oysters, and distil salt from sea 
 water. The Ma3'ombes, a wilder race, are hand- 
 some and robust. The Musseronges hold them- 
 selves aloof entirely from the rest, and are so 
 independent that not even the most imminent 
 peril will induce them to combine with their 
 neighbours against a common enemy. 
 
 The food of these tribes on the coast is more 
 varied than that of the natives in the interior of 
 Africa. Their women do the cooking, grinding 
 
H 
 1^ 
 
 P 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 4" 
 o 
 o 
 
 K 
 o 
 
 "A 
 O 
 
 o 
 
THE LAND OF THE PI0MIE8 11 
 
 and sifting the manioc, a Hour which forms the 
 gromidwork of their diet, and busy witli household 
 duties, while their children play about the huts, 
 and babies sleep peacefully, rocked on their 
 mothers' hips. Over a fire of wood that burns 
 between three large stones these native cooks 
 prepare an excellent broth, a hotchpot of odds and 
 ends stewed wath capsicum in palm oil. This 
 they eat out of wooden basins with wooden 
 
 POTTEEY OP LOWER UBANGHI. 
 
 spoons and knives, drinking from earthenware or 
 carved wood cups ; and though tables are un- 
 known to them they have excellent taste in the 
 manufacture of porous vases and pottery. 
 
 In habits of personal cleanliness these African 
 children of nature are a wholesome example to 
 many in more civilised life. When they live near 
 the river, or any water, they bathe several times a 
 day, and in forests w^here this is impossible they 
 smear their bodies with layers of oil and red 
 powder, which they scrape off frequently. After 
 each meal they linse their mouths with water, and 
 
12 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 rub their teeth with the forefinger or with a rude 
 toothbrush of fibrous wood. 
 
 The most popular costume — scanty, but suffi- 
 cient for the chmate — consists of gaudy stufEs 
 imported from Europe, which they drape in bold 
 folds round their hips and loins. Large patterns 
 and a change of fashion are a delight to them, 
 while for choice of colours red, white, and black 
 find special favour ; yellow does not come amiss, 
 blue is tolerated, but green is rejected utterly. 
 
 On great occasions their kings and princes 
 array themselves in grotesque magnificence, dis- 
 carding trousers altogether, but otherwise be- 
 decked with bright remnants of European uniforms. 
 Kings in full dress use skins of leopards or wild 
 cats as aprons, and carry long canes tipped with 
 an ivory or wooden fetish knob, and they and 
 their subjects of all ranks and both sexes wear 
 large earrings. 
 
 Most of these people believe in the existence of 
 a Supreme Being, who lives above the clouds, and 
 does not trouble Himself about mortals whom He 
 has created. More attention, however, is paid to 
 their fetiches, or petty gods, who are thought to 
 busy themselves with the affairs of men. These, 
 especially the fetich of death, are addressed through 
 priests, the ministers of fetich-worship, who consult 
 the image, or fetich, in cases of crime or injury, in 
 order to discover who is guilty of the deed. 
 
, •sn'/fiie^ 
 
 MASK OF MEDICINE MAN. 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIOMIES 15 
 
 Crowned with leaves, and decked with tinsel, 
 carrying in his left hand a bag of eagles' beaks 
 and jackals' claws, drunk with palm wine, the 
 priest dances and yells, and ends presently by 
 declaring the name of the offender. At other 
 times he will pose as a physician, or medicine-man, 
 and make himself a terror to the simple folk by his 
 assumption of supernatural powers, which to their 
 credulous minds cloak his cruelty and avarice. 
 
 We shall form a general idea of the people of 
 these parts if we picture to ourselves a village in 
 the Babuendi district, with a cluster of perhaps 
 three hundred huts perched on the hilltop, clear of 
 any danger or surprise. These huts are rectangular, 
 with overhanging gables and verandas, under which 
 natives of both sexes may be seen smoking clay 
 pipes with stems of wood or iron. If caravans are 
 passing porters stop to refresh themselves. If it 
 is meal time men and women are eating apart from 
 one another. You may tell the married women by 
 a covering worn upon their breasts, and natives of 
 the north bank by their pretty headdresses of 
 palm fibre. All the women, and some of the chief 
 raen, show an increasing taste for bracelets, 
 anklets, and collars, and as they move to and 
 fro in bright sunshine the scene is at once novel 
 and picturesque. 
 
 Our voyage up the river was comparatively un- 
 eventful. We started at day-break, keeping close 
 
16 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 to one side or the other, under thickl}' wooded 
 banks. There is no life to be seen in this dense 
 growth of trees, brush, and creepers except an 
 occasional crocodile, lying like a log at the water's 
 edge, or a solitary monkey, or a passing flight of 
 screaming grey parrots. At about five o'clock the 
 boats usually made fast for the night to the bank, 
 while the whole of the crew and black passengers 
 set to work cutting dry wood for the steamer's con- 
 sumption next day. Passing the post of Berghe 
 St. Marie, where stands the Roman Catholic 
 Mission and colony for young children, and 
 Tchumbiri, we reached Lukolela, the post founded, 
 by Glave in 1883. This station, situated in the 
 midst of some magniflcent giant trees, is well 
 known to every white man in the State because of 
 the excellent tobacco grown there, and the timber 
 ^\'ill be valuable when means are found of convey- 
 ing it to the coast, and thence to the European 
 market. 
 
 On September 14th we arrived at the Equator 
 station, where we enjoyed the delicious luxuries of 
 fresh bread and vegetables. Retracing our steps 
 down the Congo, we ascended the Ubanghi, which 
 was in full flood, swollen with rains, and flowing 
 with so strong a current that we could not make 
 much way against the stream. 
 
 On September '28rd we reached Songo, after 
 passing through rapids which are only possible for 
 
TYPE OP EBCTANGULAE HUT. 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIOMIES 
 
 19 
 
 small steamers. Starting forward again with only 
 two other white men, I made my first acquaintance 
 with "dug-out" canoes. There were five rapids 
 to be tackled on the route, but by keeping close to 
 the bank, and hauling ourselves along by means of 
 projecting branches, we came through to Mokoangai 
 without mishap. Here Captain Tison, the com- 
 
 GOODWILL STARTING FROM BOPOTO. 
 
 mandant, made us most welcome, and did all in his 
 power for our comfort and amusement, so that, 
 though sport was impossible owing to the marshy 
 ground, the time passed pleasantly enough in his 
 company, and with five other white men, two of 
 whom were stationed there, and three waiting, as 
 we were, for the steamer to take them on. 
 
20 
 
 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 We left Mokoangai on the 8th of October in the 
 small paddle-steamer En Avant, one of Stanley's 
 original fleet, but owing to the head of water in 
 the river we did not reach Banzyville until the 
 
 
 
 YOUNG GIBL, HIGHEE UBANGHI. 
 
 16th. This station is built at the very edge of a 
 large rapid, and, with its excellent kitchen garden, 
 is the work of Captain Hermans, an officer of the 
 Grenadiers. The houses are well built of brick, 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 21 
 
 and the garden is stocked with an abundance of 
 vegetables ; fish, too, caught by the natives in the 
 rapids, are plentiful. An attack of fever kept me 
 prisoner here for nearly a fortnight. 
 
 It was at this station that I witnessed an amus- 
 ing incident, showing the faith of the native chiefs 
 in the white man's power. The head-man of a 
 neighbouring village came to complain to Captain 
 Hermans that several of his men refused to obey 
 his orders. He requested permission to bring in 
 the culprits, that Captain Hermans might have a 
 flogging administered to them. Naturally the 
 captain was disinclined to interfere with the 
 domestic policy of the native community, but as 
 the chief insisted that he was himself powerless 
 to inflict adequate punishment upon the offenders, 
 permission was given to bring his men to the 
 station. 
 
 No one thought for a moment that he would 
 turn up again, but at two o'clock he reappeared 
 with four men, who came quite willingly and with- 
 out the least show of force. On being introduced 
 to the commandant as the four culprits, they all 
 smiled and grinned, as though they were enjoying 
 their share in some great joke. They were asked 
 if they had been brought there by their chief to 
 receive punishment. " Oh yes, it was quite true," 
 they said, " quite correct — that was precisely what 
 they had come for." All the time they were 
 
22 
 
 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 laughing and smiling in complete unconcern. The 
 commandant, seeing they evidently did not under- 
 stand the meaning of punishment, and after again 
 appealing to the chief, sent for a corporal and told 
 him to flog the four men. 
 
 Their idea of receiving punishment was peculiar. 
 
 NATIVE OF HIGHEli UBANGHI, 
 
 The first man lay down on his stomach, the next 
 man lay flat on top of him, surmounted by the 
 other two. Perhaps they thought- the top one 
 could be thrashed for the whole party, or that it 
 might make things easier for the corporal. When 
 it was explained that each was to be beaten 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 23 
 
 separately there ^Yas a slight discussion as to who 
 should receive first punishment. Having settled 
 this delicate point among themselves, the three 
 stood by to look on while their comrade submitted 
 to his strokes. With the first blow the gentleman 
 on the ground began to think things were not quite 
 so funny. When his half-dozen had been admini- 
 stered he rose to his feet, turned round, and 
 looked at his companions, the expression on his 
 face a mixture of disgust and humour — disgust at 
 the pain, humour in his pretence that the operation 
 was not at all a painful one, so that he might 
 enjoy its efiect on his friends. As they went 
 away at last the chief alone was laughing ; the 
 faces of the others were serious and composed. 
 
 The following fact illustrates the untruth of the 
 stories of inhumanity with which the Congo 
 officers are so often charged. While I was at the 
 station some natives from the neighbourhood 
 brought in a man whom they had caught. He 
 was from the interior, and would in the ordinary 
 course of events have been killed and eaten by his 
 captors, who had fastened him to a heavy block of 
 wood, so that he could not escape. Without 
 hesitation Hermans bought him for fifty pieces of 
 iron, and after a short time set him free, and sent 
 him home. 
 
 The French have also a station at Banzyville, 
 standing on the high bank on the opposite side of 
 
24 THK LAND OF THE PIOMIES 
 
 the river to that of the Congo State, which is at 
 the water's edge. 
 
 Embarking from Banzyville in dug-outs, I arrived 
 at Yakoma on the 2nd of November, the voyage 
 being made without particular event, except for the 
 diversion of passing occasional rapids. We found 
 that the station on the right bank, which had been 
 given over to the French, was completely sub- 
 merged, and that the State station was. in course 
 of construction on the left bank ; but, as there was 
 no house finished, only a few huts were available 
 for our accommodation. 
 
 At Yakoma I found M. Georges le Marinel, 
 captain of Engineers, and Inspector of State for 
 the Ubanghi district, the officer who conducted 
 negotiations with the French diplomatists with 
 reference to the relative boundaries, and owing to 
 whose courtesy, tact, and diplomacy, friction be- 
 tween France and Belgium was avoided. On the 
 day that I arrived a French officer from the other 
 bank had sent- over a dozen bottles of wine as a 
 present — a very welcome addition to our supplies. 
 
 Leaving Yakoma on the 9th of November, my 
 troubles began. Hitherto everything had gone 
 smoothly and without a check. I was accompanied 
 by Lieutenant Devenyns of the twelfth line regi- 
 ment, and fifty men. We were given two Norden- 
 feldt seven-pounders with all accessories, and some 
 fifty cases of shot and shell. These, with our own 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 27 
 
 baggage, more than filled the five large canoes 
 which had been placed at our disposal. For 
 the first two days the voyage was easy enough, 
 hindered by no broken water or very rapid 
 currents ; but difiiculties and dangers were soon 
 to overtake us. 
 
 It was on this journey that I first saw the cere- 
 mony of blood-brotherhood. A littl ..chief insisted 
 on becoming my blood-brother, and, anxious to see 
 how it was done, I consented. The rite was carried 
 ' out in the following manner: in the open air, and 
 in thei. presence of all the -assembled chiefs and 
 people, I was seated opposite to my prospective 
 brother. A small incision was made in each of 
 our forearms, half-way between the hand and elbow, 
 from which a little blood oozed. The proper 
 performance would have been for each of us to 
 lick the blood of the other, but on this occasion we 
 decided to dispense with that part of the rite, 
 merely rubbing the cuts one against the other, and 
 thus commingling our blood. When this was 
 done the representative of my ' ' brother ' ' got up 
 and began to beat two pieces of metal together — 
 a knife and a gun-barrel, I think they happened to 
 be — keeping up a monotonous tink, tink, tink, 
 and talking to me as he did so. He recited a sort 
 of commination service, somewhat to the following 
 effect : "If you ever make war on me, if you ever 
 steal from me, if you ever wound me, &c., &c., 
 
28 
 
 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 may you die!" This is a good opportunity for 
 him in case he may want to get anything from 
 you, so his incantation often contains such threats 
 as, " If you do not give me plenty of guns, may 
 you die! " After this, a similar performance was 
 gone through by my representative, whose business 
 it was to nullify my new brother's subtle demands. 
 Finally the compact was sealed by an exchange of 
 small presents. 
 
 This custom is not by any means a local one, 
 but is found among nearly all the tribes that in- 
 habit the districts of Central Africa. Stanley 
 submitted to the operation often enough to have 
 reason to complain that his arm became quite sore 
 from the effects of these frequent incisions. 
 
 Z^" 
 
 WOODEN SPOONS FEOM THE EQUATOB. 
 
IN THE EAPIDS. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 A tornado — Extra paddlemen wanted — Lieutenant Deyenyns 
 obliged to proceed by land — Strike of canoe-men — The 
 rapids — A canoe sinks — Desertion of the paddlemen — We 
 surprise a village — A press-gang — Interpretation under 
 difficulties — A portage — Dahia breaks his promise — I camp 
 on an island — Canoe-men anxious to work — Konirah — I 
 learn my destination — Djabbir — M'Bima — The ransom 
 of a condemned wizard — Arrival at N'Yangara. 
 
 ON the 11th of November, on our way to 
 Djabbir, on the Welle, we were caught in 
 a tornado, and were obliged to stop at the 
 nearest village to avoid being swamped. The 
 first sign of its approach was a strong breeze, 
 accompanied by a rushing sound like nothing else 
 in nature, caused by distant rain falling on the 
 leaves of forest trees. We heard this long before 
 it reached us. At first a mere rustle, it increased 
 gradually in volume of sound, till the heavy rain- 
 fall was upon us with a roar that was almost 
 deafening. A wild wind succeeded the breeze, 
 
32 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 and the river, placid a few moments before, began 
 to run in high waves. Lightning followed, with 
 heavy thunder, louder than any Indian thunder- 
 storms of my experience. 
 
 The village in which we had taken refuge con- 
 sisted of a few wretched mud huts, through the 
 thatch of which the rain dropped incessantly as 
 through a sieve. Making the best of a bad case, 
 we tried to settle down as comfortably as cir- 
 cumstances would allow, tormented by mosquitos, 
 the dripping of the rain, and smoke from the 
 greenwood fire. 
 
 The storm cleared off, and early next morn- 
 ing we started in fine weather, arriving at the 
 village of M'pota. Here we found that several 
 extra paddlemen would be necessary to enable 
 us to overcome the difficulties of the rapids higher 
 up, and as it was no easy matter to secure fresh 
 canoe-men, I sent Lieutenant Devenyns with 
 forty men by land to Djabbir, keeping with me 
 four soldiers as interpreters (the reason why /oh?' 
 interpreters were needed will be seen later on) 
 and six soldiers who were on the sick-list. 
 
 Our troubles now began in real bitter earnest. 
 Having got together, with the aid of the chief, 
 some seventy men to work the four big canoes, I 
 started, laden with my own baggage and the 
 lieutenant's, the two Nordenfeldt guns, and am- 
 munition in about fifty cases. At four o'clock 
 

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THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 35 
 
 we reached the first rapids, where the canoe-men 
 insisted upon camping for the night, and next 
 morning they one and all refused to start unless 
 they received a present of beads. As this was 
 quite contrary to their agreement, and as I only 
 possessed about two pounds weight of beads, I 
 objected, and after much talk through the medium 
 
 BANANAS. 
 
 of my interpreters persuaded the grumblers to 
 move on. 
 
 Leaving at 7.30 a.m., we passed the first rapid 
 by eleven o'clock. The canoe-men now demanded 
 food, stating that they had no means of buying 
 any. Stopping at an island village on the river, I 
 bought sufficient bananas for every one, but here 
 
36 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 again 'they were dissatisfied— they did not want 
 bananas, ,they wanted beads. Seeing that the 
 whole thing was simply a device to shirk further 
 work, I divided the bananas among the four 
 canoes and placed one soldier in each boat, and 
 by dint of threats we started again to navigate 
 the second rapids. Three of the canoes passed 
 safely through, but the fourth sank, so we were 
 obliged to return, and with great difficulty man- 
 aged to refloat it, ultimately recovering most of 
 its contents. I camped for the night on a small 
 island in mid-stream, so that none of the crew 
 should have an opportunity to bolt, but during 
 the night they found other canoes hidden on the 
 banks, and in the morning I awoke to find myself, 
 my ten soldiers, and four heavily laden canoes 
 without a single paddleman. Happily we found 
 a small village at the upper end of the island, 
 where we succeeded in obtaining a few men. 
 
 My difficulties were increased by my ignorance 
 of the native languages, and I now found the 
 value of the four interpreters, two of whom were 
 Houssas, one a Mobanghi, and the fourth a Sierra 
 Leone. Now to get at the natives I had to tell 
 the Sierra Leone what' I wanted in pidgin-English, 
 and to make-'him understand it; he then trans- 
 Jated my' meaning into some West Coast dialect -to 
 -^one of the Houssas,' who put "it to the other in', his 
 tongue; this ' onei, in -turn, rendered "what he 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 37 
 
 heard into Bangala — not of the very best — to the 
 Mobanghi, who finally told it in Zande to the chief. 
 The possibilities of misconception under this pro- 
 cess are obvious, and I am perfectly certain that 
 my questions very often reached headquarters in 
 
 MOBANGHI NATIVE. 
 
 a form quite other than that in which they had 
 been put. 
 
 On the third day, lightening one of the big 
 canoes, I sent it up the river to the village of 
 Dahia, a brother of the Sultan of Djabbir, to 
 bring back a few more paddlemen, so that I might 
 move on with the three remaining vessels. I was 
 
38 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 obliged to wait a day before they returned with 
 some forty or fifty men, when we started again, 
 and arrived at 1 p.m. just below the rapids, 
 near to where Dahia's village was situated. Here 
 the natives absolutely refused to take the boats 
 over the rapids, declaring that they were far too 
 dangerous. I was obliged to unload all the canoes, 
 and leaving a soldier in charge of the baggage I 
 started for Dahia's village, which was about two 
 miles off, and was fortunate in finding that M. 
 Devenyns had been waiting my arrival for two 
 days. At last I thought my troubles were at an 
 end. Dahia arrived, promising as many canoes 
 and men as I chose to ask for, and bringing plenty 
 of food. He provided also men enough to carry 
 the whole of the guns and other things unloaded 
 from the boats below the rapids into the village 
 where we encamped, and I, relying upon the word 
 of Dahia, awaited the arrival of my canoes and 
 men. 
 
 In about an hour's time one small canoe arrived, 
 propelled by two men, who promptly disappeared 
 after tying it up to the bank, but in less than a 
 quarter of an hour it had sunk, having sprung a 
 leak. The whole day was spent in negotiations 
 with Dahia for more canoes and men. Finally 
 I managed to get one fair-sized boat and eight 
 men, with no hope of any further help. I was 
 compelled to send one canoe on in advance, with 
 
THE SULTAN DJABBIE. 
 
THE LAND OF THE I'IGMIEH 
 
 41 
 
 orders to leave its load at the next post, with a 
 soldier in charge, and to return myself with boat 
 and men to take along a further portion of the 
 baggage. By this means I advanced in four da}-s 
 a distance that under favourable circumstances 
 might easily be covered in one. 
 
 CONGO CAXOE. 
 
 On the fourth day I embarked with the balance of 
 the baggage and loads, but did not reach the next 
 post of Bussendi until nine o'clock at night, 
 having been wet through since three o'clock in 
 the afternoon. Here there was nothing left to me 
 but to have recourse to the same tactics, if we 
 
 10 
 
42 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 were to reach the succeeding post. Late on this 
 day when I left with the last load, after paddling 
 for hours against a powerful current, I asked how 
 far we had still to pull, and was .met at every 
 inquiry by the reply, "only a short way." 
 
 We continued thus until eight o'clock at night, 
 when the canoe-men politely informed me that 
 they did not think they could reach the post that 
 night. They suggested that they should go ashore 
 and sleep, leaving me and my two soldiers in the 
 canoe. Here was an hnjKtsse indeed ; it required 
 some nerve to storm the dangerous position, and I 
 faced it firmly, knowing well that I should never 
 see them again if they once got ashore. It was 
 pitch dark, and I had no idea where I was, so, 
 seeing that they intended to do no more work, I 
 was compelled to tie up to a clump of trees on a 
 submerged island, having at least the satisfaction 
 of knowing that my men could not quit the boat, 
 and that they would be extremely uncomfortable 
 during the chilly night. Supperless and cold, we 
 waited for the first glimpse of dawn, when I found 
 them anxious enough to push on, as they were cold 
 and hungry. 
 
 Continuing our course up the river, we soon 
 arrived at Konirah. Here fortunately I found one 
 of Djabbir's corporals, who was willing and able to 
 do all that I required. Being an Azande he rapidly 
 found means of supplying seven canoes, and eighty 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 45 
 
 men to work them. From this point I had no 
 diiliculty, the corporal, who accompanied us to 
 Djabbir, nsin'4' his stick freely on the slightest sign 
 of laziness or disaffection on the part of the 
 paddlemen. We arrived at Djabbir on the 26th 
 at eleven o'clock, having taken twenty-three days 
 to accomplish what is really a nine days' journey, 
 and found M. Devenyns there waiting for me. 
 
 Owing to arrangements that had been made in 
 the meantime between France and the Congo 
 State, my destination was here changed from 
 Semio to N'Yangara, an alteration which I found 
 later there was no reason to regret, for my original 
 goal was to have been the deserted, swamp- 
 surrounded station of ]\Ieshr-el-Eek, whence pro- 
 bably I should never have returned alive. 
 
 On arriving at Djabbir I was agreeably surprised 
 to find three Englishmen already comfortably 
 installed — Dr. Small, whom I had left at Leopold- 
 ville, Captain Salusbury, and the ill-fated Sergeant 
 Grahame. For the first time since my arrival in 
 the country I met a really important chief. On 
 entering the mess-room I was formally introduced 
 to a quiet, shrewd-looking native gentlemen in the 
 uniform of a captain of the Force Piiblujue. This 
 was Djabbir, the chief of the Abandjia branch of 
 the great Azande tribe, who, I found, frequently 
 came to take his midday meal with the officers of 
 the station, and appeared quite at ease in European 
 
46 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 surroundings, both at table and elsewhere. He 
 has always jDroved himself a staunch friend to the 
 white man, being far-sighted enough to foresee his 
 eventual domination in Central Africa. 
 
 At Djabbir I found State Inspector Paul le 
 Marinel, with seven other Europeans, all bound 
 up the river. After a week occupied in drilling 
 our men I moved on with Lieutenant Kops and 
 a hundred men, this time overland, making for 
 N'Yangara. Marching along the northern bank 
 of the AVelle through forest and occasional open 
 plains, wo arrived on the 26th of December at the 
 post of M'Bima. Here we crossed to the southern 
 side, and after a stay of two days we followed 
 along this bank as far as the native post of 
 Ciassi. At a small Azande settlement on the 
 road some of my men came to tell me that the 
 chief of the village was going to kill one of his 
 men for witchcraft. The unfortunate fellow, a 
 small and ugly specimen of his race, had, it appears, 
 been guilty of an amiable indiscretion with one of 
 the chief's wives. After some conversation with 
 the chief I ransomed the prisoner at the price of 
 two yards of white cloth, on the condition that I 
 might take him away with me. Needless to say 
 this victim of circumstances was only too glad to 
 fall in with my terms ; and he remained with me 
 for some fifteen months in the capacity of a servant, 
 eventually returning to his village at his own 
 request. 
 
<1 
 
 o 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 49 
 
 Crossing the river once more at Giassi, we 
 followed the northern bank as far as the post 
 of Bomokandi, so called 
 from its being the point 
 of junction of the Bomo- 
 kandi and Welle rivers. 
 After one day's march 
 further we again crossed 
 the river for the last 
 time to the south side, 
 reaching the post of 
 Amadis on the 19 th of 
 January, and taking again 
 to canoes arrived at 
 N'Yangara on the 26th 
 of the month. During 
 the whole of this march 
 from Djabbir to Amadas, 
 about '250 miles, I sa^\• 
 not a single elephant, 
 although nearly every 
 morning, when starting, we came across innumer- 
 able traces of them. 
 
 ^^•OMAX CAEltYING MANIOC. 
 
 11 
 
CHAPTEE III 
 
 A punitive expedition — A deserted country — The column 
 surprised — The Azande charge — Eout of the Sierra 
 Leone — We fall back to Dongu — I am sent to establish 
 a new post — I am given charge of the district of the 
 Upper Welle — Its aspect — Altitude — Navigation — Climate 
 — Native names for the months— Tribal divisions — The 
 Azande — Their origin a mystery — Their country — 
 Hunters — Pottery — Status of the women among them 
 — War-dress of the chiefs — Morality — The warriors — 
 Their weapons — Beer — Their methods of execution '— 
 Superstition — Not nomadic, but absorbing — Their village 
 — Type of face — Possible Semitic origin — The chiefs — 
 Crafts, military science, primitive jurisprudence and trial 
 by ordeal — The oracle of Befige. 
 
 AT N'Yangara I found the comuiissioner of 
 the district making his final preparations 
 before marching against the Azande chiefs, 
 in the north. On the 2nd of February a column 
 of 670 rifles, officered by ten white men, the whole 
 under command of the coninaissioner, set out from 
 N'Yangara in a' north-easterly direction. 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 51 
 
 After nine days' march through a country 
 practically uninhabited — for it had been entirely 
 deserted by the people — on the morning of the 
 11th of February our three columns were suddenly 
 confronted by the Azande, and a square, rapidly 
 formed, was attacked on both flanks, while against 
 its front face three lines of yelling spearmen 
 
 WOMEN CAERYING BICE AFTEE THE HARVEST. 
 
 charged across the open ground. The Sierra 
 Leone companies broke and fled, and the Azande 
 rushed through the square, inflicting a loss of 
 some sixty killed, including one white man, and 
 wounding about the same number. 
 
 The fugitives had fortunately been stopped by 
 the company of Mobanghi soldiers at the rear face 
 
52 
 
 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 of the square, who thus averted complete and 
 absolute disaster. As it was impossible to carry 
 out our original plan, owing to the dejected and 
 disorganised state of the three Sierra Leone com- 
 panies, and the heavy loss sustained by the Houssa 
 company of thirty-six killed and more than that 
 
 HEOBANGfll NATIVE. 
 
 number wounded, out of a total of a 103, the ex- 
 pedition fell back to the fortified station at Dongu, 
 situated at the junction of the Dongu and Kibali 
 rivers, where we arrived on the 24th of February. 
 On the 28th, with two hundred men and Lieut. 
 Niclot, I was sent to establish a new post in the 
 territory of the Abaugba chief Kabasidu, six 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES .53 
 
 hours south-west of the Dongu, the main object 
 to be gained being to supply the garrison at that 
 place, amounting in all to some 1,200 souls, with 
 food and grain collected from the Mangbettou 
 country. This post was eventually handed over 
 by me, at the latter end of August, to Lieut. 
 Swinhufvud, a Swedish officer in the service of the 
 State, when I was called upon to take command of 
 the Makua district, consisting of the posts N'Yan- 
 gara, Surnanga, Amadis on the Welle, Pokko on 
 the Bomokandi river, and the whole country south 
 to the Eubi and the Nepoko rivers. Over this 
 tract I constantly journeyed throughout its length 
 and breadth, visiting every chief of importance, 
 and securing his adhesion to the Grovernment of 
 the State. Thus I had ample opportunity to study 
 the habits, customs, and rites of these peoples, the 
 ]\Iangbettou, and their kindred tribes. 
 
 The district with which I am chiefly concerned 
 is that of the Upper Welle, which extends from 
 twenty-three degrees in the west, runs eastward to 
 the Nile at the most northerly point of the Congo 
 Free State, and has for its northern boundary 
 the M'Bomu, stretching five degrees north. The 
 southern boundary, which cannot be accurately 
 defined, is the watershed between the Aruwimi 
 and the Welle. 
 
 The country is irrigated by the Eiver Welle, 
 together with the tributaries Bomokandi, M'Bima, 
 
54 
 
 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 Werre, and some lesser affluents. To the north of 
 the Welle, in its western portion, the land is covered 
 to a great extent with thick forest ; the central 
 and easterly parts consist of large open grass 
 plains, varied by undulating, rocky ground, 
 sparsely covered with scrub bush. South of the 
 river the country presents an entirely different 
 
 WITCH PEOCESSION : GIELS DECOEATED WITH BEADS. 
 
 aspect, being dotted over with numerous villages, 
 which are surrounded by large and thriving plan- 
 tations of maize, banana, cassava, millet, sesame, 
 and maroo. On the northern bank the land is 
 almost worthless, but below this, where the agri- 
 cultural tribes are settled, the country is much 
 richer and better, and soil is in the highest degree 
 fitted for agriculture. So fertile is the land, and 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 55 
 
 in such abundance does it yield food, that the 
 natives need work but two months in every twelve. 
 There is no " agricultural depression " here. 
 
 As no free salt is to be found in these regions, 
 this most necessary condiment has to be produced 
 artificially, and is extracted by all the tribes in 
 this neighbourhood from papyrus plants. 
 
 The altitude of the district of the Upper Welle, 
 at twenty-eight and a half degrees east and three 
 and a half degrees north, is 2,500 feet above the 
 sea, descending in its western portion at twenty- 
 four degrees east and four degrees north, to 1,400 
 feet. The river is navigable almost throughout 
 its entire course. There are a few rapids, where 
 portage of goods is necessary, but the boats them- 
 selves can travel the whole distance without 
 difficulty. The rainy season begins about the 
 middle of July and lasts till about the middle 
 of December. It does not rain continuously for 
 two or three days together, but generally in the 
 afternoons and at night. The shorter rainy 
 season is from about the 16th of February to 
 the 15th of March. During the other months 
 of the year, though the climate is warm, the 
 temperature rarely exceeds 92 degrees Fahrenheit. 
 The nights are always cool and fresh, accom- 
 panied by heavy dews, but there is much malaria 
 in the country, owing to the large quantity of 
 water and marshy tracts. 
 
56 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 By some of the tribesmen names are given to 
 the months in keeping with what is done in them. 
 Thus one is named as that in which they sow 
 maroo, the chief ingredient used in brewing native 
 beer ; another as the season when maroo must be 
 cut. Following this comes the "bad-water" 
 month, when the risk of fever is greatest ; then 
 elephant month, when they catch elephants b}' 
 
 AZANDE FETICHE H. 
 
 burning the grass ; and the white-ant month, 
 during which white ants are collected, and con- 
 sidered a great delicacy ; and a second maroo 
 month, when a second crop is sown. The month 
 next to this has no distinctive name, and is 
 succeeded by the second maroo harvest month ; 
 the hungry, or water-month, \\'hen provisions are 
 scarce ; the second ant-gathering month ; a later 
 sowing month ; and, finalh', another with no 
 
THE LAND OP THE PIGMIES 
 
 57 
 
 particular title. This very simple method is a 
 decided improvement on the scheme set forth in 
 exquisite elegiacs by Ovid in his "Fasti." Nothing 
 supernatural is suggested, no names of deities are 
 introduced, but each month is directly connected 
 with some current and natural event. 
 
 AZANDB NATIVE. 
 
 So far as I could gather by inquiry and 
 observation, the characteristics of each tribe are 
 constant and continuous. At their head in point 
 of interest and superiority stand the Azande, who, 
 according to tradition, came down from the north. 
 Being now settled north of the AYelle, they are 
 gradually pushing their way southward to the 
 
 12 
 
58 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 more fertile land across the river and toward the 
 north bank of the Congo ; indeed, had not the 
 white man been present to check their advance, 
 it is reasonable to suppose that by this time they 
 would have completely absorbed the various other 
 tribes established south of the Welle. They have 
 no records of their origin, and possess no 
 traditional history save a mere genealogy of the 
 last seven generations of the ruling chief's family. 
 In this respect they altogether differ from all 
 Aryan nations, who invariably preserve traditions 
 of race and origin. 
 
 The Azande district stretches from twenty- 
 three degrees to thirty degrees west, and from 
 six degrees north to three degrees south ; its 
 people are scattered over the whole country, 
 and are subdivided into the Abandjia in the 
 west, the Avongura in the centre, and the 
 Makraka in the east. They are a fighting 
 tribe, using military formations in war, and the 
 rule of their chiefs is absolutely despotic. 
 Mighty hunters too, most of their time is spent 
 during peace in pursuit of the elephant and 
 antelope, which abound in the bush and plains 
 of their land. As a rule the women do all house- 
 work and cultivate the fields, as in other tribes, 
 but have no influence in political or outside 
 matters, as have the Mangbettou women. The 
 whole race are confirmed cannibals, although the 
 
AZANDB KBNIBA. 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 61 
 
 Azande south of the Welle alone allow ^^'omeii 
 and children to eat human flesh, and the men 
 eat only those whom they have slain in battle. 
 
 The Azande make fairly good pottery of 
 different shapes, including the three-necked jar, 
 similar to those of Italian workmanship. 
 
 They are very fond of their women, neither 
 buying nor selling them. Coupled with this 
 good quality comes their love of music, for these 
 people are very musical, playing with great skill 
 a kind of guitar and the Keniba, a sort of 
 xylophone, made of pieces of wood that vary in 
 length and shape, mounted on gourds of different 
 sizes, and struck by hammers tipped with rubber. 
 
 The Azande use tobacco, but more sparingly 
 than other tribes. Their pipes are made of wood, 
 with a bowl of clay. Corn and cassava are their 
 principal food ; potatoes too are planted, but are 
 eaten only when they are pressed by hunger. 
 They are extremely fond of the ground-nut, which 
 they grow in large quantities. In hunting they 
 use dogs to drive the game into nets prepared and 
 spread. These dogs are of a special breed, some- 
 thing in the style of a boarhound, only upon a 
 very reduced scale. 
 
 When Azande chiefs go to war they dress 
 themselves in the most ragged clothes they can 
 find. Their old caps have holes in them, their 
 shields are worn and battered, and their knives are 
 
62 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 rusty and chipped. To look at them you would 
 imagine them to be the poorest of the poor. At 
 night they lie down among their followers without 
 any covering, and will not even have a bed to rest 
 upon, so that they may not be recognised by the 
 enemy. Indeed, even among his own people in 
 times of peace the big Azande chief is, as a rule, 
 quite quietly and simply dressed, much more so 
 than the people around him, and he wears no 
 ornaments. 
 
 A much higher standard of morality is found 
 among these natives than in other tribes, and 
 they show real affection and respect for women, 
 who as a rule have their quarters in a separate 
 village in the bush, some two hundred yards from 
 the hut of the chief, where they are practically 
 inaccessible to the white man. 
 
 One of their principal pleasures is to dance, 
 moving round and round in a circle, shuflfling 
 their feet, and swaying their heads and hands in 
 time to the beat of a war-drum. 
 
 Very cunning as traders, they will haggle over 
 a bargain for a long time, and when it is struck 
 at last they will still hold out importunately for 
 presents, without the smallest sense of shame. 
 
 The men are of medium height, well made, and 
 darkish red in colour. They have no distinctive 
 tattoo mark, except among the "Western branch of 
 the Azande, who have adopted the lateral tattoo 
 

 9H 
 
 raHJIH 
 
 
 ^^^K 
 
 i&^^^B^^hI 
 
 
 %fl 
 
 mP^^^^ 
 
 
 ^1 
 
 lilHiHHLV''H^B .; 
 
 ■;. 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 ^l^^H^w 
 
 
 
 K 
 
 J 
 
 HI 
 
 
 O 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 G.-i 
 
 mark of the race they have conquered, the 
 Mobanghi. The hair and beard are worn in long 
 thin plaits, and over the head they very often 
 throw a loose net made of string, which falls down 
 on the nape of the neck. They dress in bark 
 
 AZANDK WEAPON H. 
 
 cloth, pressed and beaten out, like the Mang- 
 bettou, and wear the same small circular cap of 
 woven grass. They smear their bodies with oil 
 and the powdered dust of the camwood-tree, and 
 in war-time blacken their foreheads and file their 
 
 13 
 
66 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 front teeth to points, as a distinguishing mark, 
 probably another sign of Totemism, or a "throw- 
 back " to primitive warfare. 
 
 The national Azande weapons are the lance and 
 shield, and among the Western Azande the heavy 
 broad-bladed stabbing lance, of which each warrior 
 carries one. Among the Central and Eastern 
 people the light-throwing spear is the usual weapon, 
 of which each man carries four, five, or six. The 
 Western folk carry a small shield of wicker-work 
 with an iron boss and spike ; those of the Centre 
 and East carry a large oval shield pi similar make. 
 
 It is odd to discover our national beverage — 
 beer — in such parts, but we find these people 
 making beer from maize. Bitter and thick, but 
 very sustaining, it is brewed by fermenting the 
 grain. The tribe likes it, and, in default of the 
 products of Bass, AUsopp, and Pilsener, I am 
 bound to say so did I, and so did my men, another 
 proof of the oft-noted cosmopolitan character of 
 beer. The Arabs have taught them how to weave 
 a coarse, white cloth, which \\'ears well. 
 
 The Azande generally kill condemned criminals 
 with the lance. I remember once an Azande chief 
 caught one of his wives attempting to run away 
 with another man. They were both taken and 
 brought back, and next morninij', before 
 
 'o 
 
 an 
 
 assembly of the people summoned to witness the 
 ceremony they were tied to trees. The chief 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 67 
 
 himself, after haranguing the assembled multitude, 
 at a distance of fifty yards from the prisoners, 
 began to dance, stopping every now and then to 
 throw a lance at either the woman or the man. 
 This he continued to do, approaching nearer and 
 nearer, until both culprits had been transfixed by 
 two or three lances. A chief would not hesitate 
 to mutilate his own son for such an outrage, 
 inflicting the usual penalty by cutting off both 
 hands at the wrists. 
 
 Not nomadic, but always pushing southward, 
 and essentially a warlike race, the Azande devote 
 themselves in time of peace to hunting, taking 
 little trouble about their dwellings or plantations. 
 Their huts are usually circular in form, and often 
 so low roofed that an upright position in them is 
 impossible. These are not grouped together, as is 
 customary with other tribes of this district, but 
 the construction of their villages is quite unique. 
 On a point in a winding path in the bush may be 
 seen perhaps two or three huts close together ; 
 then, higher up, and most probably round a 
 corner, or a bend in the path, two or three more. 
 Higher up still will be found the headquarters of 
 the chief, containing a few more huts, and beyond 
 this still more are scattered at irregular intervals. 
 These, on each side of the village, serve as out- 
 posts, to prevent a possibility of surprise by a 
 hostile force. In this matter the primitive 
 
68 
 
 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 instincts of defence and fortification are clearly 
 indicated and enforced. 
 
 The type of face seen among the Azande is not 
 that of the negro at all. Even from a European 
 point of view one may find men and women who 
 would pass as very good-looking, for they are Hght 
 
 *-mi. 
 
 -.«*-, •■f<-«Jt^-Ji^ti<S*- 
 
 TYPE OF HUT. 
 
 brown in colour, with a clear skin, large eyes, and 
 not very thick lips. The hair, which is curly but 
 not woolly, is worn long by the women, who work 
 it into shapes, more or less fantastic, on the top of 
 the head. There is a touch of civilisation in this 
 custom. Their mouth is totally unlike that of the 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 69 
 
 negro ; and some faces differ only in colour from 
 that of the European Jew. The race as a whole 
 is well knit, healthy, and extremely independent, 
 regarding all other tribes as its inferiors. 
 
 Above all these people are extremely clannish. 
 An Azande is an Azande wherever he goes, and no 
 
 wm 
 
 SECTION OP HUT. 
 
 matter where he may turn up he is welcomed by 
 his own tribe. His nationality franks him, as it 
 were, and is a sort of masonic badge among his 
 fellows. 
 
 The chiefs of these people have much greater 
 power than that usually given to Central African 
 
70 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 rulers, who are, as a rule, the mere figure-heads of 
 their tribes. An Azande chief is an important 
 person, both in peace and in war. His rule is 
 absolute, life and death are in his hands, and he 
 never neglects the exercise of these prerogatives. 
 He and his followers are a shy, suspicious race, 
 and although you may send word to an Azande 
 
 DENDI WOMAN, HIGHER UBANGHI. 
 
 potentate of an intended visit, you will never find' 
 him at home. As you enter his village you will 
 probably be met by one of his sons, but although 
 there will be more than enough food provided for 
 yourself and your men, you will invariably find the 
 settlement deserted. "When you ask for the chief 
 you are told that he is about a day's journey off, 
 and will not be at home until the following day. 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 73 
 
 While you are waiting for him his messengers will 
 continue to arrive about once in every two hours 
 to tell you that their chief will be back to-morrow, 
 though in reality he is some two hundred yards 
 away with his wives in the women's village all the 
 time. 
 
 We have seen that, as a rule, the men do no 
 work, all manual labour being left to the women. 
 The exception is the armourer or blacksmith, 
 whose occupation is hereditary, who is generally 
 attached to some chief, and who makes arms, 
 lances, and shields for the whole tribe. These 
 weapons, as a rule, do not belong to those who 
 carry them, but are given out for the time by the 
 chief whose property they are. 
 
 The warriors possess considerable knowledge of 
 military tactics, and when fighting charge either 
 in column or in crescent form, as do the Zulus. 
 Their courage and pluck are admirable ; their con- 
 tempt for death is supreme. They will stand a 
 fire that is dropping them by dozens, charging 
 time after time until absolutely compelled to retire. 
 Coming upon seven or eight men armed with rifles, 
 they will throw away their own arms and rush 
 their opponents, though they may lose twenty or 
 thirty men in the attempt, knowing that ultimately 
 the rifles will be theirs. 
 
 A fixed method of trial among the Azande is the 
 ordeal by poison. The accused, brought before the 
 
 14 
 
74 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 chief, is made to drink a cup of poison, a con- 
 coction the ingredients of which are kept secret, 
 and he is considered not guilty if the poison fails 
 to kill him, but it has nearly always a fatal effect. 
 The man receives and drinks the poison ; he stands 
 still for a minute in silence, all watching him. 
 Then his hands begin to quiver, not from fear, but 
 by reason of the poison's action, which contracts 
 
 NATIVE OF THE EQUATOB. 
 
 the muscles, and presently he becomes quite rigid 
 and falls down dead without a sound. We may 
 reasonably assume that a chief would not sanction 
 so risky an ordeal except on those whom he 
 intended to despatch. 
 
 Another interesting custom of this tribe is their 
 method of forecasting events, known as the invoca- 
 tion of Bcilije. Their faith in this peculiar system 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 75 
 
 of augury is implicit, and shows a belief in some 
 supreme being. They consult it on every occasion 
 of doubt ; " Beuge cannot lie — I will consult 
 Benge," they say. Their mode of consulting this 
 oracle is as follows : the chief, perhaps, desires to 
 know if a certain road is safe for him to travel by 
 on the morrow. Accordingly he selects two young 
 fowls, and as " Beiige " can only be invoked in 
 quietude, he repairs with two assistants into the 
 bush, where a small clearing is made. Here they 
 sit down ; the assistants, opposite to one another, 
 hold the fowls by the legs, and draw down the 
 pinion feathers into the hand, so that the bird is 
 unable to struggle. By means of a feather an 
 equal quantity of the poison, a red composition, 
 made by mixing water with the scraped bark of a 
 certain root (StrycJiiws icliaja), is put into each 
 chicken's throat. Then the man who is invoking 
 the oracle makes an incantation somewhat to the 
 following effect: "Beiige, tell me, tell me true! 
 If this one die and this one live the road is safe." 
 Then he talks to the fowls. " You die, and you 
 live," he says. If the result is contrary to his 
 desire he postpones his project or takes another 
 path. The Azande have no other creed or religion, 
 but in Beiige they have absolute and unshaken 
 faith. 
 
 Such is the Azande in his native state. Brave, 
 intrepid, and unflinching, yet shy and suspicious, 
 
76 
 
 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 with a faith in augury almost amounting to 
 fatahsm, his qualities are of a higher order than 
 those of the surrounding tribes, whom, in the 
 natural order of the survival of the fittest, he was 
 absorbing on his way southward when checked by 
 the advent of the civilising white man. 
 
 'J^'iW* * 
 
 
 DRUMS FROM THE EQUATOR. 
 
CHAPTEE IV 
 
 The Mang-bettou tribe — The conqueror and vanquished — 
 Modern Mang-bettous — Villages — Good husbandmen — 
 Skilful craftsmen — Aristocracy — Chieftain — Cannilsals — 
 The war-drum — The mapingo — The women — Giving paint 
 — No divorce — Arms — Tobacco and pipes — Smoking cus- 
 torns — The beer — Drinking customs of the Mang-bettou — 
 Harvest — Mang-bettou " gold cure " — No knowledge of 
 tactics — Huts — Intermarriage — Head-dress of the men — 
 The chief's "ball" — Their religious superstitions — 
 Spiritualists — Funeral customs — The attaro — Funeral 
 customs of the chiefs — Morality non-existent — Nick- 
 names — Mourning. 
 
 NEXT in importance to the Azande conies the 
 Mang-bettou, -or what at present passes as the' 
 Mang-bettou tribe. Some fifteen years ago the 
 original Mang-bettou were masters of the district 
 south of the Welle ; but between the treachery of 
 the Egyptian officers of Emin's troops on the one 
 hand, and the attacks of the Azande on the other, 
 coupled with the pressure of the Abangba tribe in 
 the north-west, and of the Niapu from the south, 
 
78 
 
 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 these Mang-bettou were dispersed, and their rem- 
 nant was merged in other tribes. But their 
 customs, their language, their fashions, and their 
 arts remain among the present race of Mang- 
 bettou, the conquerors thus assuming the habits 
 and tongue of the vanquished, much as " captive 
 Greece made captive her rude conqueror." 
 
 MANG-BETTOU NATIVE. 
 
 The villages of the Mang-bettou are in every 
 respect superior to those of the Azande, except 
 from a tactical standpoint. In form they are 
 sometimes rectangular, sometimes circular, occa- 
 sionally some two hundred yards across ; hut is 
 built next to hut at fairly regular intervals, the 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 79 
 
 centre being kept quite clear, and swept twice a 
 day by the women. 
 
 In these villages women live as well as men, 
 and, unlike the Azande, are visible to strangers ; 
 indeed, when a white man visits the chief, all the 
 wives will come to look at him without any pro- 
 test on the part of their lord and master. These 
 Mang-bettou women are very good cultivators of 
 
 THEOWING-KNIVES. 
 
 the extensive plantations that usually surround a 
 native village. In working ivory and iron they are 
 very skilful, the latter being wrought entirely with 
 the hammer. They also make a curious kind of 
 cloth, for which the bark of a certain fig-tree is 
 beaten out with ivory mallets on a smooth wooden 
 block ; it is then buried in mud on the bank of 
 a stream, and when taken up again and cleansed 
 
80 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 is ready for use. The Mang-bettou wear it be- 
 tween the legs, and fastened round the waist with 
 a rope of grass or a belt of antelope or zebra hide. 
 When the cloth is new it is so stiff as to make 
 walking difficult, but after a little use it becomes 
 soft and pliable. 
 
 Unlike other races of the Welle, the Mang-bettou 
 have an aristocracy — freed men who do not engage 
 in manual labour of any kind. Not that those 
 below them are slaves ; they are equally free, but 
 have not the same hereditary rank as the so-called 
 freemen, who are usually relations of the chief, 
 or connected in some way with him. If you want 
 porters, and apply to a chief for them, he may 
 have sixty or seventy men around him not one 
 of whom he can lend. " They do not work," he 
 says, implying that as free-born they would not 
 thus demean themselves. 
 
 The office of chieftain is not always hereditary. 
 Generally, it is true, the eldest son foUov/s his 
 father, or the chief may have named as his suc- 
 cessor one of his sons renowned among the tribe 
 as a big fighting-man. But this by no means 
 .ensures his acceptance by the rest, who meet in 
 council, and whose decision is final. This race 
 is far more under the rule of the white man than 
 the Azande, and lacks their independence and 
 courage, though it excels in hospitality. 
 
 An exceedingly abstemious community in 
 
15 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 83 
 
 general, occasionally their big chiefs give way 
 to drink ; and, although the presence of the white 
 man has tended to check the practice among them, 
 they are still cannibals, and will eat human flesh 
 if they can get it without his knowledge. If we 
 could only check intemperance as easily as we do 
 cannibalism we might raise these brave fellows to 
 a higher level. Like the Azande, they have no 
 distinguishing tattoo mark. 
 
 The Mang-bettou are not a musical race, their 
 only instruments being the big war-drum and 
 the tusk trumpet. The war-drum answers the 
 purpose of a national telegraph, and one of these 
 instruments may be found in almost every village. 
 It consists of a piece of wood about four feet long, 
 cut from the stem of a tree, and hollowed out from 
 a long narrow hole in the top. It stands on four 
 legs, and has usually a figure-head of some animal 
 carved in wood. Beaten with short sticks on each 
 side of the opening, it gives out a resounding noise 
 that will carry for miles. This drumming is taken 
 up from village to village. Various codes of signals 
 are understood, and are thus the means of trans- 
 mitting messages, both for purposes of peace and 
 for alarm of war. 
 
 Their trumpets are made of ivory, and are very 
 difficult to blow, being simply tusks with a hole at 
 the thin end. These are used for signalling in 
 battle, to indicate positions, to notify danger in 
 
84 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 certain quarters, or to sound a retreat. They fight 
 by ambuscade, have no knowledge of tactics such 
 as are used by the Azande, and never venture to 
 charge their enemies at all. 
 
 Their method of forecasting the future is dis- 
 tinctive ; it is performed by a professional, and is 
 known as the mapingo. A banana is peeled and 
 balanced horizontally on two upright pegs, not an 
 easy feat considering the smoothness of its peeled 
 stem. On this are placed thirty-nine heaps of 
 short sticks, beautifully polished and oiled, each 
 heap being composed of one stick resting upon 
 two. The seer begins to walk round these, talking 
 to them and clapping his hands, until one of them 
 slips away ; and it is on the movement of these 
 little sticks that he will rely for an omen. 
 
 The clothing of a woman consists of a little 
 square of cloth about two feet by eighteen inches, 
 worn as an apron, and a tail made of cocoanut 
 fibres. She carries a little stool wherever she 
 goes, and generally enters a hut backwards. She 
 wears both anklets and armlets, made of iron, 
 brass, copper, or beads. Her hair is plaited into 
 a sort of crown or halo, and it is a good morning's 
 work to build up this structure in all its glory. 
 
 The great ladies wear the nails of the last three 
 fingers of the left hand very long, to show that 
 they do no manual labour — a custom which, 
 curiously enough, is found at the present day 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 85 
 
 in South-western Europe and in China, due to 
 a similar motive. 
 
 The whole of their body is usually covered with 
 designs when they are in full dress. These are 
 painted on with lampblack and gardenia juice in 
 rings, hoops, spots, circles, and other patterns, 
 according to taste and fashion. The paint lasts 
 
 A DAKCING-WOMAN. 
 
 for three or four days, w'hen they vary the 
 design. 
 
 It is almost a crime for a woman who is married 
 to give paint to a man. To give a man colour 
 implies undue familiarity, and is certain to bring 
 down the wrath of an offended husband upon the 
 imprudent pair. 
 
86 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 Morality amongst these women is at a very low 
 ebb. The Mang-bettou families, except those of 
 the chiefs, are not usually large. The death-rate 
 among children is very high, as they are left to 
 look after themselves at about two. or three years 
 of age. 
 
 These women are not good-looking as a rule, but 
 are well built and strong ; and, as they do all 
 manual labour, as well as the house duties, a man 
 buys his wife more for her physical strength than 
 for her looks. Bought for hoes, spearheads, knives, 
 and pieces of unwrought iron, they become the 
 absolute property of their husbands and can be 
 sold or given away at will. 
 
 There is no divorce among the Mang-bettou. 
 A man simply takes another wife when he is tired 
 of the first. They all live together and do not 
 quarrel, the former wife being generally consoled 
 by the fact that her eldest son, if she has one, will 
 take precedence of her rival's children. The 
 daughters of big chiefs can only marry chiefs ; while 
 unmarried they remain in the village and do just 
 as they please until some suitor of the required 
 rank turns up. 
 
 The arms of the Mang-bettou are the lance, or 
 " thro wing-spear," and a shield four feet high and 
 twenty-five inches across, made out of one solid 
 piece of uncaria-wood, slightly curved, and with 
 square corners. The strip along the top is orna- 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 87 
 
 mented with wicker squares, alternately plain 
 black, and white with black designs. This shield 
 is held by a small grip, and in this is fastened a 
 loop of fibrous tape into which spare spears are 
 slung. In fighting the warrior is able to cover 
 himself completely behind his shield. The tape 
 
 WAE MASKS AXD THEOWING-SPEAHS. 
 
 forming the loop is made in endless rings worked 
 on a circle of sticks. 
 
 The Mang-bettou do not file their teeth. This 
 custom, so common in many savage tribes, 
 obviously arose from a desire to produce fanged or 
 
88 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 canine teeth, such as those of the wolf or fox, with 
 which, when all weapons had been exhausted or 
 none were at hand, they literally sprang at each 
 other's throats, fighting " tooth and nail." With 
 the introduction of iron-tipped weapons this 
 primitive practice died out. In some tribes, as we 
 have seen, it survives as a form of decoration or 
 distinction. 
 
 There is a plantation of tobacco near every 
 village, though the natives have no ideas of pre- 
 paring it. They simply take out the centre stalk 
 of the tobacco leaf, which is shredded and dried in 
 the sun ; this is sometimes mixed with red pepper, 
 and is moulded by the aid of oil into the shape, 
 and nearly to the hardness, of a brick. Their 
 pipes are generally the centre fibres of banana 
 leaves, through which they bore holes at the larger 
 ends, into which they fit leaves curled up to take 
 the place of bowls. 
 
 In smoking they only take two or three whiffs 
 of the pipe, inhaling the smoke, and coughing 
 violently always. When the chief sneezes it is 
 customary for all those around him to pretend to 
 sneeze also, just as we may say " God bless you ! " 
 or an Italian " Yiva ! " AMien a chief smokes 
 the whole crowd standing round him clap their 
 hands in unison until he has finished. 
 
 The chiefs and their intimate friends are the 
 only people who really drink in the country. They 
 
16 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 91 
 
 enjoy large bowls of beer, made from maroo, light 
 brown in colour, and not unpleasant to the taste. 
 The first sensation to the palate is one of sweet- 
 ness, the after-taste rather bitter. This beverage 
 can only be used when new, as in two or three days 
 it becomes acid and undrinkable. Women always 
 brew it, and pride themselves on the accomplish- 
 ment. When a chief drinks strict ceremonial is 
 observed, each having his own custom. One will 
 have a drum beaten from the time he raises the 
 bowl to his lips until he puts it down again ; 
 another will have a man behind him whose business 
 it is to attract people's attention while his master 
 drinks by uttering some cry, or noise, or shout ; 
 another will have bells rung ; another used to have 
 a forked stick placed on the back of his neck while 
 he swallowed the beer. When a man makes up 
 his mind for a first-class bout the racket is con- 
 tinuous and distracting while he is " making a 
 night of it." 
 
 The women as a rule do not drink except at the 
 maroo harvest festivals, when there is always a 
 great function, and other head-men and relations 
 are asked from the whole district round, with whom 
 they drink and dance, and dance and drink, for 
 forty-eight hours on end. 
 
 All the Mang-bettou chiefs, and people of the 
 better class, carry a piece of kola nut, which they 
 chew when they are beginning to feel tipsy, and 
 
92 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 which they declare has the power of making them 
 sober. This "kola cocktail " is their equivalent 
 for the American "gold cure." 
 
 Freemen are armed with lance and shield, the 
 lower classes with bow and arrow. They paint 
 their faces in war-time white and black, a white 
 line across the black face, drawn diagonally, or 
 adopt some other pattern, such as a white eye — 
 prototype of the White-eyed Kaffir of our music- 
 halls — and cover their heads with grass and creepers. 
 Altogether they make a terrific noise, but are not 
 dangerous. 
 
 Their arrows, which they do not poison, arc 
 heavier and bigger than those of other tribes, but 
 they are not good marksmen. They are not a fight- 
 ing tribe ; when a chief calls on his men to go with 
 him to war they are all supposed to go under dread 
 of severe punishment, but they cannot for a moment 
 withstand the plucky onset of the Azande. 
 
 Their huts, rectangular or circular, are far 
 superior to those of any other tribes in the Welle 
 district as regards their size, height, and cleanli- 
 ness. The round ones have walls of clay mixed 
 with chopped grass, and conical roofs of grass- 
 thatch. The rectangular are framed of sticks of 
 the rafia palm, which is smoother than the bamboo, 
 and has no knots, interwoven with the bark of trees. 
 The thatched roof of these is covered with an 
 enormous mat, tied down at the four corners, and 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 95 
 
 made of plaited cane. These houses are very neat, 
 and as they have no chimneys, the smoke finds its 
 way out through the roof. Their doors are only 
 about three feet six to four feet in height, but this 
 is higher than is usual with the neighbouring- 
 tribes. The entrance is closed by a sliding panel, 
 made, as a rule, of one piece of wood. These huts 
 are rain-proof, and the walls are decorated with geo- 
 metrical patterns drawn in black, white, or red, the 
 only three pigments for which they have names in 
 their vocabulary. 
 
 The head-dress of the men is distinctive and 
 curious. String is wound round the forehead 
 behind the ears, and the hair is drawn back and 
 tied into a sort of chignon on the top of the head. 
 On this is fixed a round hat with square top, kept 
 in position by an ivory hat-pin, and made of plaited 
 grass woven into patterns. Chiefs and high people 
 decorate their head-dress still further by the 
 addition of bunches of red feathers from the tail 
 of the grey parrot. 
 
 When the children of chiefs are young string is 
 wound round their heads, which are gradually 
 compressed into a shape that will allow of the 
 longest head-dress. The skull thus treated in 
 childhood takes the appearance of an elongated egg. 
 
 The Mang-bettou delight to exhibit their skill as 
 dancers in honour of their guests. Invariably on 
 your arrival at the village of a Mang-bettou chief 
 
96 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 he will begin to make preparations for a big dance 
 in the evening or the afternoon. In our language 
 he "gives a ball," at which he is the sole 
 performer. 
 
 Drums are beaten to warn the natives of the 
 chief's household that he intends to dance, and at 
 the appointed hour most of his wives assemble in 
 a large open space set apart for this purpose, the 
 head wife seated in the centre, and the others in 
 order of precedence to right and left, thus forming 
 an enormous semicircle. Each woman brings 
 with her a round stool, about a foot high, cut out 
 of a solid piece of wood, and on these they sit with 
 their knees together and toes turned in. The 
 orchestra is placed behind the head wife, in the 
 centre of the semicircle, and is composed of drums, 
 horns, and native bells, which are tied together on 
 a stick and shaken till they sound "like sweet 
 bells jangled out of tune." 
 
 The chief in the meantime has been putting on 
 the ornaments and insignia due to the solemnity 
 of the occasion, and during the "wait a few 
 picked warriors give a performance illustrating a 
 fight. 
 
 The chief arrives. He has put on, besides his 
 usual dress, a number of small skins attached to 
 his belt in front and behind — not in a row, but 
 three or four in a heap on top of one another, with 
 the tails hanging loose. Similar skins adorn his 
 
NATIVE AXES. 
 
 17 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 99 
 
 arms, and a large giraffe's tail is fixed behind, with 
 bunches of parrots' red tail-feathers at its end. 
 He wears an enormous head-dress, and round his 
 ankles are rings with bells attached. As soon as 
 he steps into the circle a great shout is raised by 
 the women present. He selects his dance, and as 
 the orchestra strikes up he prances round and 
 about this large circle, now stooping on one side, 
 now upon the other, until he is out of breath. 
 
 TYPES OP CHIEFS. 
 
 invariably ending opposite to his head wife, whom 
 he salutes at the finish. He then refreshes him- 
 self by big draughts of beer, while fanned by two 
 young w^omen. When rested he begins a new 
 dance, and very often between the figures he 
 will make a speech. If he is tired his place is 
 taken by one of his sons, and so the proceedings 
 often last for five or six hours. The Mang-bettou 
 women during the dances sway their heads and 
 
100 THE LAND OP THE PIGMIES 
 
 wave their hands in perfect time, the chief wife 
 leading them. They do not dance with the men, 
 but have a dance of their own to close the 
 ball. 
 
 The Mang-bettou believe vaguely in a supreme 
 being, but they have no name for him. Their 
 nearest name is Kilima. The thunder is Kilima 
 speaking when he is, angry. Thunderbolts are the 
 stones he throws down. By a charming poetical 
 fiction the rainbow is the actual embodiment of 
 Kilima. If you ask them to describe him, they 
 will tell you he is "a large animal with a curved 
 red back." A shadow is Kilima ; the reflection in 
 water is Kilima; anything they do not understand 
 is Kilima. Some of the tribes I met have neither 
 religion nor superstition, nor do they practise any 
 occult or fetich rites. Others, such as those now 
 described, have a vivid belief in the unseen world, 
 in a god, and in spirits of the departed, and so 
 are higher in the scale of civilisation than their 
 more agnostic neighbours. 
 
 If any head of a family dies he is buried in the 
 centre of his hut, in a hole about six feet deep, in 
 a sitting position, and is covered over with layers 
 of earth and sticks, till the hole is filled right up, 
 and the floor is beaten down again, so that it shows 
 no sign of disturbance. 
 
 Outside the door they will build a little attaro, 
 or hut. This is made with three sticks, painted 
 
ABAEAMBO WOMAN AND MAN. 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 103 
 
 black and white, with a conical thatch of grass. 
 A similar hut is built right away in the bush. 
 After the man is buried cooked food and oil are 
 left at the attar o in the forest, so that the spirit of 
 this dead man shall not return to his house, but 
 shall find food at his other attaro should he want 
 it. This custom is frequently found among North 
 American Indians, and was also an Egyptian 
 practice. 
 
 In proof that these people believe that the 
 spirits of dead folk will return to their old 
 habitations, and can communicate with the living, 
 the following incident came under my personal 
 notice : — 
 
 One evening I heard a tremendous noise outside 
 my door. Eunning out to see what it was all 
 about, I found a native woman in hysterics. She 
 was lying on the ground, two women kneeling on 
 each side of her, holding her down with grass 
 mats, with the apparent intention of smothering 
 the poor soul. I asked what they were doing. 
 They told me that the spirit of her father had 
 come back to call her, and that she must go to 
 him. They really believed this, and were very 
 much disgusted when I threw a bucket of cold 
 water over her. In ten minutes she was asleep, 
 and next morning was perfectly well. 
 
 They believe, too, in a god whom they call 
 Ara, a name derived from Allah through the 
 
104 TEE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 Arabs. They say he will punish them for doing 
 wrong. "Will he punish them for murder?" I 
 once asked. " Oh no ; it is Ara who makes a 
 man murder." " Then how and for what will he 
 punish man?" "He will punish a man for 
 neglecting to make provision for himself and his 
 family." "How?" "By making him suffer 
 hunger." So it seemed that their god was simply 
 Nature, and no more definite explanation could 
 I get. 
 
 When a big chief dies a new hut is built away in 
 the bush on the banks of a stream. A hole is dug 
 in the centre, as described previously, into which 
 he is placed, always in a sitting posture, and 
 covered over with sticks and earth. Five women, 
 selected from amongst his widows, are first 
 strangled outside the hut, and then their dead 
 bodies are laid on the surface of the ground, with 
 the feet towards the central tomb. Then they all 
 are covered over with several layers of bark cloth, 
 on top of which are poured large chauldrons of 
 palm oil. Another layer of cloth is added, and 
 more oil poi *ver it, until the whole structure 
 
 is about twL high. After this it is absolute 
 
 death for any native, except the ruling chief and 
 one other man selected for the purpose, generally a 
 brother, to be found even upon the road to the 
 hut, which every week is visited by one of these 
 two men. 
 
NATIVES OP THE UPPEE CONGO. 
 18 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 107 
 
 When the cloth and oil have rotted away new 
 layers are spread there, till all signs except the 
 bones are gone. The hut itself is never repaired, 
 but is allowed to decay and fall to pieces until it 
 eventually disappears. 
 
 The succeeding chief is very careful to supply 
 every possible want of his predecessor. If he 
 dreams during the night that the spirit of the 
 departed has come to him and has told him to do 
 this or that, a new chief will follow the advice 
 thus given. If beer is wanted he will have two 
 or three jars brewed next morning, which he takes 
 himself to the tomb and breaks them there in 
 front of the hut door. It is a favourite trick of a 
 new chief to bid for popularity by working upon 
 the people's feelings in this way, pretending to 
 have been visited by the late chief, who has warned 
 him that unless his followers behave better trouble 
 will surely ensue. 
 
 Burials usually take place at night. On the 
 death of a great chief everything belonging to 
 him except the cloth, which is too valuable, is 
 broken into small pieces and thrown away. 
 
 Being unable to pronounce the name of a white 
 man, these folk have recourse to nicknames, which 
 they derive from any personal peculiarity they may 
 perceive, and at noticing which they are very keen. 
 Once named, a man will go by his nickname among 
 the people, his white name being disregarded. 
 
108 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 Even other whites are bound . to mention him 
 solely by this. One was called a locust ; another 
 the bad-tempered man ; another was the strong 
 man, not because he was physically strong, but 
 because he was firm, severe, and hard; another 
 was called the " White Liar," from his habit of not 
 fulfilling promises made to the natives ; a great 
 hunter was the ten -animals -man, another the 
 mongoose. A man with a beard is the hairy man, 
 and a short man is " Tikitik," the native word for 
 dwarf. 
 
 The women, when they go into mourning, take 
 off all their trinkets, bangles, armlets, and neck- 
 laces, and cut their long nails. They take their 
 hair out of the shape of a crown, a task of half a 
 day, and wear it simply unconfined, replacing 
 their ornaments with bangles of wickerwork, and 
 staining the upper part of their faces black, 
 but they make no difference in their mode of 
 living. 
 
 A widow, being a chattel of the late chief, 
 becomes the property of his successor. The head 
 wife retains much of her former authority, but 
 remains with the other wives, and generally has a 
 voice in the government. She does not paint her 
 body at all during the time of mourning, as is 
 customary with the great Mang-bettou ladies at 
 other times. 
 
 The men for mourning blacken the whole of 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 109 
 
 their faces with soot, mixed with the juice of the 
 gardenia, a stain which lasts three or four days, 
 but make no difference in their usual orna- 
 ments. 
 
 WAE DEUM. 
 
CHAPTEE V 
 
 I visit the Mabod6 country — Eeturn to Pokko — Attacked by 
 fever — The Meg6 — Their country and customs — The 
 Niapu — A buffer state — No interest taken in the vfhite 
 man — The mule a fabulous animal — The " lucundoo " — 
 Poison resorted to — The methods of working witchcraft — 
 Cleanliness of the Meg6 — I interview a tribe previously 
 unvisited by the white man — Good reception sj)oilt by an 
 accident — I take the initiative — Eout of the Mabod6 — I 
 turn off eastward — Fresh attacks by the Mabode — Cross 
 the Nava — Attack and capture of the zareba — Nineteen 
 men of my party are wounded — Belief by Lieutenant 
 Laplume — The Mabode villages — Cannibalism rampant 
 among them — The underground rivers — Dances — The 
 Momvus tribe — Their customs — Equality of the sexes — 
 Eeturn to N'Yangara. 
 
 IN March, 1895, I re-established an old post in 
 the Mabode country, ruled by the Mang-bettou 
 chief M'Belia, which had been abandoned by 
 the State, two days' march north of the Nepoko. 
 It was then I took the opportunity of pushing 
 south to the banks of the Nepoko, the extreme 
 point in that direction reached by Junker in his 
 many wanderings in the region of the Welle. 
 
B 
 
 O 
 
 <1 
 
 Ph 
 
 a 
 
 H 
 
 O 
 O 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 113 
 
 Eeturning from the Nepoko to my headquarters 
 at N'Yangara, after a short stay I "went down 
 the river to visit the posts of Suruanga, Amadis, 
 and Pokko, a very paradise for the naturahst, 
 situated just below the confluence of the Pokko 
 and the Bomokandi at the foot of Mount Madjema, 
 and a grand field for elephant-shooting. 
 
 Here on the 1st of July I was laid up with my 
 first attack of bilious hematuric fever. In spite of 
 the absence of a medical man, with the aid of 
 Lieutenant Boone, commandant of the post, I 
 managed to pull through, but owing to consequent 
 weakness I was unable to leave till the beginning 
 of August, when I returned to N'Yangara. 
 
 South of the Bomokandi dwell the Mege, a 
 race closely allied to the Maigo, who dwell further 
 south. They resemble in many points their 
 neighbours the Mang-bettou, and, like other 
 tribes, they have adopted the language and 
 customs of their conquerors. They are skilled 
 hunters, and, living as they do in a woodland 
 country, use neither lance nor shield, confining 
 themselves entirely to the use of the bow and 
 arrow, with which they are extremely expert. 
 
 Their country is rich in foods of all kinds. The 
 villages consist of loosely connected groups of 
 huts, well concealed in the thick undergrowth. 
 From time immemorial they have been at feud 
 with their Azande neighbours ; but this warfare, 
 
 19 
 
114 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 since the arrival of the white man on the scene, 
 has been Hmited to small frontier raids and 
 skirmishes, with the result that a broad belt 
 of neutral ground has been created between the 
 territories of the two tribes. 
 
 Knowing the natural fertility of the land, a small 
 group of Niapu or Amadis promptly turned the 
 mutual hostility of these two tribes to advantage by 
 taking possession of the disputed strip. Here they 
 have settled down, refusing allegiance to either 
 
 DISH FROM THE BQUATOE. 
 
 Azande or Mege, and thus creating an almost 
 model buffer state. Wild and lawless, this 
 small band has become a power in itself, repulsing 
 the encroachments of their neighbours, and some- 
 times more than holding their own against them. 
 It was while passing through these villages, on 
 my return from the Mabode country, that I first 
 came across a people in whom the presence of a 
 white man aroused no feelings of curiosity. I was 
 riding a mule, and these people had never seen a 
 
THE LAND OP THE PIGMIES 115 
 
 beast of the equine species, altliough they had 
 heard that this (to them) fabulous animal existed 
 in the white man's quarters, and that it was used 
 for the purpose of carrying him from one place 
 to another. The villages were deserted for the 
 moment as I passed through with my people, 
 but I heard afterwards that immediately after 
 we had gone by the Niapu crowded back, and 
 were busily occupied in examining the ground. 
 My informant, a small Mang-bettou chief who 
 had accompanied me on the journey, was a little 
 in the rear, and came suddenly upon the villagers 
 whilst they were- thus employed. 
 
 AVondering what might be their object in thus 
 scrutinising the ground, he asked them what they 
 were looking for so busily, suggesting that they 
 should accompany him to see the white man 
 himself, who would most certainly give them 
 cloth and beads and other trifles dear to the 
 Niapu heart. But the proposition was received 
 with scorn. " We don't want to see the white 
 man," was the reply; " we want to see the ' spoor ' 
 of the white man's beast." 
 
 These people hold themselves entirely aloof from 
 the surrounding tribes, preferring independence to 
 the doubtful blessings of an acquaintance with the 
 white man and his many wiles. 
 
 Amongst the Mege, Mang-bettou, and all neigh- 
 bouring tribes witchcraft is implicitly believed in. 
 
116 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 When a chief dies his death is immediately as- 
 cribed to "lucundoo," and suspicion usually points 
 to his successor as its author. Poison is very 
 frequently used by the sons of a chief to remove 
 any possible competitor from their path who is 
 likely to stand in the way of their succession to 
 the throne. Sometimes also the ancient tragedy 
 of David and Uriah the Hittite is played, but with 
 a poisoned dinner in place of the "forefront of the 
 battle." 
 
 ' ' Lucundoo ' ' can be made to work in various 
 ways ; one of the commonest in use is as follows : 
 The person who wishes to do harm to his enemy 
 goes in the dusk to the neighbourhood of his 
 victim's village. The only appliance necessary to 
 conjure up the dread powers of darkness is a 
 simple whistle made of wood, hollowed out from 
 one end, and blown as a schoolboy whistles with 
 a key. Provided with this seemingly harmless 
 weapon the sorcerer walks along each path leading 
 into his victim's village, blowing lustily on his 
 whistle as he goes. This done, his vengeance is 
 complete, for it is only necessary to inform his 
 enemy that he has made "lucundoo" round his 
 village to keep him from using the bewitched 
 paths. New roads must be made, and until this 
 is done the victim of this magic rite will not dare 
 to stir abroad. 
 
 In their personal habits these people are very 
 

 o 
 ?1 
 p 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 M 
 O 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 119 
 
 cleanly ; they wash two or three times a day, and 
 when engaged in work constantly adjourn to a 
 neighbouring stream to cleanse themselves. They 
 wash their hands before and after meals, and 
 invariably rinse out the mouth with water after 
 having partaken of food. The meat may be either 
 roasted or boiled, but I have noticed that the 
 vegetables are always steamed. 
 
 In October I went south to the previously un- 
 visited Mabode tribes to see the underground 
 streams called Obe, mentioned by Junker and 
 Casati. At first we were well received by the 
 chiefs and people, but an accident, through the 
 inadvertence of a servant boy, turned their trust 
 into suspicion, and I found myself enclosed on 
 every side by the Mege, Maigo, and Mabode tribes. 
 I made useless attempts to conciliate their chiefs, 
 who became the bolder after each attempt to 
 pacify them, the more so as not long before they 
 had defeated four hundred soldiers of the Arabs 
 armed with guns and supported by their Azande 
 neighbours. Seeing our weakness — my force 
 numbered about sixty- five men — they hoped to 
 repeat their success. 
 
 Finding remonstrance useless, I gave the chief 
 warning that unless he would come and meet me 
 within a quarter of an hour, when we could explain 
 matters, I should take my own course, and the 
 consequences would be on his head. He did not 
 
120 
 
 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 answer to the summons, and' at the end of a 
 quarter of an hour I moved out of the zareba to 
 fight our way through the encircling hordes ; but 
 these crowds of gesticulating, noisy warriors, when 
 they saw their leader fly were only too glad to 
 follow his example. 
 
 The following day a neighbouring chief, Mas- 
 
 COUNCIL OP WAE, BOPOTO. 
 
 singkanda, a cousin of the man who had attacked 
 me, came into the camp, offering any assistance 
 in his power. In the meantime the hostile natives 
 endeavoured to raise the tribes in my rear, inciting 
 them to cut the road to the Bomokandi, so as to 
 prevent my return to the banks of the Welle. 
 UnwiUing to come to blows with the tribes 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 121 
 
 through whose country I had already passed, I 
 pushed on eastward to visit the Obe, attacked 
 on my way by the Mabode. I was obHged in 
 self-defence to capture the stockade of their most 
 important village, held by their chief, N'Dabone, 
 situated on a hill some three hundred feet high. 
 Starting at half-past ten in the evening, I marched 
 through the night, crossing the swollen Nava, here 
 about one hundred yards broad, and at seven in 
 the morning I found myself about a mile from 
 the hill upon which this stockade and village 
 stood. 
 
 My force consisted of sixty men, the others 
 having been left behind with the women and 
 baggage. Dividing these into two parties, I 
 attacked the Mabode in the zareba from two 
 points. In twenty minutes* after our arrival at 
 the stockade we were inside, the enemy dis- 
 appearing instantly on our entrance. We had 
 one man killed and nine wounded with poisoned 
 arrows. 
 
 Having destroyed the stockade, I returned to my 
 old camping-ground, where I was detained by the 
 wounded for several days. Meantime the natives, 
 whose loss had been slight on the taking of their 
 village, had re-assembled, and having called in the 
 aid of the neighbouring Mabode sent word that 
 they were going to attack me. Finding that they 
 had assembled south of the Nava, near a stream 
 
 20 
 
122 
 
 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 about fifty feet wide, with marshy banlis, I started 
 in the afternoon to attack them in their village, 
 where their numbers would not be of much 
 avail. 
 
 Here my men, advancing up the hill, were con- 
 siderably disconcerted by the showers of arrows 
 
 MASOMA, SOUTH OF NAVA. 
 
 shot down upon them from little stages or refuges 
 built high up in the trees. Besides this form of 
 attack, the Mabode had scooped out shelters in the 
 counterscarp of the trench, and had filled them 
 with spearmen, who, rushing out from their places 
 of concealment, thrust their spears in the faces of 
 the soldiers lying on the bank. After half an hour. 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 123 
 
 having nineteen men wounded, we had to retire 
 to our camping-ground amid the jeers of the 
 Mabode. 
 
 With nearly half my men on the sick-list or 
 temporarily disabled, with ammunition running 
 short, and surrounded on all sides by the enemy, 
 I was obliged to send for men and ammunition 
 to the station at headquarters, five or six days' 
 march distant. Until the arrival of these rein- 
 forcements I had nothing else to do but to look 
 after my sick followers and close up as much as 
 possible the gaps in the zareba. 
 
 Like the other tribes, the Mabode do not 
 attack by night, and they were afraid to storm 
 the stockade in daytime ; but under cover of 
 darkness they would creep up and tire their 
 poisoned arrows into our camp, taking as mark 
 any light or fire they saw. 
 
 On the arrival of Lieutenant Lapluitie from 
 N'Yangara with men and ammunition, we again 
 started to pay a surprise visit to our late hosts, 
 who by this time imagined themselves to be all- 
 powerful. We attacked from another point this 
 time, and in a quarter of an hour we were inside, 
 when, as usual, the defenders disappeared in an 
 opposite direction. From here our progress to 
 the Obe was, easy — a matter of about three hours' 
 march. 
 
 These Mabode live on the banks of the Kubi, 
 
124 
 
 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 in large villages surrounded by stockades and 
 ditches, often to the number of three or four 
 thousand together. As the country is fertile, they 
 are an agricultural people, and the land is rich in 
 the oil palm and in all kinds of grain. 
 
 Their weapons are spear and shield, bows and 
 
 
 MABODE TATTOOING (BACK VIEW). 
 
 poisoned arrows, which they shoot down, as we 
 have seen, from shelters in the trees upon their 
 enemies. 
 
 The Mabode are confirmed cannibals, the 
 presence of a white man having had little re- 
 straining influence over them. They are not 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 125 
 
 allowed to eat a blood-relation, though he be 
 killed in war ; this, however, does not prevent 
 them from cutting up and cooking the body and 
 selling the flesh thus prepared to others for food ; 
 in short, it is considered quite lawful and proper 
 to kill an uncle or an aunt, but having done so it 
 
 MABODB TATTOOING (FEONT VIEVV). 
 
 is polite to go round to the neighbours and say, 
 "We killed old uncle to-day; he was in fine 
 condition. What special joint would you like?" 
 These people tattoo themselves, not as we 
 understand tattooing, but by the excision and 
 removal of little triangular pieces of skin, the 
 
26 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 healed wound leaving permanent scars in quaint 
 symmetrical designs, both back and front being 
 subject to this process. 
 
 It is chiefly amongst these Mabode that the 
 Pigmies now live. The Mabode themselves are 
 smaller in size than the other races around them, 
 especially the women, who are also darker than 
 the generality of their coloured cousins. 
 
 The country south of the Welle, down to the 
 Ituri, is an enormous plain, broken here and there 
 by volcanic hills, from whose summit a view 
 extending many miles may be obtained. This 
 plain is rich is all kinds of grain, and of course 
 the banana flourishes there, the soil being excel- 
 lent for purposes of agriculture. 
 
 On the eastern limit of the Mabode country 
 occur the Obe, as the extraordinary underground 
 rivers are called. This cluster of streams runs in 
 a south-westerly direction, effecting a junction 
 with the Nepoko at the point where the latter 
 river turns southward on its way to join the Ituri. 
 An Obe is indicated by the marshy texture and 
 appearance of the ground, which is motionless 
 when let alone, but rises and falls under tread of 
 foot. In the rainy season the surface is almost 
 a swamp, not utterly impassable, but extremely 
 dangerous. The natives sometimes cross on their 
 faces, crawling along as best they may. Such is 
 the rapidity of the hidden stream that a pole 
 
thp: land of the pigmies 127 
 
 driven into the ground that covers these subter- 
 ranean rivers will be actually snatched away and 
 borne along in the rushing \\a,tor. In the dry 
 season the surface of the swamp hardens, and is 
 quite safe. 
 
 There is no salt in the country of the Upper 
 AVelle. The natives make a kind of saltpetre, 
 which they use as a substitute, from a peculiar 
 grass that is always found where there is any- 
 thing like an Obe. 
 
 They are very fond of a black hairy caterpillar, 
 which they cook and smoke and dry at certain 
 seasons. In their country the zebra is found, in 
 the forests upon the banks of the Nava ; though 
 the natives fear them they occasionally trap them 
 for the sake of their hides, which are greatly 
 valued by the chiefs. 
 
 The large fish-eagle is a domestic pet. They 
 are caught and tamed, and kept about the place, 
 but are put to no practical use. 
 
 Their language is quite different from that of 
 the ^lang-bettou, who cannot understand them. 
 They speak not merely in a different dialect, but 
 in quite another tongue. 
 
 The Mabode do not dance, but they are fond 
 of singing. The}- have no musical instruments ; 
 in place of these they take two sticks of dry wood, 
 one as thick as the finger, and the other twice as 
 thick, which they beat together. One sings, and 
 
128 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 all take up the chorus, time being kept by the 
 beating together of these sticks. This is their 
 sole idea of music and melody. 
 
 I once asked them for a translation of a song 
 they had been singing. It was — 
 
 " They kill us all with the gun. 
 They killed my father with the gun ; 
 They killed my mother with the gun ; 
 They killed my brother with the gun ; 
 They kill us all with the gun." 
 
 These vocalists were porters, and not men I 
 had been fighting with at all. They had, how- 
 ever, been raided three or four times of old by 
 Arab soldiers, to whom this ding-dong dirge most 
 probably referred. 
 
 The Monivus tribe are scattered about among 
 the Mabode, running south-east on the other side 
 of the Bomokandi. Differing from the rest both 
 in appearance and language, they are said to have 
 come from the south-east. But they themselves 
 have no very clear idea of their original home. 
 
 The women are on a footing of equality with 
 the men, and go hunting with them, and accom- 
 pany them to the wars, taking their part in the 
 combat. The result of this is that the Momvus 
 are looked down upon by all the other tribes, and, 
 not being regarded as a warlike people, are hunted 
 by the surrounding cannibals, to be cooked and 
 eaten. They are a lower type than the others. 
 
NATIVE WITH TATTOO MAKKS. 
 
 21 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 131 
 
 both men and women being shorter, and they 
 differ also in colour from the rest. As a race 
 in all probability they will gradually become 
 extinct. 
 
 Their arms, too, are quite peculiar. Their 
 spears, which are heavy, are fitted with an iron 
 head, and are shod with a long solid iron heel. 
 Properly speaking they are an agricultural people, 
 possessing large flocks of goats, but they have no 
 cattle. When fighting they will often take refuge 
 in caves, from which it is impossible to dislodge 
 them, and where they will starve to death rather 
 
 ENSIGN OP CHIEF. 
 
 than surrender. They rarely attack, preferring to 
 hinder their enemies by blocking their path with 
 trees and other obstacles, which hamper their 
 advance. They sell their ivory to the chiefs of 
 other tribes for ridiculous prices, and these re-sell 
 it to better advantage when dealing with the 
 white man. 
 
 The Momvus are a subject race, spht up, and 
 under the rule of other chiefs. A few of them 
 retain their independence, living on the southern 
 bank of the Bomokandi. On the march through 
 their country I wanted to know the way to my 
 
132 THE LAXD OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 next halting-place, and, sighting a native in the 
 bush, called to him to come out. He refused at 
 first, but afterwards he came, halting about twenty 
 yards away. Then he asked if I was a white 
 man, and called to me to take my hat off, that 
 he might convince himself. Satisfied that I w^as, 
 he joined me, and agreed to show us the way. 
 
 ^;-^ ".^T'Hft^r^ 
 
 FETICH. 
 
 He became more communicative as we proceeded, 
 walking by my side and chatting. Presently he 
 told me he was a chief ; and noticing that I 
 looked doubtfully at his wretched appearance he 
 said he would prove it. Off he went into the 
 bush, soon to re-appear higher up, bringing with 
 him a tusk of ivory as an offering. He received 
 
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 H 
 
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 B 
 
 !21 
 
 O 
 
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 l-H 
 
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 P3 
 
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 D 
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THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 135 
 
 a present in exchange, and immediately disap- 
 peared again into the dense bush. 
 
 The Momvus use a different method from that 
 of other tribes in making their beer from the 
 pahu-tree. The ordinary plan is to tap the tree 
 near its crown of leaves, and to fasten a wide- 
 mouthed earthenware jar under the wound to 
 catch the exuding sap. But the Momvus adopt 
 a more destructive system, the Palma Elais being 
 common in their country. The native brewer 
 first selects a palm, not too young or too old ; 
 this he cuts down, and, stripping off the foliage 
 from the crown of the tree, he makes a rectangular 
 hole just where the leaves begin to sprout from 
 the trunk, about a foot long, four inches wide, 
 and four deep. Having carefully cleaned this 
 hole, he covers it with bark and leaves, and it is 
 thus left for twenty-four hours. By that time it 
 will be filled with juicy sap, which, when fresh, 
 makes a very pleasant beverage, but rapidly turns 
 sour. A tree thus treated will yield sap for three 
 days. 
 
 The Momvus are also noted for their skill in 
 extracting and clarifying the oil from the Palma 
 Elais. This is done by boiling the fruit, and 
 straining the oil thus obtained through a kind of 
 sieve made of fibres or grass. They are also very 
 skilful in working iron, making arrow and spear- 
 heads of various graceful designs. Their shields 
 
136 
 
 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 differ in form from those of any other tribe, being- 
 shaped very much Hke a boy's kite. At the lower 
 end is a sort of basket, to enable them to carry 
 with ease their heavy spears, by resting the butts 
 in this receptacle. 
 
 Eeturning from the Obe, I passed into the 
 territory of Kanna, the big Azande chief, where 
 A\e were received with great hospitality, quantities 
 of eggs, fowls, beer, cassava, and bananas having 
 
 MAVIMBA, LOWEB CONGO. 
 
 been prepared for our refreshment. As usual with 
 Azande chiefs, I did not see Kanna until the day 
 after my arrival. We interchanged presents, but 
 he disappeared next day with his followers, thus 
 affording fresh proof of the unfriendly and sus- 
 picious character of the tribe. 
 
 Passing on, I canjc up through the old villages 
 of Assanga, Casati's host, crossing the Bomokandi 
 and returning to N'Yangara. 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 137 
 
 Being ordered home by a doctor, after black- 
 water fever and malaria, I left N'Yangara on the 
 30th of December, and reached Djabbir on the 28th 
 of January ; stopping on my way down to shoot 
 hippopotami, geese, water-buck, and elephants. 
 On the journey down the river I shot two 
 elephants at midnight, four hippopotami, one 
 water-buck, six red geese, a couple of duck, 
 twenty-eight cranes, and various other birds. 
 
 22 
 
CHAPTEE VI 
 
 Cannibalism — Its possible origin discussed — Livingstone and 
 the Manyema — The question never properly discussed — 
 Prehistoric cannibalism — Superstition or choice — Canni- 
 bals not necessarily degraded — Pigmies not cannibals — 
 Body - snatching — The Bangala — The Bateke — The 
 Mabode made no secret of it — The way it is done — 
 Among the Bangala — Among the other tribes. 
 
 JN the main my observations upon the degrading- 
 vice of cannibahsm agree with those of other 
 explorers. Livingstone for a long time refused 
 to believe in the practice, until the inexorable logic 
 of facts forced conviction on him when he came 
 in contact with the Manyema. Both Mr. Herbert 
 Ward, the author of a note on " The Origin and 
 Distribution of Cannibalism," and Mr. S. L. 
 Hinde, author of " The Fall of the Congo Arabs," 
 allude to it. 
 
 In noting the various theories we must remem- 
 ber that, with few exceptions, the lower animals 
 will not devour their own kind. " Dog will not 
 
o 
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 H 
 K 
 O 
 
 H 
 K 
 
 O 
 
 H 
 
 Q 
 
 m 
 
 :?; 
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 H 
 <) 
 
 I— I 
 
THE LAND OF THE PiriMIES 141 
 
 eat dog" is an old saying, but we know that if 
 one wolf falls in a pack pursuing a sleigh the rest 
 of the pack will stop to eat him, and that certain 
 snakes will devour each other. 
 
 Fierce hunger has driven men of our own race, 
 as a last resource in the pinch of hunger, to 
 satisfy their craving in this terrible way. Sailors 
 in a boat or on a raft have killed their fellows for 
 food, and it is a sailor's gruesome tradition that 
 the liver alone in such case should be eaten, as 
 being the most digestible. 
 
 This theory came out with horrible vividness in 
 the trial of the men of the Mignonette, who were 
 indicted and convicted of manslaughter for the 
 slaying of a boy, who was the youngest in the 
 boat. Our laws lay it down that under no circum- 
 stances is it lawful to take a fellow-creature's life ; 
 but hunger and the dread of death will override 
 all law and induce such fearful tragedies. 
 
 In the practices I am about to describe, how- 
 ever, hunger is not a factor, superstition and 
 depraved appetite being the sole incentives. 
 There is an extraordinary religious sentiment 
 connected with this custom. As we have said, 
 the flesh of relatives is never eaten, and some 
 tribes forbid the use of human flesh to all women. 
 That a cannibal can be kind and aiiectionate I 
 and others have observed, and no evil results seem 
 to follow from the habit ; indeed from sanitary and 
 
142 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 scientific points of view there seems to be no 
 reason why the flesh of man, properly cooked, 
 should not be nutritious. The wonder comes in 
 when we find, as did Livingstone, that in coun- 
 tries rich in foods, animal and farinaceous, the 
 horrid custom is continued. 
 
 Pood superstitions are many and mysterious, 
 but they will all give way under pressure of 
 hunger ; thus a good Jew will never, if he can 
 help it, eat the flesh of pig or blood; but if he 
 were so driven by force of circumstances that 
 he had nothing else to eat, he assuredly would 
 devour them sooner than starve. So, too, a good 
 Eoman Catholic eats no meat on a Friday ; but 
 such fasting would be foolish and impossible if life 
 itself were at stake. 
 
 These and other considerations — such, for 
 instance as the love of the Eed Indian for a 
 "rib-roast" of dog — seem to show that the real 
 origin of cannibalism was hunger, and that by 
 a process of heredity and warlike proclivities 
 it grew into a cult. The people who practise 
 it see in it no wrong ; so that nothing but 
 punishment and the gradual progress of civilisa- 
 tion can be expected to eradicate the habit. 
 Happily it is now slowly disappearing, and the 
 natives are beginning to be ashamed of a prac- 
 tice which degrades them in the eyes of those 
 with whom they desire to stand well. 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 143 
 
 Notwithstanding its obvious and vital interest, 
 writers on Equatorial Africa, who must of neces- 
 sity have encountered races among whom this 
 practice was a part of every-day life, seem, 
 intentionally or otherwise, either to have misled 
 their readers, or to have slurred over all unplea- 
 
 FALLS ON THE CONGO. 
 
 sant details. None seem to have gone to any 
 pains in order to establish the accuracy of the 
 statements they put forward, or to confirm bare 
 assertions founded either upon hearsay or con- 
 jecture. On the plea of wishing to avoid a dis- 
 tasteful subject, and quite ignoring its social and 
 
144 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 scientific aspect and value, many travellers 
 have deliberately suppressed their notes, or still 
 worse, have gone out of their way to give false 
 information — fearful lest the truth should offend. 
 
 Much has, however, been said by various writers 
 on what may be called the theoretical side of 
 cannibalism ; by which I mean speculation as 
 to its origin, its history, and its effects upon the 
 people who practise it. In a geographical journal 
 for July, 1893, we find the following words : 
 " Cannibalism seems to have prevailed to a con- 
 siderable extent among the primitive inhabitants 
 of Europe, and still more in America. The fact 
 that no traces of it have been found dating back 
 to palaeolithic times, while the lower animals 
 rarely devour their own species, seems to show 
 that a certain degree of intelligence was first 
 attained." With this may be compared the 
 remark of Peschel that the custom is most 
 prevalent among tribes distinguished by a certain 
 social advance. 
 
 While instances of resort to human flesh as 
 food in times of famine are widely diffused, the 
 most common cause seems to be the well-known 
 superstition that by eating the heart or other 
 part of an enemy, to which the practice is often 
 restricted, his prowess is assimilated and acquired. 
 
 A true note is struck when the writer we have 
 quoted from says that this habit, begun from some 
 
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 D 
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 23 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 147 
 
 necessity, is "afterwards persisted in from choice." 
 In Manyemaland and other districts of the Congo 
 Free State human sacrifices and rehgious rites are 
 wholly distinct from cannibalism, which is per- 
 sisted in deliberately. 
 
 Livingstone, who was the first Englishman to 
 cross the Manyema country, travelled through the 
 district in company with a party of Arab slave- 
 traders, under whose protection he placed himself 
 in 1869 — not from choice, but as the only means 
 by which it was possible for him to penetrate into 
 those dangerous parts. The journey was pro- 
 tracted ; halts were long and frequent ; and so 
 he was enabled to watch closely the habits, 
 haunts, and customs of the Manyema people. 
 
 Yery slowly and with great reluctance Living- 
 stone became convinced that from whatever cause 
 their cannibalism might have originated, it had 
 then nothing whatever to do with superstition or 
 religious rites. The natives made no endeavour 
 to conceal their liking for human flesh, and the 
 great traveller could no longer close his eyes to 
 a self-evident fact. Since the country was full 
 of animal and vegetable food, and starvation 
 was an impossible plea, cannibalism could alone 
 be accounted for by the assumption that it was 
 the result of a depraved appetite, or the outcome 
 of greediness. "Yet," said Livingstone, "they 
 are a fine-looking race; I would back a company 
 
148 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 of Manyemamen to be far superior in shape of 
 head, and generally in physical form, to the 
 whole Anthropological Society." 
 
 This unnatural practice stands by itself, seeming 
 not in any way to affect or retard the development 
 of the better emotions. Thus, tribes to whom 
 cannibalism is quite foreign are in many cases 
 more bloodthirsty, and far less advanced, both 
 morally and socially, than others openlj^ addicted 
 to it. It does not follow at all that because the 
 natives of the interior evince a liking for human 
 flesh, they are, on the whole, inferior to those who 
 treat the practice with contempt and abhorrence. 
 
 On this subject Mr. Herbert Ward, author of 
 "Five Years Among the Congo Cannibals," makes 
 the following statement : "It must not be sup- 
 posed that the cannibal tribes of the interior are 
 altogether brutal in every action of life. On the 
 contrary, I have observed more frequent traits of 
 affection for wife and children than are exhibited 
 in the conduct of domestic affairs among the 
 people of the lower or Ba Congo country, who 
 are not cannibals." This remark coincides so 
 exactly with my own observations that I am glad 
 to quote it in full. 
 
 The same argument applies also to the dwarfs or 
 Pigmy races of Central Africa, who are of a very 
 low type. They build the worst huts of any 
 people in the district ; they have no arts, nor do 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 149 
 
 they till the soil. Nomadic to the utmost degree, 
 they subsist almost solely by hunting, trapping, 
 and fishing. Yet they will starve sooner than eat 
 human flesh. In this I am confirmed by Casati, 
 who, in his " Ten Years in Equatorial Africa," 
 gives ample testimony, instancing a fight, and the 
 revelling of the victors as they feasted on the 
 bodies of the slain, while their allies, the Pigmies, 
 weary as they were from fighting, scoured the 
 country round searching for vegetable food. 
 
 Dr. Parke, by the way, in his book, "Experiences 
 in Equatorial Africa," inclines to the opinion that 
 cannibalism among the dwarfs does exist, though 
 they do not make a general practice of it. "My 
 Pigmy," he says, " tells me that the people of her 
 tribe rarelij eat human flesh, and are ashamed 
 of doing so." The doctor, however, made no 
 attempt to verify this assertion, and frankly I 
 do not believe it is at all reliable. I have lived 
 among the Pigmies at various times, and have 
 had excellent opportunity for studying their cha- 
 racter and customs, but I have never encountered 
 a single case of cannibalism among them, nor 
 did I ever hear of one. If an isolated instance 
 should have occurred I have no hesitation in 
 saying that it was the result of imitation, for the 
 Pigmies are very prone to imitate their neigh- 
 bours both in peace and war. 
 
 It is a nice literary question as to how Shake- 
 
150 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 speare gained his knowledge of " the anthropo- 
 phagi, and men whose heads do grow beneath 
 their shoulders." Did he mean cannibals and 
 stunted dwarfs'? We shall never get to the root 
 of his shrewd omniscience. 
 
 The practice of body-snatching from the ceme- 
 teries is frequently resorted to in the Bangala 
 
 AXES, KASSAI. 
 
 country, where the inhabitants are habitual ciui- 
 nibals. As a consequence Leopoldville, the chief 
 station on the Upper Congo, is obliged to keep a 
 regular guard at the cemetery, as the Bangala are 
 constantly coming and going, against whom several 
 cases of body-snatching have been proved. This 
 practice became at one time so common that 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 151 
 
 nothing short of capital punishment had any effect 
 in putting a stop to it. 
 
 The Bangala, besides feasting on the bodies of 
 those slain in battle, are also in the habit of killing 
 men for food. Their method of preparation is 
 a cruel one, but it is curious, and one is inclined 
 to think there must be some hidden origin and 
 
 AXES, KASSAI. 
 
 history behind it. The prisoner or slave who is 
 to grace the feast is not killed outright. Three 
 days beforehand his limbs are broken, after which 
 he is placed chin-deep in a pool of water, his head 
 being fastened to a log so that he may not be 
 drowned. On the third day he is taken out and 
 killed. This process is supposed to make his 
 
152 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 flesh more tender, but it is difficult to see how 
 the Bangala can have arrived at this conclusion. 
 
 Mr. S. L. Hinde tells the following story, which 
 will serve to illustrate the man-eating propensities 
 of the Bangala: "When I was returning from 
 Stanley Falls on my homeward journey six of 
 the crew were in irons on board ship, whom the 
 captain deli^s-ered up to justice at Bangala for 
 having eaten two of their number during the 
 voyage up to the falls. I was not at the trial, 
 but the captain told me that two of the crew had 
 fallen ill on the upward voyage, and had been 
 allowed to rest for a short time. On the next 
 ration day these two men were missing, and, 
 upon making inquiries, the captain was informed 
 that they had died in the night, and had been 
 buried on shore. This, however, did not satisfy 
 him, and having his own suspicions he searched 
 the ship and discovered parts of the men, smoke- 
 dried and hidden away in the lockers of the six 
 Bangala, whom he was then handing over to the 
 authorities." 
 
 The ordinary native preparation of human flesh 
 for food is not so elaborate as that observed by 
 the Bangalas, but is nevertheless carried out 
 with great care. The body is first decapitated 
 and cleaned out, after which it is held over an 
 ember fire and thoroughly singed, until every 
 trace of hair has been removed. Then it is 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 153 
 
 carefully cut up into joints, and is cooked — as 
 much as is wanted for immediate consumption — 
 in large pots, the rest being thoroughly smoke- 
 dried over a greenwood fire. But the natives 
 will eat as much as possible while they can, 
 for they are improvident in everything, taking 
 no thought for the morrow, and being ignorant 
 of the most elementary principles of domestic 
 economy. 
 
 When prisoners are taken it is very unusual 
 to kill the women for food ; though if a woman 
 is unable to keep up with the tribe on a march 
 she is shown no mercy, but is killed and cut up 
 for food on the spot. This, bad as it is, may 
 be kinder than leaving her to die slowly of 
 starvation in the bush, or to become the prey 
 of wild animals that infest the forest ; and the 
 blacks never encumber themselves with sick or 
 lame on their march. It is the same on man- 
 hunting expeditions among tribes that hunt men 
 for food. The women are not sought after at 
 such times, but I have no doubt that if a woman 
 were shot by accident, she would be presently 
 devoured. 
 
 The heads of those killed for food, as I have 
 already said, are rejected, but the teeth are 
 extracted and serve to make ornaments, such as 
 necklaces and armbands, which are worn by the 
 women. The hair too, when it is not the thick 
 
 24 
 
154 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 wool of the negro, is used for plaiting into 
 ornamental strips. Very often the skin is re- 
 moved from the body of the victim, and is made 
 into drum-heads. In this fashion they are, if 
 report true, followed by the ladies of Paris, who, 
 according to the latest fad, are said to carry 
 books or purses bound in a strip of human skin. 
 The skulls are stuck up on posts around the 
 village. These Central African cannibals have 
 not the belief which is held by others that to 
 eat the heart of an enemy will give them his 
 courage, or that by eating his arms they receive 
 his strength. 
 
 While I was conducting a punitive expedition 
 against the Mabode, I saw a boy hit in the 
 shoulder by a bullet from one of the muzzle- 
 loading guns that are used by the natives, such 
 as they receive in bartering with the traders. 
 Looking supremely unconcerned and apathetic 
 about the whole affair, he was carried to one 
 side by the men nearest to him. I called the 
 men up and told them off to take him up to the 
 camp where the other wounded were lying. They 
 objected that he was only a boy and it did not 
 matter. I rated them for their insubordination 
 and saw my order carried through. But for 
 some time afterwards the men continued to 
 grumble, saying I might just as well let them have 
 the boy for killing when the work of the fight 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 155 
 
 was done. The boy recovered, and remained 
 with me for a considerable time ; but the two 
 men, as well as many of the others who had 
 heard of the circumstance, were highly disgusted 
 with me, and laboured long under a sense of 
 having been the victims of gross injustice. 
 
 BOY, LEOPOLD VILLB. 
 
 I saw another side of cannibalism during the 
 same campaign. I was sitting outside my tent 
 in the cool of the evening, after camp had been 
 pitched, watching the men get their food ready. 
 The day's work had been a hard one, and a good 
 many on both sides had been left dead on the 
 scene of the fight ; there were also a large number 
 
156 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 of wounded, and fewer men to get through the 
 camp fatigue work, so we were not clear until 
 nearly dark. Presently in the deepening gloom 
 a man passed me, with a packet on his shoulders, 
 neatly done up in banana leaves. I asked him 
 what he was carrying. "Food," he said; "food 
 for the men." I asked what food it was, and 
 he replied that it was banana food. As a matter 
 of fact he and several of the other men were 
 going continually to and fro from the scene of 
 the fight, cutting up the bodies and bringing 
 them down in small parcels so as not to attract 
 my notice as they passed my tent. 
 
 In reality most of them are ashamed of being 
 cannibals, and are much confused if interrupted 
 in their gruesome work. Nearly always after 
 a fight, when they have cut up the fallen and 
 are bringing in the flesh, they will carefully 
 conceal their tracks, so that if you wish to pass 
 through in the same direction they will pretend 
 to tell you of a much better way. " This is a 
 bad path, infested with snakes and wild beasts. 
 It is quite dangerous, and you must cross a 
 wide river, &c., &g. But over there, there is a 
 very fine, clear, easy path," and so on. But they 
 will never let you pass the place where they 
 are cutting up the bodies, if they can possibly 
 prevent you by guile or force. 
 
 The Bateke tribe, whose home is in the neigh- 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 157 
 
 ~b<}urhood of Stanley Pool, are not as a rule to be 
 considered cannibals ; but the allied tribes, the 
 Apforu, and the Bateke of the French Congo, 
 follow this practice to some degree, as do a section 
 of the Balolo, whose dwelling is on the banks 
 of the Euki river, and among the swamps of 
 Malinga. Other branches of the same tribe show 
 no signs of it, and deny all connection with the 
 custom. 
 
 The whole question is Avrapped in mystery, but 
 the authorities I have quoted, and my own per- 
 sonal observations, practically cover all that is 
 known on this matter in Central Africa. 
 
CHAPTEE VII 
 
 Eeturning down the Well6 — The name of the hippopotamus — 
 I shoot one — The scenery of a Congo river — Elephants' 
 playground — A night expedition — A chance shot — The 
 second elephant — We follow the wounded elephant into 
 the bush — Ammunition expended — A further supply 
 obtained — The delighted natives — Elephant shooting by 
 daylight — The Mobanghi paddlemen — The dug-out —I 
 miss — The first elephant killed — The second afraid — Bull 
 elephants travel in couples — A "picture puzzle" — An 
 elephant's gentle shuffle. 
 
 ON the return journey down the Welle one day 
 I came across a family of hippopotami in the 
 water a short distance ahead. It had always 
 puzzled me to think how this unwieldy inhabitant of 
 tropical rivers received the name of " river horse." 
 To look at a hippopotamus as he moves his bulky 
 frame along the sandbanks any connection even 
 with a heavy plough horse seems absurdly remote. 
 But the nose and ears, seen protruding above the 
 surface, when the rest of the body is completely 
 hidden under water, have a distinctly equine 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 159 
 
 appearance, which quite accounts for the origin 
 of the name. 
 
 My paddlemen stopped rowing as we came up 
 with the first beast, a big cow. I fired ; the shot 
 was clean, and I had the satisfaction of seeing the 
 animal turn over on her back and sink. A hippo- 
 potamus when hit will remain down for any period 
 varying from three to thirty hours, and may come 
 up anywhere within half a mile of the place where 
 he goes under. It was already late in the after- 
 noon, and our halting-place for the night was a 
 village about half a mile down-stream. When my 
 shot hippo came up she would be bound to pass 
 the village, so, deeming it easier to secure her 
 there, where she was certain to be noticed 
 sooner or later by the natives or my own men, I 
 resumed my journey. 
 
 The scenery of a Congo river is practically the 
 same in all parts of the country. High banks rise 
 on either side, densely wooded with big trees and 
 thick undergrowth, closely set, and almost im- 
 penetrable. So monotonous does this aspect 
 become that the slightest variation is observed 
 immediately. Such a difference forced itself on 
 my notice as we swung down the stream towards 
 our night quarters. The river curved round a 
 projecting rock, just above which there was a 
 gap in the bush where the undergrowth had been 
 trodden down. An uprooted tree lay across the 
 
160 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 opening, which had been stamped and trodden 
 quite bare. Evidently it was a place where 
 elephants came to let loose the exuberance of 
 their spirits during the night, for the clay banks 
 and the adjacent forest both gave abundant 
 evidence of having been the scene of that riotous 
 devilment that is peculiar to elephantine sport. 
 
 Arriving at the village I sent for the chief or 
 head-man. " Yes, elephants often come there," 
 he said; "they come mostly at night, and as 
 likely as not will return again to-night." That 
 was good enough. 
 
 Leaving one canoe in the village I set out late 
 to the scene of the elephants' playground, accom- 
 panied by two of my men. It was a fine night ; 
 a clear moon shone high in the starlit sky, tinting 
 the trees with silver, and playing across the 
 stream in a thin line of wavering ripples, with 
 the dark expanse of water in the background. 
 Silence was broken only by the soft plashing of 
 the paddles and the rush of water against the 
 bows of our canoe. The jutting rock loomed 
 ahead as we shot out from the bank. 
 
 "Stamp, squelch! Stamp, squelch!" Sound 
 travels easily over water, and we could hear the 
 elephants enjoying a high old time as they 
 stamped their solid feet into the soft soil. As we 
 rounded the point in the shadow cast by the rock 
 we could see two big bull elephants pounding the 
 
o 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 O 
 
 a 
 
 EH 
 
 o 
 
 a 
 ■< 
 
 25 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 163 
 
 clay, or boring into it with their gleaming tusks. 
 As we drew nearer to the open space the brutes 
 ceased their stamping in the mud, standing for a 
 moment quite motionless. Elephants cannot see 
 very far with their little pig-like eyes, but their 
 scent and hearing are keen ; and it was by these 
 that they were warned of our approach. We were 
 now within range, and broadside on to the nearest 
 one ; by clutching the overhanging branches my 
 men held the boat still, and I raised my rifle. 
 
 As it is impossible to sight a rifle properly in 
 the semi-gloom of moonlight, the effect of the 
 shot rests between chance and judgment. I did 
 my best, and with fortune on my side the bullet 
 reached the fatal spot between the ear and eye 
 of elephant number one. An elephant, I have 
 noticed, if mortally wounded, always falls to the 
 side on which the ball enters, and it was therefore 
 with intense satisfaction that I saw him slowly 
 collapse towards me on the soft clay, as his com- 
 panion, startled by the report, made off in the 
 direction of the rocky point. This was well, for 
 had he headed straight into the bush sport would 
 have been over for the evening. The monster 
 skipped over a fallen tree-trunk as a man might 
 clear an impediment a foot high, and followed the 
 bank, not, however, before I had had time to place 
 a bullet behind his ear. 
 
 After my shot the boat drifted back some yards. 
 
164 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 bringing us opposite to him when he came round 
 the rook. My rifle rang again, but this time the 
 bullet flew winged with less judgment than 
 chance. The elephant may have been hit in the 
 hind quarters, though to hit an elephant in any 
 part but his head is generally about as effectual 
 as sticking pins into his hide. He pushed on 
 unchecked, rounding the point on the sludgy bank, 
 and made at once for the bush beyond. 
 
 A cynical philosopher has said we are all 
 madmen, with lucid intervals of longer or shorter 
 duration. I and my natives must have come just 
 then to the end of a lucid interval, for with one 
 accord we beached the canoe and followed that 
 wounded elephant into the bush ! Fortunately 
 for us he had not gone far, but stood grunting a 
 few yards inside the brushwood. He was evidently 
 distressed, my first snap-shot having taken more 
 effect than had appeared at the time. I crept up 
 cautiously through the undergrowth till I could 
 see my quarry standing in the low bush, flapping 
 his ears and swinging his trunk. The natives 
 followed behind me with their guns, and within 
 some ten yards we took aim at haphazard, and 
 fired together. Again the elephant grunted and 
 moved forward. Pell-mell we dashed back to the 
 boat, and waited to hear him crash away through 
 the forest. 
 
 Slowly we crept out again, stole up the bank 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 165 
 
 and plugged three more bullets into him. Then 
 we bolted back to the dug-out. This time we 
 could hear him Happing his ears and grunting, but 
 
 Back again we sneaked, close 
 
 he held his ground 
 
 AMARYLLIS. 
 
 up to him. " Bang ! " went the three guns again, 
 and the poor brute, majestic to the last, dropped 
 to his knees, his ears still flapping. 
 
 By this time our ammunition was expended, for 
 
 ^ 
 
166 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 I had only brought half a dozen cartridges, never 
 expecting to see an elephant at all, much less two 
 old bulls. So I sent one of my men back to the 
 village for a fresh supply while I waited with the 
 other. The flapping of the elephant's ears ceased 
 gradually, and presently absolute stillness hung 
 over the surrounding bush. 
 
 My man soon returned accompanied by some 
 more of my followers and some village folk. 
 Loading again, I and the two men who had 
 accompanied me followed up to the spot where 
 the elephant had dropped. He was lying on his 
 knees, and with the grey moonlight upon him 
 looked like some huge graven image. I fired a 
 shot into his head, but he did not stir. In falling 
 he had driven his tusks, each three feet long, right 
 up to the gums into the hard ground. In a quarter 
 of an hour a couple of hundred yelling and de- 
 lighted natives were busily at work cutting up the 
 two carcases. 
 
 It was on the same river that my next encounter 
 with elephants took place — this time in daylight. 
 AYe were coming down a reach of the river that 
 stretched straight ahead for a considerable dis- 
 tance, in fact almost as far as the eye could see. 
 I was sitting in the middle of the leading canoe 
 half asleep under the native awning ; the crew, 
 men of the Mobanghi tribe, were paddling gently, 
 singing some boating-song of their own, as they 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 167 
 
 invariably do when rowing. One man takes the 
 lead with a ditty of purely tribal interest, the text 
 of which he often composes as he goes along ; the 
 others take up the refrain in a chorus at the end 
 of each verse. 
 
 I noticed suddenly that they had ceased singing, 
 an indication that something had attracted their 
 attention ; the native is keen-sighted as a hawk, 
 and reads the signs of the river like large print. 
 Nobody spoke ; so, knowing their peculiarity of 
 never volunteering information, or giving any hint 
 save in reply to a direct question, I asked the 
 nearest man if thej' had seen anything. " Yes, thej^ 
 had." I asked what it was, and he told me there 
 were two elephants standing in the water some 
 way down the reach. I looked ahead, and at first 
 could discern nothing. Presently, as the canoe 
 proceeded, I managed to make out the elephants 
 that my men had spotted a hundred yards back. 
 I loaded my rifle, and cautioning the men waited 
 anxiously till we should come within range. 
 
 A native canoe, or dug-out, is of course entirely 
 without a keel, and consequently answers with a 
 roll to the slightest movement of the body, or even 
 of the head. Therefore when one is firing it is 
 absolutely necessary that each person shall sit 
 perfectly still, or the chances of an accurate shot 
 are very remote. But this time it looked easy 
 enough. The elephants were standing in the 
 
168 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 water at a half-right turn, facing the river, with 
 their hind-quarters to the ten-feet-high bank, 
 which was covered with thick, high grass. I 
 aimed at the nearer one, sighting as much as 
 possible between the e3-e and the ear, as the canoe 
 swung down. But as I fired one of the men in 
 front moved slightly ; the canoe rolled, not very 
 much, but sufficient to render my shot useless. 
 Frightened by the report, the animals turned 
 quickly round, dashing down the stream and 
 following the bank. I hurriedly reloaded, but the 
 elephants had already turned. They were trying 
 to climb the bank, and I thought all was lost. 
 Once on the summit of the ridge they were as 
 good as gone, for before I could have landed they 
 would have disappeared into the thick bush. I 
 fired at the leader the moment he reached the top ; 
 to my delight he slowly raised himself and rolled 
 backwards down the bank, striking the water with 
 a loud splash. The other might at that moment 
 have gained his freedom ; but seeing his com- 
 panion fall in this unaccountable manner, he 
 turned (probably thinking the ground treacherous) 
 and headed back to cross the river, thus placing 
 himself at my mercy. A couple of shots sufficed 
 to cut short his career. 
 
 My only other elephant was shot in a different 
 manner, but one so curious as to be worth relating. 
 Bull elephants frequently travel in pairs, and on 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 169 
 
 this occasion we sighted them at the mouth of a 
 small stream that discharged its waters into the 
 main river. The banks of the streamlet were 
 thickly covered with bush and trees, if possible 
 even denser than the thick brush that edged the 
 river. As we came to the place where we had 
 seen the elephants standing, we found they had 
 gone away up the rivulet. Turning the canoe, we 
 attempted to follow, but the little stream had 
 not sufficient depth to permit of our passage. 
 Scrambling on to the bank we started to pick our 
 way through the bush to see if by any chance the 
 animals had not gone of! into the forest, as they 
 generally do when scared. 
 
 A ]\Iobanghi led the way ; I was following close 
 behind him, creeping along as noiselessly as 
 possible through the tangled undergrowth, while 
 doing my best to keep up with him. Suddenly he 
 raised his hand, a sign that the elephants were 
 there. I looked, but in spite of the gesticulations 
 of the native could see nothing — nothing but the 
 dense forest, thickly covered with a tangle of 
 brown creepers, festooned among the dark tree 
 stems. As I peered into the dim light that 
 struggled through the overhanging foliage some- 
 thing moved. It was the flickering of an ear. 
 There stood the elephants scarcely five yards 
 away ! 
 
 Then of course I could see them. It reminded 
 
 26 
 
170 
 
 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 me of a picture-puzzle, once you can see the out- 
 line sought for you are surprised that it ever 
 escaped your notice. I could now trace the huge 
 bulk of the elephant's body, and could see a little 
 pig-hke eye blinking. I fired, and with a rush 
 they both made off ; the one that was not hit got 
 
 SANGO TYPE. 
 
 away across the stream, the other turned sharp 
 round to the left and came back in a circle, 
 standing still a few yards from us. I shot him 
 where he stood. 
 
 These five were the only elephants I ever killed, 
 but in extenuation it may be mentioned that they 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 171 
 
 were the only five I ever shot at. To go out 
 elephant-shooting through the high grass or the 
 bush is vanity and vexation, with the smallest 
 possible chance of sport. An elephant can move 
 through the densest forest as we walk across a 
 lawn; to keep up with his "gentle shuffle" is 
 almost impossible in the open, and quite so in the 
 bush ; while to follow behind him in the path that 
 he clears is equally futile, for the obvious reason 
 that it is only by shooting him broadside on that 
 your bullet is likely to have the slightest effect. 
 
CHAPTEE VIII 
 
 Early traces of the Pigmies — Possible relation to the peojple of 
 fairy legends — The Akka — Division — Tribe mark — Villages 
 — Mental state — Physical state — Instruments — Dancing 
 — Hunting — Weapons — Bananas — Purchase their instru- 
 ments — Chiefs — Nominal protection — The Albino — 
 Nomads — Burial rites — Under white influence — Their 
 language — Making fire. 
 
 IN the course of my travels I came more than 
 once across the Pigmies, and had ever}' chance 
 of studying the make and manners of these 
 queer httle freaks, whose history has ever had a 
 strange attraction for ethnologists. Stanley saw 
 and took stock of them, and succeeded in inter- 
 viewing one of their princesses, who, with her 
 people, lived in the gloom of the great Central 
 African forest. But long before Mr. Stanley's time 
 Herodotus recorded their existence and customs. 
 He tells us, in his own half-serious, half-humorous 
 fashion, of a certain ill-fated warrior who sailed 
 through the Pillars of Hercules, and after failing to 
 
HE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 173 
 
 douGle-fciie Cape of Lybia, then supposed to be sur- 
 rounded by water, returned to Egypt, and thence to 
 the court of Xerxes, where, in detaihng his adven- 
 tures, he spoke of "a nation of little men who 
 wore garments made of palm-leaves, and who left 
 their cities and fled to the _ mountains on the 
 approach of the invaders." The "Father of 
 History" is quite concise on this point, speaking 
 with more authority than he does concerning the 
 
 TKIBE FKOM UPPEB MONGALA BIVEK. 
 
 Troglodytes who could only "screech like bats," 
 or the fabled Phoenix he so quaintly mocks at. 
 
 Relics and stories of these mannikins are to be 
 found in all countries : witness the Dwarfs of the 
 German mountains, the Scandinavian Trolls, and 
 the Irish Leprechauns. True, these small folk are 
 now legendary and belong to the enchanted realm 
 of Fairyland ; but I have no doubt that at one time 
 they flourished on the face of the earth in the flesh, 
 being ultimately killed off to allow the survival of 
 the fittest ; consequently it was of the highest 
 
174 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 interest to find some of them in their primitive 
 and aboriginal state. 
 
 While we know that once upon a time "there 
 were giants in the land," we have no record to 
 show that they were tribal ; but all dwarf history 
 points to a family form, their weapons, customs, 
 and habits being but slightly varied. No nation of 
 giants now exists on the face of the earth ; perhaps 
 King Arthur and his knights slew the last of the 
 British variety, and if any specimens remain they 
 are either attached to a travelling circus or killed 
 by Jack the Giantkiller at Christmas-time. The 
 giant, in short, is either a myth or a monstrosity, 
 but the pigmy is still a living and interesting fact. 
 I came across them in the land of the Mabode, to 
 whom they are much attached, and had exceptional 
 opportunities of making a study of the Akka, as 
 these wee people are called by the Mang-bettou. 
 
 They are chiefly found amongst the Mabode and 
 Maigo tribes or among the Momvus, their district 
 being roughly between two and three degrees north. 
 The Mabode call them Balia, the Azande Tikki- 
 tikki. 
 
 The term Akka, by which the Pigmies are 
 known amongst the ti"ibes speaking the Mang- 
 bettou language, is a corrupt form of Achua or 
 Wochua, the name by which the people call 
 themselves, the prefix W indicating the plural, 
 and being common to other Bantu languages. 
 
PIGMY. 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 177 
 
 They are known by different names according 
 to the language of the people in whose territory 
 they happen to have made their temporary settle- 
 ment — Watwa in the basin of the Lunglulu, Balia 
 by the Mabode, and Batwa (singular Mutua, from 
 the root Tua, Two) in many districts of Central 
 Africa. 
 
 Mr. Stanley classes them as kinsmen of the Cape 
 Bushmen, and indeed there are many external 
 evidences in support of this theory. Weismann 
 considers the connection between the two races to 
 be unquestionable ; and the few deviations in their 
 physical appearance are no doubt to be attributed 
 to the influence of climate or the difference of 
 environment. If we compare Fritch's observations 
 on the Bushmen with those of other travellers on 
 the Akka, we cannot fail to attach considerable 
 credence to the theory of their relationship. 
 
 Their height brings them to about the shoulder 
 of a man of average stature, but they are by no 
 means uniform in size. Some are not higher than 
 the chest, while I have found others as tall as a 
 negro of medium height ; but they differ from the 
 negroes in many points. They are lighter in com- 
 plexion, and while the hair of the negro, be he 
 never so fair in complexion, is invariably curly and 
 black of the deepest hue, among the Akka it is not 
 unfrequently a dark rusty brown. Nor are they so 
 hairy as most negroes. The black Pigmies, it is 
 
 27 
 
178 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 true, are covered with down, but the red have 
 seldom very hirsute bodies. They are a well- 
 proportioned race, and, with the exception of their 
 remarkably short stature, may be regarded as 
 normal and well developed, not degenerate, as has 
 often been stated, though socially inferior to other 
 tribes. 
 
 Nomads by nature, the communities of the Akka 
 are at home in no particular country, but wander 
 from place to place, supporting life by hunting. 
 Though one place seems to be much the same as 
 another to them and to be valued only according 
 to its possibilities as a hunting-ground, these little 
 people have a marked preference for the territories 
 of certain tribes and an aversion to others, within 
 whose confines they are seldom seen. They avoid 
 the Mege, for instance, and show a predilection for 
 living in the neighbourhood of the Mabode or 
 Momvus settlements, where they are treated with 
 something more than mere toleration. 
 
 They are, indeed, considered as valuable allies 
 whose assistance is worth having against an out- 
 side foe ; and, in spite of their small numbers, they 
 are feared as well as respected from their revenge- 
 ful nature and their hardihood in war. They on 
 their part are quite willing to fight loyally for the 
 chief under whose nominal rule they lead their 
 gipsy life, and will remain in his district on these 
 terms as long as relations between themselves and ' 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 179 
 
 the chief are friendly. Otherwise they abandon 
 their huts and move off at once to the neighbour- 
 hood of another chief, where they settle afresh 
 and continue to live under a similar tacit agree- 
 ment. 
 
 They are, however, quite independent, and con- 
 sider themselves under no obligation to the people 
 of the tribe they may for the time be associated 
 with. Thus they preserve their freedom, of which 
 they are intensely jealous, and hold themselves 
 entirely aloof from other natives, among whom 
 they neither marry nor are given in marriage. 
 
 Dr. Junker, in his travels in Africa, has alluded 
 to the Pigmies as being "thievish." This, how- 
 ever, is unsupported by evidence, the doctor having 
 none at his disposal, and is altogether incorrect. 
 The Pigmy will scorn theft, and whatever may be 
 his failings and natural shortcomings, he ranks far 
 above the negro in this respect. He will lie, 
 deceive, and trick as much as the worst of them, 
 and often with a great deal more astuteness ; he is 
 cunning, revengeful, and suspicious, but he will 
 never steal. 
 
 The Pigmy is an excellent archer. In this 
 accomplishment he stands far ahead of his negro 
 neighbours, and can perform feats of marksman- 
 ship with his little bow and arrows that are really 
 marvellous. He will shoot three or four arrows, 
 one after the other, with such rapidity that the 
 
180 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 last will have left the bow before the first has 
 reached its goal. When an arrow misses its mark 
 he will fly into a violent passion, breaking his bow 
 and arrows in his rage. 
 
 Fear of their vengeance causes them to be held 
 in awe by other tribes. For instance, a Pigmy will 
 mark out a bunch of bananas in a plantation by 
 shooting an arrow into the stalk, thus signifying 
 his wish for them when sufficiently ripe. The 
 owner of the tree, in dread of their displeasure, 
 would never dream of removing the fruit or the 
 arrow, but would leave it there until the Pigmy 
 should come for both. 
 
 Their power of observation, as may be readily 
 understood, is wonderfully keen. Accustomed to 
 depend upon keenness of sight for his daily food, 
 and by his hunter's life brought into close contact 
 with the dangers of the bush, it is not surprising 
 that the Pigmy should have cultivated quickness 
 of sight and keenness of perception to a degree 
 found among no other race of human beings. 
 Mimicry, too, plays a large part in the formation 
 and development of his character, evincing itself 
 not only in his droll humour, but also in the 
 serious facts of his everydaj^ life, for he copies the 
 weapons of his neighbours, and even their habits 
 and customs, where these do not clash with his 
 own. 
 
 His mimicry is aided by a good memory, capable 
 
THE LAND OF THE I'KWIKS 181 
 
 of retaining the most insignificant details for long 
 periods. Dr. Junker tells a story of ho^Y he met 
 an Akka at a camp whom he had measured for 
 anthropometric purposes four years previously at 
 Eumbek. "His comical ways," he says, "and 
 quick, nimble movements made this little fellow 
 the clown of our society. . . . His imitations of 
 Hawash Effendi in a towering rage, storming and 
 abusing everybody, were a great success ; and he 
 took me off to the life, reproducing after four 
 years, down to the minutest details and with 
 surprising accuracy, my movements when measur- 
 ing his body in Eumbek." 
 
 There are two tribes, distinguished as the black 
 and the red Akka. The black Pigmies are two or 
 three inches taller than the red, but they are 
 obviously an inferior race, not so well formed nor 
 so intelligent - looking as their ruddy kinsmen. 
 These two distinct tribes, who do not live together 
 or apparently assimilate in any way, have in com- 
 mon a heavy overhanging upper lip, and do not 
 tattoo. Extremely exclusive, shy, and wary when 
 in the bush, when taken prisoners they become 
 fearless and defiant. Very vindictive when they 
 think themselves unjustly treated, they are other- 
 wise faithful. As an example of their natural 
 qualities I noted that they are remarkably jealous 
 of one another ; they make no friends of their own 
 kind when among other tribes, but will become 
 
182 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 very friendly with the other natives. A parallel 
 to this quality ^\e find in the animal world, for 
 Avild birds will kill their tame kindred, and the 
 wild mouse will, if he can get at them, kill his 
 caged and delicate white brothers. 
 
 Pigmies have apparently no ties of family affec- 
 tion, such as those of mother to son, or sister to 
 brother, and seem to be wanting in all social 
 qualities, asking nothing more than to be let 
 alone, to "live and let live." 
 
 Their villages, if such they can be called, consist 
 of groups of perhaps thirty small beehive-shaped 
 huts, each about four feet high ; the entrance is 
 a small opening a foot and a half high, allowing 
 just room enough for them to creep through. 
 They make their beds of sticks driven into the 
 ground at four corners, with other sticks placed 
 across, the whole being raised a few inches from 
 the floor. Each village is under the leadership of 
 a head-man or chief. 
 
 The low state of their mental development is 
 shown by the following facts. They have no 
 regard for time, nor have they any records or 
 traditions of the past ; no religion is known among 
 them, nor have they any fetich rights ; they do 
 not seek to know the future by occult means, as 
 do their neighbours ; in short, they are, to my 
 thinking, the closest link with the original Dar- 
 winian anthropoid ape extant. 
 
THFj land of the pigmies 183 
 
 Pigmies aro strong, sinewy, and muscular, fear- 
 lews and daring. They have a dislike for water, 
 and are not cleanly in their habits as are other 
 tribes. Very few of them can swim, and probably 
 they know nothing of the art, living, as they do, 
 chiefly on dry land. 
 
 The drciss of the Pigmies is veiy simple. The 
 men wear a plain stri])of cloth round the loins, the 
 women simply a bunch of leaves. They have no 
 ornaments of any kind — a fact which shows their 
 low development, for women as a rule use orna- 
 ments as attractions in savage life as well as 
 in civilised. Possibly when the New Pigmy 
 Woman arrives she will introduce necklaces and 
 earrings. 
 
 Musical instruments are unknown to them ; even 
 their dancing is conducted without any sweeter 
 sound than the rhythmit'al tapping of a bow with 
 an arrow. Their whole idea of dancing is to strut 
 round in a circle, with their legs quite stiff, beating 
 time with bow and arrow, as just mentioned, and 
 adding absurd emphasis to the general effect by 
 their set and solemn countenances. 
 
 Having no religion, no family ties, no joy in 
 sports or games, a)id no lixed home, their one 
 object and occupation is hunting, at which they 
 are- such adepts that it is a sight, as has been said 
 before, to see them handle their small bows and 
 arrows. They also carry a short, light spear, a 
 
184 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 weapon they have copied from other tribes, but no 
 shield, nor do they poison their arrows, which are 
 not tipped with flint, as has been asserted. 
 
 The Beiige poison is erroneously described by Dr. 
 Parke, Medical Officer of the Emin Pasha Belief 
 Expedition, as the arrow-poison of the Pigmies, 
 and is thus alluded to under article iv. in the 
 doctor's paper on the poisons of Central Africa. 
 There are, however, several discrepancies in his 
 account of the plant and poison, which I have no 
 difficulty in recognising by the diagrams and 
 illustrations that accompany his article. 
 
 First I will quote Dr. Parke's delineation, in 
 which I recognise the Beiige poison plant : — 
 
 " Green Stent. — This is obtained from a branch- 
 ing shrub which is very common in the forest. It 
 grows to a height of ten or twelve feet, and the 
 stem in the thickest part is not more than two 
 inches in diameter. It is of a dark green colour 
 at the upper part of the plant. The leaves are 
 dark green on the upper surface and a paler tint 
 below ; there- are three principal veins or orbs ; 
 and the lateral veins are given off at an acute 
 angle from each of these. The leaf is from three 
 to six or even eight inches long and about half as 
 broad, the large veins being depressed upon the 
 upper and prominent on the lower surface of the 
 leaf. The scrapings only of the bark are used, to 
 the amount of a dessert-spoonful in preparing a tea- 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 185 
 
 cupful of poison. The plant had neither flowers 
 nor leaves when I saw it." 
 
 AYriting in conjunction with Dr. Parke, Mr. 
 E. L. Holmes, F.L.S., identifies this as follows : 
 " Judging from the structure of the stem, and the 
 character of the single imperfect leaf brought home 
 by Surgeon Parke, this ingredient is composed of 
 the stems of a species of Strychnos, probably S. 
 Icaja, Baillon. The scars on the stem are opposite, 
 and indicate opposite leaves, and the venation of the 
 leaf is characteristic of the genus Strychnos. Of 
 this there are several African species known, but 
 only two of these have leaves as large as the 
 one under consideration. The S. Icaja, Baill. 
 (S. M'Boundou, of Heckel) is known to be used 
 in the Gaboon as an arrow-poison, and by the 
 Pigmies. 
 
 "In the Hanbury Herbarium there is a speci- 
 men of this plant, and on seeing Surgeon Parke's 
 leaf I at once recognised the strong resemblance 
 to this which it possessed. On showing the Han- 
 bury specimen to Surgeon Parke he pointed out 
 the acuminate apex of the leaf as having par- 
 ticularly attracted his attention in the growing 
 plant, and expressed assurance as to their identity." 
 
 All these details given by Dr. Parke as to the 
 appearance and structure of the plant agree entirely 
 with my own observations. We differ, however, in 
 one important respect. The poison is obtained not 
 
186 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 from the bark, but from the root of the plant, 
 which is scraped to obtain the ingredient ; and 
 although I cannot say anything about the poisonous 
 property of the stem, I can assert that the natives 
 invayiablij use the root, and never, to my knowledge, 
 the green bark. The root, of course, is solid 
 throughout, while the green stem is hollow ; and I 
 was fortunately able to bring back with me several 
 specimens of it, with a view to going deeper into 
 the matter. The wood is hard, yellowy and fibrous ; 
 the root, when first pulled up, is of a bright red 
 hue, the stem above ground being green. It is 
 from this red coating that the poison is obtained ; 
 the stem is scraped, and the poison made after the 
 manner described by Dr. Parke. 
 
 For the rest, his description of the plant agrees 
 with my own observation of it, and I am able to 
 confirm what he says as to its barren nature. The 
 plant has neither flower nor fruit — I have seen it 
 at all seasons, and never yet observed the appear- 
 ance of one or the other. The sketch accompany- 
 ing Dr. Parke's article shows only the leaf and the 
 hollow stem. 
 
 On my return from Africa I sent the specimens 
 to Mr. Holmes at the Pharmaceutical Society's 
 Museum. He very kindly examined them, and 
 thus was able to reassert his opinion that they 
 belong to the genus Strychnos, and are in all 
 probability the H. Icaja already indicated. 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 187 
 
 Fully occupied in hunting, Pigmies 'do not culti- 
 vate the soil, and for this reason, among others, as 
 is the case with the Eskimo, they stand low in the 
 scale of civilisation. Skilful trappers and hunters, 
 they can kill even elephants with their little bows 
 and arrows, blinding the animal first by shooting 
 at his eyes. Once he is blind, they never leave him 
 till he falls. 
 
 METHOD OF FISHING ON THE CONGO. 
 
 They are remarkably clever fishermen. With a 
 morsel of meat tied to a piece of string, and with- 
 out the aid of a hook, they will succeed in landing 
 heavy fish, while less-skilled fishermen, with hooks 
 and lines, may not be able to secure one. 
 
 As a rule the Pigmies take up their abode near 
 a village of some big chief, where they are sure of 
 finding large banana plantations. Though they 
 
188 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 grow no food of any kind on their own account, 
 they are extremely fond of the unripe long banana, 
 and their method of obtaining this delicacy is 
 simple. On returning from a day's hunting the 
 Pigmy carefully wraps up several small pieces of 
 meat in grass or leaves, betakes himself to the 
 nearest banana plantation, and, having selected 
 the bunches of bananas he requires, shins up the 
 tree, cuts down the bunches selected, and in pay- 
 ment affixes one of the small packets of meat to 
 the stem by a little wooden skewer. By this 
 means he satisfies his conscience, and can declare 
 that he has not stolen the bananas, but only 
 bought them, for the Pigmy, as we have seen, is 
 very angry at the merest suggestion of theft. 
 
 Pigmies do no work of any sort or kind, pur- 
 chasing their arrow-heads, knives, and spears from 
 the neighbouring tribes in exchange for meat, or 
 for women whom they have seized in the bush. 
 
 Each village has a chief, but there are no grada- 
 tions of rank among the people. Every man 
 fights for his own chief, and has no knowledge of 
 combination, only fighting when necessity demands 
 it. When they attack strangers in the bush they 
 keep so close that nothing is seen of them except 
 their arrows, but in the open they are very plucky. 
 Owning no territory, and having nothing to make 
 war for on their own account, they squat among 
 this tribe or that, according to convenience, but 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 189 
 
 they show no particular attachment to any one 
 spot, wandering wee Ishmaehtes as they are ! 
 Native chiefs often try to get hold of Pigmy boys, 
 whom they adopt, and who become a sort of body- 
 guard to them, and spies on their own people. 
 A striking instance of their disregard for home 
 
 A BAS-CONGO CAEBIEB. 
 
 and its memories was afforded when I had occasion 
 to revisit the birthplace of my Pigmy boy as I 
 returned through the Mabode country. He was 
 with me at the time, but as we approached the 
 village — they were still on the same encampment 
 ground, or very near it — he showed not the least 
 pleasure at the sight of the place. It might have 
 
190 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 been his first visit to the district to judge by the 
 absence of any display of emotion, or outward sign 
 that the settlement had once been the scene of his 
 daily life. However, as he had served me very 
 well, apart from the natural laziness of his kind, 
 I thought I might do him a good turn by offering 
 him freedom to return to his people. 
 
 To my surprise he besought me to tell him what 
 wrong he had done, to be discharged like this. I 
 explained that, so far from having done wrong, he 
 had pleased me so well that if he liked he might 
 go back to his own people. He looked at me for 
 a moment in bewilderment ; then he threw up his 
 head with a proud gesture and walked away, thus 
 intimating that he had not a very ,high opinion 
 of the manner in which I proposed to reward 
 faithful service. 
 
 I called him back. 
 
 " You may stay if you like," I said ; " but bear 
 in mind that you may go if you like, and that if 
 you don't go now it may be impossible to do so 
 later, even if you wish." 
 
 " But I don't want to go," he protested. 
 
 I accepted this, and he went out. 
 
 A few minutes later he returned. Evidently he 
 had thought me angry with him, and it puzzled 
 him to fit a cause for this, and so, in default of 
 satisfactory explanation, he thought it best to 
 propitiate me. 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 191 
 
 "I'll tell you what I'll do," he said. "If you 
 will lend me five soldiers I'll place two there and 
 two over there (indicating positions), and I'll go 
 over there with the other. Then I'll call my 
 father and mother into the ring, and we will 
 capture them and bring them to you." 
 
 I think he was disappointed that I did not 
 accept this curious proposition, which shed a clear 
 light on his ideas of the fifth commandment. 
 
 While I was staying at Nigangara Station 
 Du Brency came in to spend a few days. He 
 also had a Pigmy boy in his service, being content 
 like myself to sufiier the troubles he caused for the 
 sake of having such a good servant. But two 
 Pigmies in the same station were productive of 
 more excitement than was pleasant. At first they 
 regarded one another somewhat shyly, not to say 
 with suspicion, and would have nothing to do with 
 each other. From severe neutrality it came to 
 defensive hostility, and before long to open war- 
 fare. Both were vindictive little wretches, never 
 so happy as when quarrelling. As it was policy 
 to be on good terms with the soldiers and "food- 
 servants," they reserved their spite for their own 
 kind, and were at one another's throats all day 
 long, and on the most trivial grounds. One would 
 get a little more food than the other ; there would 
 be sufficient reason for a fight, and they would 
 race each other in bolting their bananas in order 
 
192 THK LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 to get in the first blow ; but fighting was always 
 subservient to feeding. When they had battered 
 each other's little heads with their puny fists, 
 a Houssa, or perhaps a white oflicer, would come 
 out to see what the din was about, and would 
 separate the combatants. 
 
 "Well, why should he have more food than 
 I had? " would be the proud explanation. " After 
 all he's only a Pigmy! " This with great scorn, 
 and the necessary vows of vengeance from the 
 victim of outraged dignity. 
 
 They had no objection to being scolded in 
 genuine anger, and took a rating manfully ; but 
 to be treated as children, • or, worst of all, to be 
 laughed at, was more than they would stand. 
 
 A soldier was looking on amusedly at one of 
 their mimic battles one afternoon in the drill-yard ; 
 the cause of war was a battered helmet that one 
 of us had discarded. My Pigmy had it on, and 
 was defending his nine points of the law against 
 his fellow Pigmy. The soldier made a jeering 
 comment on my boy, who left his own quarrel and 
 without a moment's hesitation threw half a brick 
 at the head of the soldier with all the force of 
 which his little arm and big rage were capable. 
 It would have hurt the Houssa more if it had hit 
 him on the shins ; as it was it merely stunned 
 him. Then the young rascal resumed his defence 
 of the helmet. 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 193 
 
 One of the most astonishing characteristics of 
 these strange little people is their abnormal appe- 
 tite for all sorts of food. Bananas are their chief 
 delight. A Pigmy, I have no hesitation in saying, 
 eats as a rule twice as much as will suffice a fuU- 
 
 A BAS-CONGO CAKEIEE. 
 
 grown man. He will take a stalk containing 
 about sixty bananas, seat himself and eat them 
 all at a meal — besides other food. Then he will 
 lie and groan throughout the night, until morning 
 comes, when he is ready to repeat the operation. 
 A consequent and characteristic feature of his race 
 
 29 
 
194 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 is the distended abdomen ; but, that considered, 
 it is difficult to imagine where he manages to stow 
 the enormous quantity of food he can consume at 
 a meal. Occasionally, when I have expressed sur- 
 prise — when, for instance, he has surpassed even 
 himself — he has assumed an uninterested air, as 
 though the matter were merely the most common- 
 place occurrence in the world, and the question 
 one to be waived. 
 
 "Yes," he has said carelessly; "there were 
 a few bananas there on a bunch, and I ate them. 
 I suppose that is what they were there for. 
 There's nothing to be surprised about. I should 
 like some more if there are any to be had." 
 
 As they have no cooking utensils, all their food 
 is roasted or smoked. 
 
 The Albino, while very frequently met with 
 among the Azande and one or two other tribes, 
 is very rarely seen among the Pigmies. I have 
 met very few travellers in Central Africa who have 
 ever seen the phenomenon of an Albino Pigmy, and 
 have only once met one myself during the whole 
 period of my travels among the little race. This 
 one was a character in his way. He was dead- 
 white, without a vestige of colour in his skin, 
 about four feet high and with all the charac- 
 teristics of his kind. The amusing part of it was 
 that he insisted on claiming kinship \\ith the 
 Mabode, among whom he Uved. Nothing could 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIKS 19r, 
 
 convey to him a deeper insult than to say that he 
 was a Pigmy ; he roundly denied the impeachment 
 and proceeded to avenge the stain on his character 
 with truly Pigmean vengeance. Ordinarily he 
 spoke of the Pigmies with the greatest scorn as 
 a race far inferior to the Mabode, to whom he 
 belonged. The pity was that his upper lip over- 
 hung to an unusual degree, so that my friend the 
 Albino's story was effectually contradicted by his 
 personal appearance. 
 
 The Pigmies have a curious method of fighting 
 which I have had occasion to observe several 
 times. A stranger passing through the ' bush 
 along a track is fair game to them, and they 
 therefore conceal themselves when they hear foot- 
 steps approaching. It does not take much covert 
 to hide a Pigmy. As the unsuspecting victim goes 
 by they send their little arrows at him, and, if the 
 shot has told, the Pigmy who has fired jumps up, 
 utters a little cry, and pats his right arm with his 
 left, immediately afterwards diving behind a bush 
 plant or tree trunk. The Pigmies do the same 
 when they are fighting against numbers in regular 
 bush warfare. 
 
 One gentle art employed against the stranger 
 who comes by their way is amusing in its display 
 of cunning. The Pigmy fastens a cord to his foot 
 at one end, affixing the other to the bough of 
 a tree that may stretch across the forest path. 
 
196 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 Then concealing himself a few yards off he waits 
 till he hears some one coming, when he gently 
 agitates the string so as to shake the bough. 
 Xow the least thing of this kind, the slightest 
 rustle or noise attracts the attention of the native, 
 who, from motives of self-preservation, is brought 
 up to notice all the signs of the bush. Accord- 
 ingly he stands still to see what is coming, and 
 while he watches the curiously moving branch, is 
 promptly shot in the back by the concealed Pigmy. 
 "But," said the Pigmy, when rebuked for such 
 treachery, " he was a stranger. He had no 
 business to be there." It is the old story of 
 Leech's over again: "A stranger! 'Eave 'arf 
 a brick at 'im ! " 
 
 A certain chief of the Momvus was literally 
 a "big" chief, one of the fattest and most 
 unwieldy of men it has ever been my lot to see. 
 So corpulent had he become that he had long- 
 given up the practice of walking, always allowing 
 himself to be carried about on a litter borne by 
 four of his men. So he became fatter still. His 
 head wife was a massive matron, who added 
 to her corpulency by like laziness. 
 
 This big chief, in spite of his inability to walk, 
 insisted on accompanying his men on all fighting- 
 expeditions, and personally directed their attacks 
 from the elevation of his stretcher. On a certain 
 occasion I have in uiy mind he was going down 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 197 
 
 with his warriors to fight a neighbouring Mabode 
 chief, and on his way unwittingly passed close to 
 a Pigmy encampment whose inhabitants he had 
 offended some time before. A flight of little 
 arrows from an invisible foe was the first intima- 
 tion he had of any danger ; he could not get down, 
 nor would it have served any practical purpose, 
 because he would not have been able to run away. 
 So he dropped back from his sitting posture and 
 turned over on his face, calling to his wife to 
 do the same, as he urged his bearers forward. 
 Presently a Pigmy darted out from behind a tiny 
 bush and shot off two arrows in quick succession, 
 then he patted his right arm with his left hand, 
 uttered the peculiar little cry that signifies gratifi- 
 cation for the effect of the shot, and disappeared 
 again behind the bush. I looked and saw that 
 both the chief and his wife, while lying face down- 
 ward on their litters, had been shot in that part 
 which thus naturally presented itself as a tempting 
 target. 
 
 Where one of their number dies he is buried, 
 and there is an end to him and his memory. They 
 wear no mourning, nor do they erect any memorials 
 over the graves of their dead. 
 
 Excellent servants, they are very fond of decking 
 themselves out in the old clothes of their masters, 
 no matter what the fit may be. They will strut 
 about with an old hat, several sizes too large, 
 
198 
 
 THE LAND OF THE PiaMIES 
 
 coinini;- down over their eyes, or auL;'uieiit their 
 sciinty eostniiie by the addition of a tie, not in fun, 
 but in the most serious manner possible, the 
 nearest approach to the dec'orative instinct I 
 observed. 
 
 As their only object in hunting is to obtain food, 
 when they kill an elephant they consider the tusks 
 
 BOY AND (URL WlOAlUNCi lIK'l'Alj KINOS. 
 
 as valueless, and do not e^•en trouble to take them 
 away. 
 
 As might be expected, thi'y keep no domestic 
 animals. 
 
 It is very difficult to say anything about their 
 language, as an interpreter is rarely met with. I 
 trust the next explorer who ronics across them will 
 make some effort to get at their " roots." No 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 199 
 
 doubt there are latent words and symbols in their 
 utterances, which I regret to say I had not time to 
 solve. 
 
 In the South they are called the Wombutti, but 
 are the same people. 
 
 They keep fire ahght perpetually, starting it in 
 some large tree, which goes on smouldering for 
 months at a time. 
 
 So much for my friends the Pigmies, who on the 
 whole live decentl}' and well up to their lights, and 
 are in many ways less offensive than their neigh- 
 bours, though the}- may seem to be of lower grade. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 The Ababwa people — Fictitious repoits had reached me con- 
 cerning them — The reasons for this — The middlemen — 
 The deference paid by the Ababwa to the Azande — The 
 country — Customs of the Ababwa — Language — I arrive at 
 Djabbir — An expedition against the murderers of Grahame 
 — The doctor — Wild firing — Terror of the doctor — Volleys 
 heard — No trace of the other column — Attacked by the 
 Azande — The men demoralised — I form a square — Azand6 
 driven back — The doctor's idea of warfare — Deserted by 
 the other two columns — We return to the station — The 
 chief Djabbir — The corporal promoted — News of Dhanis's 
 disaster — Eecruiting — The Mobanghi — Their tribal cus- 
 toms — Make the best soldiers — Prank criticism — Hunters 
 and watermen — Eeading the river— The mission station 
 at Upoto — Arrival at Boma. 
 
 SOUTH of the Welle I found the Ababwa, 
 a large tribe who had never been visited 
 by a white man until two years ago, when 
 a traveller passed through the centre of their 
 country from the south-west, and found them a 
 populous, peaceful, and agricultural people ready 
 to make him in every way welcome. 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 201 
 
 For years these Ababwa had been spoken of as a 
 race of savages living in a land where no white man 
 could penetrate. The Azande chiefs, who held 
 the whole length of the river, were responsible 
 for these sinister rumours and false reports, and 
 purposely kept them afloat for their own ends, 
 as they were in the habit of purchasing all the 
 
 VILLAGE OF KUNZI. 
 
 ivory collected by the Ababwa at an absurdly 
 cheap rate, and selling it to the white traders at 
 different stations in the neighbourhood at a large 
 profit, so that they held entire control of the 
 ivory market in that district. 
 
 At the same time they were careful to impress 
 upon the Ababwa chiefs that the white man was 
 a living terror, and that any Ababwa who should 
 
 30 
 
202 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 venture to approach a white man's station would 
 undoubtedly be hanged, and that all his followers 
 would be made slaves. By this means the Azande, 
 as middlemen, controlled the ivory market to his 
 own advantage. So great was the dread in which 
 the Ababwa held the Azande that they never once 
 dared either to come themselves to a white settle- 
 ment, or to send a messenger, to find out the true 
 state of the facts. 
 
 When I passed through their country a big 
 Ababwa chief came to see me, and I asked him 
 to sit down in a chair — a European chair — to him 
 a great honour. While he was sitting there a 
 small Azande chief entered. The Ababwa chief 
 immediately vacated his seat, offering it to the 
 Azande with the greatest deference and humility, 
 while the Azande calmly took it as his right. 
 The Ababwa chief's face was a study when I 
 kicked the Azande out of the chair, and told my 
 first visitor to resume his seat, as he was a much 
 more important personage than the petty chief to 
 whom he had given up that symbol of sovereignty. 
 
 As a race the Ababwa are tall, well-set up 
 and handsome. They are strictly sober, though 
 they have learnt from their neighbours to make 
 maize beer ; but in point of morality they are lax, 
 and polygamy is an established custom. 
 
 Their land is rich in plantations of bananas 
 and grain, and rubber vine, kola, and various 
 
THE LAND OP THE PIGMIES 203 
 
 kinds of gum. Their chief article of barter is 
 copper, which is formed into bracelets and heavy 
 rings. Living in villages surrounded by a large 
 stockade, almost hidden in the bush, they handle 
 with dexterity the bow and arrow and the long, 
 narrow, wooden shield, and use also very heavy 
 shafted spears, and knives with long leaf-shaped 
 blades. 
 
 Akin to the tribes in the south-west, on the 
 Itimbiri or Eubi, these Ababwa speak quite a 
 different language from that of the Mang-bettou or 
 Azande. They tattoo themselves across their 
 foreheads with many little lines or dots. 
 
 On my arrival at the Djabbir station on the 
 28th of January, I found the commandant of the 
 district, Mr. Verstraeten, laid up from the results 
 of malaria, and scarcely able to walk. As he was 
 extremely anxious to go down country, and had no 
 one to whom he could hand over command of the 
 district, he persuaded me to take charge of it, so 
 that he might return to Boma. As the doctor 
 whom I found at Djabbir reported favourably upon 
 the state of my health, I decided to remain. 
 
 Mr. Yerstraeten, I found, had just arranged a 
 little campaign against the Zande chief Unguettra, 
 the murderer in January 1895 of the Englishman 
 Grahame ; and as everything had been already 
 organised, I had only to carry out the plans of my 
 predecessor. 
 
204 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 Had I known as much as I learnt afterwards, I 
 should never have ventured mto such a hornet's 
 nest with the soldiers who made up my attacking 
 force. It had been arranged that three columns 
 should march from the north, west, and south, 
 converging upon the head village of Unguettra. 
 Mr. Verstraeten's design was that the three 
 columns should reach that spot almost at the 
 same moment. Unfortunately the western and 
 southern columns did not put in an appearance 
 when they were most wanted, but of that more 
 hereafter. 
 
 Leaving Djabbir on the 16th of February 
 with 159 men, with Mr. Sillye and the doctor, 
 the latter overflowing with martial ardour, I 
 disembarked on the southern bank of the Welle, 
 at a point just north of the point to be attacked. 
 As we were uncertain of the whereabouts of Un- 
 guettra, it was necessary to proceed with caution 
 through the thick forest. Marching all night, we 
 arrived next morning at daybreak at a small village 
 of one of his lesser chiefs. Here we were obliged to 
 remain a whole day, for the men were too fatigued 
 to march further. During the night we were 
 aroused by the sound of rapid firing. Hurrying 
 from the hut in which I had been sleeping, I found 
 one face of our square firing as fast as the men 
 could load, straight to the front. 
 
 When I had checked the fusillade, I found upon 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 205 
 
 inquiry that our gallant friend the doctor, scorning 
 anything so effeminate as a night under cover, had 
 placed his chair in the open space between my own 
 and Mr. Sillye's hut. Here he composed himself 
 to sleep, evidently forgetting the Azande habit of 
 shooting poisoned arrows into the camp at night. 
 The moon being about full, every object in the 
 square was distinctly visible to any one concealed 
 in the neighbouring bush. Evidently a body of 
 Azande prowling round the camp had noted all his 
 movements, and when once he had settled down 
 comfortably, they began to shoot at him. 
 
 The doctor, suddenly aroused to a sense of his 
 danger by arrows dropping all around him, had 
 sprung to his feet, had aroused the sleeping men 
 in front of him by his yells of terror, and had given 
 them the order to commence firing. The men, 
 suddenly startled from their sleep, obeyed the 
 order too literally, forgetting at the moment that 
 our sentries had been posted in the bush to their 
 front. The doctor, not waiting to see the effect 
 of his order, had taken rapid refuge in the nearest 
 hut. By marvellous luck the sentries had not 
 been hit, as on hearing the sound of the first shot 
 they had fallen flat on their stomachs, in which 
 position they remained long after the danger had 
 passed. 
 
 On the following day we continued our advance 
 until noon, when, hearing the sound of volleys 
 
206 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 which we knew must come from one of our other 
 columns, we halted and sent out patrols, in the 
 attempt to get into touch with our allies. These 
 scouts returned later in the afternoon without 
 having succeeded in their quest. 
 
 Starting at daybreak next morning, we continued 
 our march through the forest, and at about eleven 
 o'clock the advance guard was suddenly attacked 
 by a strong body of Azande. At the same time we 
 heard the report of rapid and evidently uncontrolled 
 firing from the rear guard, where the martial doctor 
 was in charge. After my former experience of him 
 I left him to his own devices, and went forward to 
 support the advance guard. On coming up with 
 them I found they had been thrown into utter 
 disorder by the charge of the enemy's column. To 
 make matters worse Mr. Sillye had been severely 
 wounded by a lance-thrust in the leg — a mischance 
 which completed the utter demoralisation of his 
 men. Forming a square as nearly as was possible 
 in the thick bush, we pushed on with difficulty. 
 
 Suddenly, without the slightest warning, the 
 Azande returned to the charge, coming up to 
 within a few yards of our square, but the rifle 
 fire was too hot for them to face, and they again 
 retreated. Beaten in their attempts to repeat the 
 tactics which they had carried out successfully 
 against the advance guard, they presently broke 
 and fled. 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 207 
 
 Shortly afterwards the doctor arrived without 
 his men. It appeared that he also had been at- 
 tacked by a small body of Azande, whose intention 
 had been loot. On my asking the doctor where 
 his men and baggage were, he replied that he did 
 not know, asking me at the same time whether it 
 was very disgraceful at a moment of sudden risk 
 to hide behind a tree and lie flat on his stomach. 
 I replied that this was merely a matter of taste 
 and opinion. Sending back a native sergeant and 
 twenty men to look after the baggage and collect 
 the porters, we discovered that the rear guard, 
 following the line given them by their white man, 
 had also run away, throwing their loads to the 
 ground. 
 
 Having collected such remnants as the Azande 
 had not had time to carry off and our wounded, we 
 pushed forward until we reached a small Azande 
 village. Here we halted, to enable the doctor 
 to attend to Sillye's injuries and the other 
 wounded. This, however, he was utterly in- 
 capable of doing, his courage, together with his 
 martial instincts, having apparently disappeared 
 with the baggage. 
 
 After a halt of about three and a half hours, 
 receiving no news of the other two columns, and 
 encumbered with one wounded white man who was 
 unable to walk, and some twenty-five wounded 
 soldiers, most of whom also had to be carried, 
 
208 
 
 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 we moved in a southerly direction, trying to 
 communicate with the column of whose where- 
 abouts we had some rough idea from the firing 
 heard on the previous day. After three hours' 
 march, finding no traces of their passage, and 
 hearing nothing further to indicate their where- 
 abouts, we turned to the west, hoping to fall in 
 
 DANCING-WOMAN AND ATTENDANTS. 
 
 with them. Being without food, as ■\\'ell as 
 hampered by the wounded, advance was out of 
 the question, and we were obliged to make our 
 way through the forest by the aid of the compass 
 to the nearest post, from whence the western 
 column had set out. 
 
 After two days' march through the forest we 
 arrived at the station, to find that the second 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 209 
 
 column had already returned, the two officers 
 in charge calmly stating that they had heard 
 one column had been engaged, from which they 
 took occasion to infer that their prompt retirement 
 was necessary, instead of advancing to the support 
 of their comrades. The third column had not put 
 an appearance at all, its commander giving 
 
 m 
 
 A DANCING-WOMAN. 
 
 various and apparently very good reasons for its 
 absence. 
 
 Had it not been for the aid 
 Sillye, badly wounded though 
 think of the fate that might 
 little company. However, in 
 and bad roads, we managed 
 wounded. Shortly afterwards 
 
 31 
 
 I received from Mr. 
 he was, I shudder to 
 
 have overtaken our 
 spite of want of food 
 
 to bring in all our 
 
 Unguettra, who had 
 
210 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 lost heavily in the engagement, sent in messengers 
 to arrange terms of peace, and before long I found 
 that five of the soldiers who had been following the 
 doctor had already come in to the station. 
 
 Djabbir, the chief of the Abundja Azande, is 
 a man of considerable intelligence, and with some 
 knowledge of the ways of civilised people. In his 
 youth he had been at Khartoum, where he had 
 served under Gordon. Eeturning from Khartoum 
 by way of the Bahr-el-Grazelle, he, with the aid 
 of his brothers, made himself master of the terri- 
 tory which he at present rules, subduing the 
 original inhabitants, the Mobanghi, who now form 
 the greater part of his people. Since 1891, 
 from which year his first acquaintance with the 
 State officials dates, he has always proved himself 
 a good friend and firm ally of the Congo Free 
 State. His importance may be gauged by the 
 fact that he himself sells on an average about 
 a ton and a half of ivory per month to the head- 
 man of the station. More civilised than his brother 
 chiefs, he is accustomed to use many of the con- 
 veniences of European refinement. 
 
 As an honorary captain commandant in the 
 State service, he dons the uniform belonging to 
 that rank on all State occasions. I have already 
 recorded my introduction to him in the mess-room 
 of the station when thus arrayed in European 
 dress. He knows how to conduct himself in 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 211 
 
 polite society, and, unlike other natives, he is 
 not addicted to lying. When he says he will 
 do a thing he does it, and when he tells you he 
 cannot, you know it is out of his power. 
 
 It was at Djabbir's station that I again met the 
 corporal who had so efficiently assisted me in my 
 journey from Yakoma in 1894. I was glad to see 
 he had received the promotion he certainly merited, 
 and was acting in a confidential position under 
 Djabbir.* 
 
 At this time I received the first news of the 
 revolt of Baron Dhanis's advance guard. At once 
 the whole of our efforts were directed to obtaining 
 recruits to be sent down to Stanley Falls, who should 
 fill up the gaps made by the mutiny of the Batatela. 
 As recruiting in these districts had become popular 
 among the natives, we experienced very little diffi- 
 culty in finding our complement of five hundred 
 men within a month of receiving a request for 
 their enrolment. In the meantime I had been 
 to Ibembo on the Eubi, to superintend the de- 
 parture of troops down the river. 
 
 The Mobanghi, whom Djabbir had reduced to 
 submission on his return from Khartoum, are a 
 fighting race, and make the best soldiers on the 
 Upper Welle. 
 
 * It will be noticed that an African station is commonly 
 known by the name of the district chief, so that the same 
 word is used indifferently for the man or place. 
 
212 
 
 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 They live in small huts and scattered villages, 
 hating their conquerors with an undying hate, 
 and ever ready to fight against them on behalf 
 of the white man. The river-end portion of this 
 tribe wear a tattoo mark vertically down the centre 
 of the face. Those of the interior wear the mark 
 across their foreheads. They are extremely good- 
 
 PUNEEAL DANCE, BOPOTO. 
 
 tempered, faithful, and honest to those with whom 
 they are dealing, but they will steal from others, 
 and are inveterate cannibals. 
 
 Great hunters, they will creep up to an elephant 
 until they are close enough to put a gun within a 
 foot or two of his ribs. Their weapons of war are 
 the shield and lance ; they do not use the bow and 
 arrow except as a toy for children. 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 213 
 
 A very hardy race, they will go for seven days 
 without food when on the march. Not shy, but of 
 a very frank, open disposition, the Mobanghi never 
 bear malice ; once corrected for a fault, it is all 
 over and done with, the offence and its punishment 
 being alike forgotten. 
 
 Their burial customs are peculiar. When a man 
 
 FUNEEAL DANCE, BOPOTO. 
 
 dies in war all his tribesmen who are present will 
 attend his funeral. The body is sewn up in a piece 
 of bark cloth, and a long piece of grass, or cane, or 
 string is attached to the little finger of the left 
 hand. The grave is then filled in, the string being 
 brought up through the earth to the surface. The 
 mourners form a ring hand-in-hand, one of them 
 
214 THE LAND OP THE PIGMIES 
 
 holding this string. A funeral oration is made, 
 bidding farewell to the deceased, to whom they 
 talk as though he were still hving. Then they 
 move and turn together, still holding hands, the 
 man who has the string swinging it as they circle 
 round and round. 
 
 The only reason given to me for this mystic 
 piece of string was that the spirit of the dead man 
 should be able to shoot straight where he was 
 going, and should be able to find food for himself, 
 by thus keeping some sort of touch with the upper 
 air. 
 
 They are extremely fond of dancing. Their 
 capers differ from those of the Mang-bettou or 
 the Azande in that they are much more lively. 
 Singing while they dance, and making up their 
 songs as they move, generally upon tojoical subjects, 
 they laugh and are merry at such times, and are 
 never so serious as other tribes. 
 
 Always in hopes of throwing off the Azande yoke, 
 and again establishing the old Mobanghi kingdom, 
 these natives are perfectly fearless ; and enlisted in 
 the white service, fitted out with rifle and uniform, 
 they will go anywhere, looking down upon all other 
 Africans. They never lose an opportunity of killing 
 an Azande, and when sent off to arrest one will be 
 certain to shoot him, if they can only manage it 
 without the knowledge of their officers. 
 
 Here is an illustration of their frankness. A 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 215 
 
 white man one evening had been talking to the 
 Mobanghi around him, trying his best to explain 
 the steam-engine and steam-ship to them. He 
 drew pictures on the sand to illustrate what he 
 said; they listened with intense interest as he went 
 on. At last, tired of talking, he ceased explaining, 
 and asked them if they had understood. "Yes, 
 they thought they had." There was deep silence 
 for some time, and then a voice in the centre of 
 the crowd expressed the unspoken sentiments of 
 the whole assembly in one emphatic word, uttered 
 in a tone of the deepest conviction — " Liar ! " 
 
 These people hunt both the hippopotamus and 
 the elephant with success. They pursue the 
 former in canoes, attacking them with lances. 
 As soon as the animal turns upon them they dive 
 under water, being excellent swimmers. AYhen, 
 wounded with half a dozen spear thrusts, the 
 hippopotamus is getting weak, a man will catch 
 it by the tail, and while its attention is attracted 
 in front by the movements of the canoes, he will 
 kill it by stabbing it in the ribs with a big knife. 
 The riverside Mobanghi is an excellent waterman. 
 
 The paddles of a native canoe on the Welle are 
 small and short, fashioned like a leaf-shaped spear- 
 head, and not more than four feet long. The 
 paddleman uses them sitting on the edge of 
 the dug - out, facing forward, and without a 
 tholepin. On the Congo the paddle is seven or 
 
216 
 
 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 eight feet long, and is used standing up. The 
 boat in both cases is steered with a paddle by one 
 man sitting right at the stern. 
 
 Native riverside men are wonderfully clever 
 pilots, even on streams where they have never 
 been before. What appears to be their intuition 
 or instinct is really due to close observation. By 
 a ripple on the surface the native steersman will 
 locate the safe course for a boat in an intricate 
 
 A MISSION CANOE. 
 
 passage, and many other signs of nature are 
 at hand to help him in his craft. He reads the 
 river as we read a book, and is as keen and quick 
 as a Mississippi pilot on the look-out for " snags." 
 On the 5th of May I was again attacked by 
 fever, and becoming convalescent on the 7th of 
 July I left by the steamer Florida to return to 
 Stanley Pool, my three years' agreement with the 
 State having expired. On my way down to the 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 217 
 
 coast I visited the mission station at Upoto, but 
 was disappointed to find that the Rev. William 
 Forfeit had gone home on leave. However, his 
 locnm-tenens, Mr. Smith, who had not been long- 
 in Africa, received me with open hospitality, such 
 as is only known in countries where the passage 
 of a white man through a lonely station is a great 
 event in the life of those settled there. 
 
 Touching at different stations on my way 
 down, I had the opportunity of seeing the boys' 
 colony at Nouvelle Anvers, a settlement under 
 Roman Catholic direction, where some five 
 hundred boys of all ages are educated and taught 
 a trade. Their training is carried on under a 
 system of military discipline ; I saw them on 
 parade one morning, being put through their drill 
 exercise, and the way in which they went through 
 their facings did great credit to their instructors 
 and to themselves. 
 
 Leaving Bangala, I was attacked by dysentery, 
 the discomforts of which were increased by my 
 confinement to the narrow limits of a small and 
 overcrowded steamer. At Bolobo the Rev. Mr. 
 Grenfell, one of the oldest missionaries on the 
 Congo, with Mr. Clarke, whom I had met at 
 Lukolela three years previously, came on board 
 to see me. 
 
 Reaching Stanley Pool on the 21st, after a delay 
 of five days, occasioned by our having to wait for 
 
 32 
 
218 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 carriers, we started down the caravan road to 
 reach the then terminus of the railway, which 
 was open as far as Inkissi Eiver. On my arrival 
 at Boma, Mr. Underwood, Acting British Vice- 
 Consul, hearing of my arrival, insisted that I 
 should be his guest while I remained there, and 
 would take no denial. His solicitude for my com- 
 fort was only equalled by his personal kindness, 
 for which I would here pay a tribute of most 
 grateful thanks. 
 
 BANGALA NATIVE SMOKING HEJIP. 
 
CHAPTEE X 
 
 The Government of the Congo Free State — Local Administra- 
 tion at Boma — The Consultative Committee — The State 
 Officers — Districts and their commissioners — Native 
 Headships — Department of Justice — Coinage — War 
 Office — Native Service — Eegulations the same as in the 
 Belgian Army — The medical service — Powers of the State 
 medical officers — The Eed Cross Society — The Missions — 
 The Scheut Fathers — Missionary newspapers — Methods 
 of the workers — Probationary period — Protestant Missions 
 wealthier than the Eoman Catholic — English taught to 
 the natives — Publication of native grammars. 
 
 80 far I have endeavoured to describe as fully 
 as possible my personal experiences and 
 observations in Equatorial Africa, hoping 
 to interest my readers in those outlandish places 
 and strange races by depicting, with a free use 
 of local colour, some of the most remarkable scenes 
 and scenery of so-called savage life. 
 
 We find in these remote regions native warriors 
 loyal to their chiefs, cannibals far less cruel than 
 the name suggests. Pigmies who are mighty 
 
220 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 hunters, and honest according to their lights; 
 while danger as a rule is disregarded, and the 
 unwritten laws of hospitality are in full force 
 among the aborigines. 
 
 We move, in short, in a land of wonders, and 
 it is but natural that we should desire some know- 
 ledge of its present connection with the white 
 man, into whose control the country of the Congo 
 and its people have passed. Let me, then, supple- 
 ment my story with a few statistics which may be 
 relied upon as authentic. 
 
 In close connection with the Central Grovern- 
 ment, which has its seat at Brussels, and acting 
 under its orders, is the Local Grovernment, whose 
 administrative centre is at Boma. At the head 
 of this is the Governor-General, who represents 
 the sovereign authority within the State, and is 
 charged with the execution of such measures as 
 are decreed by the Central Authority. 
 
 The Governor- General is assisted by a Deputy- 
 Governor-General, a State Inspector, a Secretary- 
 General, and one or more directors. These, 
 together with the Judge of Appeal, the Commis- 
 sioner of Landed Estates, and a certain number 
 of members, not exceeding five, form a Committee, 
 whose opinion is taken by the Governor-General 
 on all matters of public interest which it is pro- 
 posed to introduce, or adopt, or to lay before the 
 Central Government. 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 221 
 
 The Governor-General resides at Bonia. In 
 case of his absence or indisposition, he is replaced 
 by the Deputy-Governor, the State Inspector, or 
 a locum-tenens appointed by the Sovereign ; or in 
 a case where no locum-tenens has been appointed, 
 the functions of a Governor-General are exercised 
 by an Executive Committee, consisting of the 
 Secretary-General, the directors, the Head of the 
 War Office, and members elected by the Sovereign. 
 
 The various Government offices are : — 
 
 1. The Department of Justice. 
 
 2. The Department of Roads, Marine, and Public 
 Works. 
 
 3. The Commissariat Department, for the veri- 
 fication of accounts, the administrative control of 
 stores, etc. 
 
 4. The Board of Agriculture and Industry. 
 6. The Department of Defensive Works. 
 
 6. The War Office. 
 
 7. The Department of Finance. 
 
 The territory is divided into districts, each 
 under a commissioner ; some of the outlying 
 districts are subdivided into zones, under heads 
 of zones, who in certain cases report directly to 
 the Governor, but send duplicates of their corre- 
 spondence to the district commissioners, under 
 whose authority they remain. 
 
222 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 The decree of the 6th of October 1891, recog- 
 nised the vaHdity of the native chieftainships, 
 placed under the control of the district commis- 
 sioners or their delegates. Certain of these chiefs 
 have residents appointed to them, invested with 
 diplomatic powers. 
 
 It is interesting to note that in 1896 the white 
 population numbered 1,325, including 839 Belgians, 
 88 English, 83 Portuguese, 79 Scandinavians, 49 
 Italians, 45 Americans, 42 French, 39 Dutch, 21 
 Germans, 12 Danes, 3 Swiss, 2 Austrians, 2 
 Spaniards, and 21 persons of other nationalities. 
 
 Candidates for the Civil Service are nominated 
 either by the Sovereign, the Secretary of State, 
 or the Governor-General, after a medical examina- 
 tion by Government physicians. 
 
 In connection with the Congo Free State, 
 various medals and decorations have been issued 
 for services rendered both in Africa and in Europe. 
 
 The Department of Justice consists of a Court of 
 First Instance, with jurisdiction over the whole of 
 the Lower Congo. Crimes committed in the 
 Upper Congo by Europeans of a nature punishable 
 with death are also brought before this tribunal. 
 The Court of Appeal sits at Boma; and besides 
 these there are a number of territorial or district 
 tribunals. Over all is the Supreme Council, 
 sitting at Brussels. 
 
 The coinage is similar to the Belgian, with this 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 223 
 
 exception, that the bronze coins, pieces of ten, five, 
 two, and one centimes, are pierced in the centre, 
 to facilitate their transport by the natives, to whom 
 pockets are miknown. The postal service is similar 
 to our own, the Congo State forming part of the 
 Universal Postal Union. 
 
 The AVar Office controls the army, which is 
 now a purely national one. At first the Govern- 
 ment were obliged to recruit black troops outside 
 the limits of the State, from Zanzibar, Lagos, 
 Sierra Leone, Accra, Elmina, &c. These were 
 generally enlisted for three years, and were paid 
 a franc and a quarter a day, in addition to their 
 food, medical treatment, and free journeys to and 
 from their homes. A Eoyal decree of the 30th of 
 July, 1891, determined that the national army 
 should be recruited, apart from volunteered ser- 
 vices, by annual levies, within the limits fixed by 
 the Sovereign ; the Governor-General marks out 
 the districts where the levy shall be made, as well 
 as the proportion of men to be furnished by each 
 locality, while details are arranged by the district 
 commissioner, in consultation with native chiefs. 
 
 The time of active service is five years, and for 
 two years more the men are in the reserve. Their 
 equipment and keep is provided by the State ; the 
 pay is twenty-one centimes a day, and besides 
 this the married men receive food rations for their 
 wives. At the end of their time of service the 
 
224 
 
 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 men and their families are entitled to be sent home 
 at the cost of the State, and receive special pro- 
 tection from the authorities. 
 
 The volunteers recruited in each district for a 
 term of less than four years are at once attached 
 to the company in garrison in their particular 
 district, except when the Grovernor- General directs 
 
 CONGO HUT. 
 
 otherwise. Eecruits enrolled in accordance with 
 the decree of 1H91, as well as volunteers enlisted 
 for more than four years, are sent into camps for 
 instruction, where they are drilled before being 
 added to the strength of the existing companies. 
 These camps are controlled by an officer appointed 
 by the Government to inspect them. 
 
 The regulations in the drilling of the Congo 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 225 
 
 troops are the same as those prevaihng in the 
 Belgian army. The word of command is given 
 in French. Special attention is devoted to rifle 
 practice, and prizes are given for proficiency in 
 target-shooting. The Albini rifle and its short 
 bayonet are in use among the black soldiers ; a 
 certain nmnber of the 1889 Mauser rifles have 
 been allotted to the Europeans. 
 
 Soldiers build their own huts. In many places 
 these are now made of brick, instead of mud as 
 was formerly the case. The married men occupy 
 special quarters. 
 
 The mess system was tried among the troops 
 of the Congo Free State, but experience proved 
 it to be unpractical. The black soldier prefers to 
 cook his own food, or to have it cooked by his 
 wife if he is married ; so that the system of 
 supplying the men with their rations separately 
 has now become general. 
 
 Lately military bands have been introduced, and 
 the natives have displayed considerable proficiency 
 upon brass instruments, fife, flute, and drum. 
 
 The medical service has been reorganised. 
 Doctors of the second class now rank as lieu- 
 tenants, and doctors of the first class as captains. 
 The State medical officers have to give their 
 services without fee to the officials of the Grovern- 
 ment and to natives. To private individuals, and 
 to Europeans foreign to the administration, the 
 
 33 
 
226 
 
 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 charge is one pound sterling a visit, this being the 
 fee that rules throughout the West Coast of Africa. 
 There are now fourteen doctors in the Govern- 
 ment service, and besides these, the railway has 
 its own medical staff. The Government medical 
 officers have very considerable powers. There is 
 no limit to the quantity of drugs which they are 
 allowed to order from Brussels ; they practice with 
 
 DISPENSARY AT BOMA. 
 
 complete liberty upon their own responsibility, and 
 are quite independent of the station or district 
 commissioner, except from a disciplinary or depart- 
 mental point of view. Moreover, the doctor is the 
 final judge for exemption from service or furlough ; 
 and he alone decides whether an official is to be 
 sent to the coast to recruit his health. 
 
 In addition to drugs and medical stores, every 
 doctor has at his disposal a certain quantity 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 227 
 
 of claret, port, madeira, champagne, preserves, 
 biscuits, essence of beef, arrowroot, &c., M'hicb he 
 distributes among the sick according to their needs. 
 These provisions are known in the Congo by the 
 name of "medical comforts." Except at Boma, 
 which maintains a pharmacy with a properly 
 qualified chemist, the doctors are also dispensers. 
 
 The Society of the Congo Red Cross was founded 
 in January 1889, for the relief of the sick and 
 wounded, both European and native, in times of 
 peace and war. It has four bungalows at Boma, 
 very comfortably furnished and fitted up, and 
 others are being prepared at various stations. 
 These bungalows, which have a very neat and home- 
 like appearance, are fitted for two persons, and each 
 contains two rooms. At Boma there is also a 
 military hospital, resembling in every respect the 
 most modern and best appointed sanitary institu- 
 tions in Europe. 
 
 The first Belgian Roman Catholic Mission dates 
 from the end of 1888. At present a hundred and 
 thirty-seven missionaries of both sexes are preach- 
 ing the gospel to the blacks. At the head of these 
 are two bishops, one of whom acts as vicar-apostolic. 
 These missionaries, at the lowest computation, 
 minister to fifty thousand neophytes, catechumens, 
 and aspirants, in at least sixteen villages formed 
 entirely of Christians. There are nearly forty 
 schools, in addition to an orphanage, where more 
 
•228 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 than five thousand children receive a technical 
 education. 
 
 The Scheut Fathers have a steamer, the Notre 
 Dcmie du Perpetuel Secours, which serves their 
 missions on the upper river ; while the Tanganika 
 Fathers own two sailing vessels. 
 
 Bach congregation possesses and publishes a 
 review in which the letters and reports of the 
 missionaries are printed. The periodical of the 
 Jesuit Fathers, the Pj-egis Historiques, has been 
 some time in existence, having been founded some 
 forty years ago by the BoUandists. It issues an 
 edition in Flemish under the title of Congo-Indie, 
 which is published at Louvain. The Scheut 
 Fathers own the Missio7is en Chine et au Congo, 
 published in Flemish and French ; the Mechlin 
 White Friars have their Missions d'Afrique, also 
 published in both languages ; the Trappists have 
 the Messager. The Missions and the Pregis also 
 publish letters from the Sisters. 
 
 The missionaries' first work is to instil a love of 
 labour into the negroes, for they very properly 
 maintain that work imparts a humanising influence 
 essential to Christianity. The natives thus acquire 
 some sense of human dignity and responsibility, 
 and when by this means they have been made 
 ashamed of their former idleness, savagery, and 
 ignorance, and their understanding opens, the 
 first seeds of religion are ready to be sown. 
 
TYPE OP NATIVE. 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 231 
 
 The State hands over to the missionaries large 
 numbers of abandoned and vagabond children and 
 others rescued from slavery, who are all sent to 
 technical schools. Natives who are Christians 
 generally marry and settle in the neighbourhood of 
 the missions, thus forming the nucleus of some 
 exclusively Christian villages. The future of the 
 
 A COBNBB OF THE STATION OP NOUVELLE ANVEKS. 
 
 Congo missions really lies in the education of the 
 young natives; it is these, the missionaries say, 
 who will regenerate Central Africa. The adult 
 black is very difficult to convert. The animal, 
 bestial nature of his fetichism appeals to him in 
 the highest degree ; and above all he cannot be 
 brought to admit the truth of monogamous 
 
232 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 principles. His womankind, kept in a subject 
 condition as instruments of pleasure and toil, 
 represent to him a source of work and conse- 
 quent profit, so that to renounce his right of 
 ownership in them all seems to him equivalent 
 to ruin. 
 
 Those who are converted are carefully watched, 
 and kept closely in hand, by their spiritual fathers, 
 who only admit adults among their neophytes 
 after extreme precautions. They have to undergo 
 a probationary period of not less than four years, 
 and, like the catechumens of the first centuries of 
 the Church, they are not allowed to enter the 
 chapel during this preliminary term ; they may 
 only kneel down outside during Mass, and are 
 entrusted to catechists, who instruct them inces- 
 santly. Above all, they are not permitted to be 
 idle. 
 
 The aim of the missionaries is not to turn these 
 negroes into imitation white men, but into native 
 Christians. They are not loaded with over-much 
 learning, but are brought up to a trade, and are 
 able just to read and write. Married couples are 
 taught agriculture, but it is hard work to induce 
 the man to till the soil, imbued as he is with 
 the traditional sentiment which prescribes that 
 all the hard work of his tribe shall be done by 
 women. 
 
 The first Protestant Mission was established in 
 

 O 
 
 84 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 235 
 
 1877 by English Baptists. Two years later the 
 Livingstone Inland Mission took root, and these 
 were followed by the London Missionary Society, 
 which had two stations on the Tanganika, now 
 transferred to British territory. Afterwards came 
 the Swedish Lutheran Mission (1881) ; the 
 American Baptist Missionary Union (1883) ; Bishop 
 Taylor's Self-supporting Mission (1886); the Congo 
 Balolo Mission (1889) ; the International Mis- 
 sionary Alliance (1889) ; the American Southern 
 Presbyterian Mission ; Arnot's Scotch Presbyterian 
 Mission (1891) ; and the Seventh-Day Baptists 
 (1893). 
 
 In all, the Protestant Missions occupy fifty-six 
 stations, served by two hundred and twenty-one 
 persons of both sexes. Their means are far greater 
 than those of the Eoman Catholic establishments. 
 Dr. Guinness's little Congo Mission at Balolo alone 
 has an income of £10,644 per annum, and supports 
 thirty-one missionaries. 
 
 These Protestant missionaries teach their people 
 to read and write, and have established a printing 
 press, which publishes a newspaper in the Congo 
 language. A few of the schools now teach French, 
 but the only European language generally taught 
 is English, not one of the Protestant Missions 
 being of Belgian origin. The Protestant Missions 
 have three steamers — the Goodwill, belonging to 
 English Baptists ; the Henry Eeed, the property 
 
236 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 of American Baptists ; and the Pioneer, belonging 
 to the Congo Balolo Mission. 
 
 The missionaries apply themselves zealously to 
 the study of native languages, and have published 
 a number of Congolese grammars. 
 
 MISSION OF BBBBU. 
 
CHAPTEE XI 
 
 The geology of the Congo — Prehistoric axe-heads — Fauna — 
 The gorilla and the chimpanzee — African elephant — 
 State decrees regarding elephant-shooting — The tusks — 
 Ehinoceros — Birds of prey — Eeptiles — Domestic animals 
 — Fish — Methods of tin natives in catching fish — Flora 
 — Equatorial vegetation — The banana — Manioc introduced 
 from America — Other edible vegetables — Tinctorial plants 
 — Eubber — Textile plants — Cocoa-trees — A relic of 
 Stanley's experiments — Tobacco, and smoking customs — 
 Barter. 
 
 J I THE geology of the Congo is not without 
 interest. Its chief metals, found on the 
 
 1 
 
 surface, are lead, zinc, mercury, platinum, 
 iron, including many ferruginous minerals, and 
 sometimes gold. Of the last it is said with truth 
 that this has not yet been found with absolute 
 certainty ; but explorers have often seen it in the 
 hands of riatives, especially on the Katanga. The 
 resemblance of the geological formation of certain 
 regions of the Congo to that of the gold-bearing 
 districts of South Africa lead me to believe that 
 
 237 
 
238 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 gold mines will sooner or later be discovered. The 
 districts that give most promise in this direction 
 are the Katanga and the neighbourhood of the 
 Tanganika. 
 
 North of the Momvus country, on the right bank 
 of the Bomokandi, rises Mount Tena, a huge rock 
 of volcanic origin. Around this mountain are 
 found prehistoric axe-heads, made of pure, polished 
 hematite iron. The natives find them just below 
 the surface of the soil, and think them to be 
 charms of great value. They have a widespread 
 belief in their healing virtue, and rub with them 
 any part of the. body affected by illness, regarding 
 them as magic talismans that have dropped at 
 some time from the skies. Curiously enough, I 
 was unable to find any trace of these or similar 
 relics in any other part of the \\hole of the Welle 
 district. Dr. Junker mentions them in his 
 "Travels in Africa," and suggests that in remote 
 times workshops existed at Mount Tena, where 
 these axe-heads were manufactured, and whence 
 they were distributed to the surrounding parts. 
 
 Most mammals are found in the Congo. The 
 monkey tribe is represented by many varieties, the 
 anthropoid class being the most interesting. As a 
 rule monkeys are graminivorous, but they some- 
 times feast upon flesh, and play havoc with the 
 birds' nests ; while baboons vary their diet with 
 animal, vegetable, and even insect food. 
 
GOEILLA KILLED AT STANLEY FALLS. 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 241 
 
 The gorilla inhabits the forest regions of Western 
 Africa ; his haunts are between two degrees north 
 and live degrees south. This ape, a wanderer by 
 choice and habit, never attacks man without 
 provocation, though certainly one of the most 
 savage of his kind. The chimpanzee, which has 
 often been confused with the gorilla but is not so 
 large, has been seen in almost every part of the 
 Congo — in the Mayombe, on the banks of the 
 Welle, in the Manyema where it is called the soJw, 
 and round the region of the Equator. Among 
 natives in its neighbourhood the existence of this 
 ape has given rise to many legends. They assert 
 that the chimpanzee is a very wild man, that it 
 builds huts, and that it is to be found in great 
 herds between the Congo and Ngiri rivers. 
 
 I am told that the brain of the chimpanzee is 
 the one seat of thought among the brute creation 
 which most nearly resembles that of man. From 
 actual observation I can say that I have found the 
 chimpanzee by far the most intelligent and most 
 sociable of apes. 
 
 The African elephant is larger and more massive 
 than his Indian cousin. His head is flatter, his 
 ears are much bigger, his teeth more developed, 
 his withers further from the ground. This majestic 
 animal abounds everywhere, but they congregate 
 especially towards the north. At one time, it is 
 said, elephants were distributed from the Mediter- 
 
 35 
 
242 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 ranean to the Cape, but they have been gradually 
 driven back from the Sahara in a southerly 
 direction for the past two thousand years, while 
 at the Cape they have been exterminated more 
 recently. 
 
 In the Congo they still exist in their thousands ; 
 but, breeding slowly, they would soon die out if 
 energetic measures had not been taken for their 
 preservation. Yet, although natural and artificial 
 preserves exist in great numbers, by far the most 
 efficacious method of ensuring their survival 
 would be to domesticate them. The fact that the 
 African elephant is to be found, and will thrive, 
 in nearly all the great zoological gardens suffices 
 to show that this is possible ; and I would 
 strongly recommend the importation of elephants 
 from India, such as are trained in capturing their 
 fellows, and also of the mahouts who are expert in 
 driving them. 
 
 The average weight of the tusk of an African 
 elephant is about sixty-five pounds, although many 
 of them are much smaller. Lieutenant Hanolet, 
 for instance (now Commissioner-General Hanolet), 
 killed five elephants some years ago in one day's 
 hunting at Zongo on the Ubanghi. The aggregate 
 weight of ivory carried by these five amounted to 
 no more than twenty-two pounds ! It is only fair 
 to add that the explorer killed these brutes merely 
 with the object of suppressing a herd which had 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 243 
 
 been in the habit of trooping down every night 
 and ravaging the plantations around the station. 
 
 There is no immediate danger of the extirpation 
 of the elephant. One must have travelled in 
 Africa to realise the enormous herds of these 
 
 NATIVE KNIVES. 
 
 animals which have their home in equatorial 
 forests. The woods in every direction show tracks 
 marking their pathways with signs of their 
 turbulence, and several explorers have seen large 
 troops of them thronging the bush in every part 
 
244 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 of the Congo territory. Moreover, as I have said, 
 these elephants are very strictly preserved. A 
 royal decree of the 25th of July, 1889, forbids 
 elephant-shooting in any part of the State without 
 a license or special permission; and in addition to 
 this there are close districts and close seasons, 
 fixed by the Grovernor-General and enforced by 
 the district commissioners. Although this cannot 
 affect the hunters among natives of more distant 
 regions, the primitive nature of their weapons 
 precludes the possibility of anything like wholesale 
 slaughter, while the actual number of elephants 
 killed by white sportsmen does not amount to more 
 than one hundred head in a year. On the other 
 hand, there is always a danger that the timid beasts 
 may be pursued until they are frightened into seek- 
 ing a more remote refuge in less accessible lands. 
 
 The African rhinoceros, clumsy and uncouth, 
 has two horns, differing in this particular from the 
 Asiatic, which carries but a single horn, and his 
 front weapon of offence is sometimes as much 
 as twenty-eight inches long. This huge beast 
 frequents marshy jungles, and is met with in pairs 
 or small companies on the Katanga, Manyema, 
 and M'Bomu. Like the elephant, and second only 
 to it in size among land animals, the rhinoceros 
 marks the distinction between the fauna of the 
 forest region and of the grass plains surrounding 
 it on the north, east, and south, in which countries 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 247 
 
 are found the lion, giraffe, zebra, and other 
 creatures unknown in the woods and forests of 
 Western Africa. 
 
 The birds of prey include the eagle, vulture, 
 and hawk ; and the falcon and owl, which are the 
 worst enemies of smaller beasts and birds ; besides 
 these the parrot, heron, crane, ibis, sparrow, 
 pelican, duck, and many gorgeously feathered birds 
 whose names I do not know are to be found in all 
 parts of the country. 
 
 Among the reptiles the most remarkable are 
 the boas and pythons, whose bite is not 
 poisonous ; the long green river-snakes ; the 
 spitting snake, whose saliva, if it reaches the 
 eye endangers the sight ; and a most repulsive 
 serpent known as the two-headed snake, which 
 resembles a gigantic earthworm, in that it is 
 difficult to distinguish between its head and tail. 
 Crocodiles are met with in great numbers in nearly 
 every river. Natives are very fond of their flesh, 
 though they can seldom taste it, as a crocodile will 
 sink if mortally wounded ; and they have no 
 effective way of killing him on land, unless they 
 happen to catch him napping on the bank and 
 succeed in spearing him. In place of a tongue 
 his mouth is furnished with a small valve, which 
 just shuts up with the gullet. Frogs and toads, 
 the latter of great size, are among the useful 
 insect-eaters of the Congo basin. 
 
248 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 Domestic animals are for the most part imported. 
 The horse is of httle use, especially in up-country 
 districts, where there is little fodder, and where 
 the bush is so thick as to render riding rather a 
 trouble than a pleasure. ' Asses are taken over 
 generally from the Canary Isles, and are found 
 more serviceable, though the same problem of 
 finding food for them presents itself. There are 
 very few head of cattle in the district, a fact 
 ascribed to the presence of the tsetse fly, whose 
 bite is death to them. But on this point I must 
 most emphatically differ, for I have never seen or 
 heard of a tsetse fly in the whole region. Quite 
 another reason, simple and sufficient, decides that 
 it cannot be a stock-rearing country, a reason 
 which is the practical answer to the old question, 
 " Where can fodder be found ? " Other domestic 
 animals are the goat, sheep, dog, and cat ; and 
 there is quite a large stock of poultry. 
 
 Mention should also be made of the jigger, an 
 insect that was no doubt imported from Brazil in 
 the old slave-trading days. It creeps under the 
 skin, generally at the nail, and is hardly noticeable 
 except for the irritation it causes. There it lays 
 its eggs, and, if not taken in time, causes blood- 
 poisoning. At first the natives, not under- 
 standing the nature of this pest, died by scores, 
 and so the jigger was established, and spread 
 across the continent as far as Lake Nyassa, 
 
36 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 251 
 
 whence it may reach Zanzibar, and even pass 
 over to India. 
 
 Fish of all kinds abound in the rivers, and the 
 natives show great ingenuity in their methods of 
 catching them. To kill large fish they sometimes 
 employ harpoons, or even arrows, and their skill in 
 spearing them is most remarkable. They seldom 
 
 IIETHOD OF FISHING OX THE CONGO. 
 
 fish with a line, but frequently spread various 
 kinds of nets, stretching these right across the 
 river, suspended on stakes driven into the mud. 
 On the Kwango, where spearing is in high favour, 
 ingenious triple-headed or two-headed arrows are 
 often to be met with, made for the special purpose 
 of spearing fish. 
 
262 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 The barbarous process of poisoning the water is 
 not unknown to natives of the Congo. To this 
 end they employ different vegetable juices, which 
 have the effect of , stupefying the fish, so that they 
 rise to the surface and float down upon the stream 
 to be caught with ease by those who are too lazy 
 to angle for them. In the case of small streams 
 these natural poachers sometimes construct two 
 dams, divert the course of the stream above the 
 upper dam, and let it run off through the lower, 
 capturing the fish in the drained space between. 
 There are also certain fish that lie low in the mud 
 of dried lagoons, awaiting the return of the rainy 
 season. These are dug out by the natives, and 
 when cleansed and cooked make good food. 
 
 Near the Equator vegetation does not undergo 
 a period of regular repose, as it does in more 
 temperate climes where the effect of the seasons 
 is felt. Tropical growth is uninterrupted, and few 
 of the forest plants lose their leaves. 
 
 Among food-producing plants the banana de- 
 serves special notice. The banana-tree reaches to 
 a height of twelve to fifteen feet, unfolding its 
 magnificent pale green leaves, to be perhaps ruth- 
 lessly torn to shreds by the forest storm and 
 replaced at once by new shoots. The flower 
 appears at the end of eight or nine months, and 
 resembles a long-shaped red cabbage, the stalk of 
 which, as the leaves and bracts drop off, often 
 
A LIANA IN THE LAND OF UMANGI. 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 255 
 
 carries as many as a hundred bananas, while the 
 stem bends under their weight. When the fruit 
 ripens the tree dies, being at once replaced by a 
 number of offshoots, which in their turn develop 
 into fruit-bearing trees. 
 
 The cultivation of the banana is easier than 
 that of the manioc, for the tree requires very little 
 attention beyond the cutting of the fruit when it 
 is ripe. Its value as food is appreciated not less 
 by the Europeans than by the natives. A banana 
 orchard is at once planted in every new station, 
 and the shoots, roughly torn off and topped, take 
 root as soon as they are set, and give very little 
 trouble till it is time to gather the fruit. 
 
 In the Congo the plantain banana is preferred to 
 the silver sort. The first is a vegetable, and is 
 eaten green, either fried or boiled ; the second is a 
 dessert fruit, eaten only at a certain stage of ripe- 
 ness. Excellent cider maybe made from bananas. 
 
 The manioc was introduced by American traders 
 perhaps as long ago as two centuries. The natives 
 of the coast made it their favourite food, and 
 carried it eastward with them. It does not require 
 great labour in its cultivation, but the first neces- 
 sity towards a good crop is a rich soil, such as is 
 often found in the fresh clearings of forests. It is 
 eaten raw, after the husks have been removed, or it 
 ma}^ be boiled, and when thus treated resembles 
 the turnip. 
 
256 THB LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 Other edible vegetables are the sweet potato, 
 beans, arrowroot, tapioca, Indian corn, millet, 
 other farinaceous plants or products, and the 
 sugar-cane in small quantities. 
 
 Oranges, lemons, and pineapples are found in 
 plenty, and the papaw, a fruit that was also intro- 
 duced from America. The trunk of this tree 
 sometimes reaches a height of thirty-six feet. 
 The fruit, which resembles a small melon, is 
 esteemed a very valuable food, especially for in- 
 valids. Its leaves can be used as soap. 
 
 As this is in no way intended to be an exhaus- 
 tive scientific work, a full catalogue of all the 
 produce of this fertile country would encroach 
 upon space reserved for other matter. I there- 
 fore briefly record the existence of such condi- 
 ments as red pepper, ginger, and varieties of 
 vanilla ; also of medicinal plants, such as chin- 
 chona and eucalyptus, the former largely ex- 
 ported to Dutch settlements. Palm oil and 
 cocoanut oil are to be obtained in quantities, 
 and are much used by the natives for cooking 
 purposes. 
 
 It is found that nearly all tropical plants yield 
 colour in a lesser or greater degree. The usual 
 tints thus extracted are yellow, fawn, or red, which 
 explains the rarity of blue or green in native dress 
 and ornaments, to which I have already referred. 
 Indigo is an exception to this rule, but it is seldom 
 
YOUNG COFFEE-TBEES SHADED BY BANANAS. 
 
 37 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 259 
 
 put to any home use by those who cultivate the 
 plant for the European market. 
 
 Caoutchouc, or india-rubber, is a fruitful source 
 of income. It is collected from the natives in 
 large quantities, and is sent to Europe to be 
 manufactured, chiefly in Antwerp. 
 
 Of the textile plants the veritable giant of the 
 grove is the baobab. The widest tree in the world, 
 it is indigenous to tropical West Africa ; in the 
 Congo it is met with in large groves at certain 
 places, such as Boma and Kinchasa, but it dis- 
 appears beyond the Kassai. Its wood is soft, and 
 useless for any practical purposes, but the bark 
 contains fibres that are valuable for making rope 
 and paper, and also yields an antifebrile drug. 
 The flower is very handsome ; the long-shaped 
 fruit, which rather reminds one of a rat hung up 
 by its tail, serves for several purposes ; it contains 
 a sort of acidulated pulp, which is employed in 
 cases of fever ; dried, it burns like tinder, while 
 its shells serve for the manufacture of various 
 utensils. 
 
 African forests are of great value as a supple- 
 ment to the woods of Europe. Only those who 
 have seen them can imagine the appearance of 
 these tracts of trees, abandoned to the exuberance 
 of torrid intertropical nature. Many sorts grow 
 in a very intermingled state ; some dominate 
 others, but these master-growths are rarely found 
 
260 TiJ/v LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 grouped in one place. The result is that in order 
 to cut down a number of trunks of the same kind 
 one must cover a very wide area. This fact is 
 perhaps one of the best safeguards against a 
 wholesale destruction of African timber. 
 
 Three good things come from the Congo — coffee, 
 cocoa, and tobacco. The Belgian Government 
 has established vast coffee plantations, and the 
 commerce in this article now takes a high place in 
 the returns of the country, having worked its way 
 into the markets of the chief trading ports. 
 
 An interesting story is told of the introduction 
 of cocoa into the Congo. In 1887 Lieutenant 
 Liebrechts, then commanding the station at Leo- 
 poldville, one day saw a shrub which attracted his 
 attention, as differing from the surrounding plants. 
 Having cleared away all encroaching growth, he 
 discovered to his surprise a large fruit growing 
 straight out of the trunk. The shrub was a cocoa- 
 tree, which, together with some coffee plants and 
 fruit-trees in its vicinity, was a remnant of some 
 experiments made in the time of Stanley's early 
 expedition. The fruit was carefully gathered, the 
 plant jealously watched, and the seed sown ; the 
 results of this chance experiment may be seen 
 in quite 80,000 full-grown cocoa-trees at present 
 flourishing in the plantations of the Upper Congo. 
 
 Elsewhere I have made mention of the smoking 
 customs and the methods of preparing tobacco 
 
H 
 P 
 
 I— I 
 
 M 
 
 m 
 > 
 < 
 
 •A 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 263 
 
 among various tribes. These differ with the 
 several locahties, and I have not space to dilate 
 upon them all. Everything is used on the Congo 
 for making a pipe that can possibly suggest itself, 
 such as antelope horns, ivory, calabashes. To 
 make a pipe out of a calabash, however large it 
 may be, holes are bored at the two ends. In one 
 is fixed a little clay cone, which serves as a bowl, 
 and the smoke is drawn through the other end of 
 the fruit without any stem. These pipes, when 
 they belong to a negro of quality, are decorated 
 with brass-headed nails. When an antelope horn 
 is used for smoking purposes, the wide end is 
 applied to the mouth, and the operation of smoking 
 through one of these is more productive of energy 
 than of elegance. 
 
 The natives do not smoke their pipes through ; 
 that would be too laborious and painful an opera- 
 tion. As a rule the chief lights the tobacco at a 
 glowing brazier, takes a few puffs, and the pipe is 
 then passed round the circle in order of prece- 
 dence. The consequent spectacle is amusing. 
 The man whose turn it is to take a draw is eager 
 to lose none of his rights ; with surprising vigour 
 he expands his lungs to their greatest extent, and 
 fills his nose and eyes with the powerful fumes, 
 which make him cough till the tears run down his 
 cheeks, as his neighbour holds out both hands 
 anxious to lose none of his share. While all this 
 
264 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 takes place with ceremonious formality, the 
 smoking party seem as serious as if they were 
 celebrating some mysterious rites, so that the 
 impassiveness of their faces adds to the absurdity 
 of the scene. 
 
 I did not hear of any natives who chew tobacco. 
 In Sankuru, at Stanley Pool, and in the Lower 
 Congo there are some who take snufi ; their snuff- 
 boxes are tiny calabashes, or little caskets of wood 
 or ivory. 
 
 The chief articles of exchange are imitation 
 pearls, iinported from Italy, Bohemia, Bavaria, 
 and France. Other articles of barter include tin- 
 ware, cutlery, salt, brass, copper pipes, buttons, 
 needles, thread, cotton vests, tin whistles, musical- 
 boxes, trumpets, old-fashioned rifles, blank cart- 
 ridges for use at festivals and funerals, umbrellas, 
 pottery, matches, candles, and all kinds of clothes 
 except trousers. British uniforms are in great 
 demand. Up-country a traveller pays his way 
 with common red or other coloured handkerchiefs, 
 while in some of the more remote places cowries 
 have been known to form a sort of currency. 
 
38 
 
CHAPTEK XII 
 
 The transport of goods on the Congo — Native deserters — 
 Railways in Africa — A wonderful piece of engineering — 
 Railway lines in prospect — The schemes of the Congo 
 Government — An express from Alexandria to the Cape. 
 
 ANEW colony, however bright and promising 
 its prospects, can only be started and built 
 up by degrees on such foundations as exist 
 and with the materials that are at hand for its 
 establishment, and it necessarily follows that 
 progress during the early years of its history can 
 be but slow and gradual. 
 
 The first condition of success in such an under- 
 taking is the provision of ample and adequate 
 means of transport. When goods have to be 
 carried for hundreds of miles on the heads of 
 porters, along bad bush-tracks, and when it is 
 quite impossible to guarantee their ultimate 
 arrival and probable condition, it will be easily 
 
 267 
 
268 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 realised that a great proportion of the profits 
 that should find their way into the pockets of 
 the trader are consumed in the expenses of 
 native transport and by damage to goods. Of 
 course where water - ways are available, this 
 difficulty is in part already overcome, and in 
 this respect the Congo Free State is fortunately 
 constituted by nature, some of the up-country 
 districts having a network of navigable streams. 
 Unfortunately, however, this advantage is greatly 
 discounted by the fact that the six thousand odd 
 miles of rivers and streams discharge their waters 
 into the sea over a series of cataracts between 
 Matadi and Stanley Pool, or Leopoldville, where 
 the nature of the river renders all navigation 
 quite impossible for many miles ; while from 
 Matadi to Boma, where the ocean steamers 
 discharge their cargo, there is again clear passage 
 for vessels of large draught. 
 
 This series of cataracts, as may readily be 
 understood, was a constant impediment, hamper- 
 ing the work of the State, and a serious hindrance 
 to the commercial interests of the traders ; and to 
 this drawback may be ascribed the comparatively 
 slow development of the country in the early days 
 of its colonisation. 
 
 The district thus rendered minavigable — and 
 which was for a long period almost untraversed 
 — is a stretch of wild, mountainous highland. 
 
a 
 
 21 
 
 M 
 
 H 
 W 
 B 
 
 fi 
 H 
 l> 
 O 
 
 « 
 
 p 
 
 M 
 
 n 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 271 
 
 From the river banks on either side these 
 mountains rise sheer ; while the whole neighbour- 
 hood is covered with dense forests of enormous 
 trees, and very heavily overshadowed by thick 
 tropical vegetation, and tangled undergrowth. 
 Perilous descents and ascents had to be made, 
 and streams had to be forded, for often in the 
 height of rainy seasons the rush of a mountain 
 torrent played havoc with the rude bridges con- 
 trived by the natives. Often too a difficulty has 
 been experienced along the route in getting food 
 for the bearers, who think nothing of thro wing- 
 away their loads and bolting through the forests 
 to their villages many miles distant, if the food 
 available is not to their liking, or the work 
 becomes at all irksome. Once he is in the bush, 
 you have little chance of catching the recalcitrant 
 native, and may think yourself fortunate if he 
 does not steal the load he was entrusted with 
 into the bargain. The tracks by which these 
 goods had to be carried were no better than 
 indistinct native pathways, so that the trading- 
 overseer usually stood the double chance of 
 missing his way in the bush and of losing his 
 men by desertion. Altogether the difficulties to 
 be contended against in the transport of merchan- 
 dise were so great that we cannot wonder at the 
 Grovernment deciding, at all costs, to build a 
 railway between the points hitherto connected 
 
272 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 only by such uncertain links as these caravans 
 of porters. By this means they hoped to develop 
 traific along the rivers, and, one may say, the 
 lakes, for the effect and result of this two hundred 
 miles of railway was intended to be far-reaching 
 and substantial. 
 
 I remember coming across an odd copy of the 
 Qeogra'phical Journal one afternoon, when a 
 welcome batch of newspapers had turned up to 
 cheer my solitude and to raise my spirits, that 
 were dejected by a perpetual downpour of rain. 
 In this particular number I found an article on 
 " Eailways in Africa," by Major Darwin, which, 
 though written on general lines, had a particular 
 bearing on existing needs and circumstances. In 
 one short paragraph the author so aptly summed 
 up the Eailway Question of Africa, that I cannot 
 refrain from quoting it. I copied it out at the 
 time, but I regret not being able to give an exact 
 reference, as the paper disappeared among other 
 filched baggage. Major Darwin's remarks ran 
 thus: "To develop the traffic along the rivers 
 and on the lakes is the first stage of commercial 
 evolution in a continent like Africa. But it 
 cannot carry us very far. Africa is badly supplied 
 with navigable rivers, chiefly as a natural result 
 of the general formation of the land. The con- 
 tinent consists, broadly speaking, of a huge 
 plateau, and the rivers flowing off this plateau 
 
o 
 dj 
 
 o 
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 m 
 
 K 
 
 O 
 
 39 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 275 
 
 are obstructed by cataracts in exactly the places 
 where we most want to use them — that is, when 
 approaching the coasts. The second stage in the 
 commercial evolution will therefore be the con- 
 struction of railways with a view to supplement 
 this river traffic. Finally, no doubt, a further 
 stage will be reached, when railways will cut out 
 the rivers altogether. This last stage is, however, 
 so far off that we may neglect it for the present. 
 ... In going up this great stream (the Congo) 
 from the coast, we first traverse about 150 miles 
 of navigable water-way, and afterwards come to 
 some 200 miles of cataracts, through which 
 steamers cannot pass. Round this impediment 
 a railway is now being pushed. Then we enter 
 Stanley Pool, and from this point we have open 
 before us 7,000 miles of navigable water-way. 
 If this fact is correct, and if the population is 
 accurately marked on our maps, then tJtere is iiu 
 place ill all Afiica ivliere 200 miles of I'ailway may 
 he expected to pirocluce such viarked results.'' The 
 italics are mine, and I use them to draw special 
 attention to this most important statement. 
 
 The necessity for such a railway became more 
 and more obvious, quite apart from the fact that 
 Stanley, with his customary far-sightedness in 
 matters pertaining to colonial welfare, alluded to 
 the railway as a sine qua non in his report to the 
 Belgian Government, but the lack of adequate 
 
276 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 funds delayed all further negotiations for some 
 time. 
 
 Meanwhile a syndicate was formed of Man- 
 chester merchants, who decided to build the 
 railway at their own expense, to be worked for 
 their own profit, if Stanley could get them a 
 concession from the State. This would not at 
 the time have presented any serious difficulties ; 
 but, fortunately for the State, the syndicate 
 collapsed on technical grounds, and further work 
 in this matter was then carried on by the Belgian 
 Grovernment and people. A survey party was sent 
 out under command of Captain Cambier, in 1887, 
 having as its object the plotting of the route and 
 the triangulation of the country along which it 
 was to pass. The party met with serious diffi- 
 culties and obstructions ; the most trifling details 
 were wanting, and had to be determined, for at 
 that time far less was known about the country 
 through which the line was to pass than we know 
 now. The engineers had to make their own 
 geological observations, even the latitude and 
 longitude of the terminal stations was unrecorded, 
 and all the information gleaned from natives was 
 of very little practical value. 
 
 But Captain Cambier and his brigade of 
 engineers stuck to their work, with the gratifying 
 result that within a year of starting the route 
 was mapped out and another route surveyed. 
 
o 
 
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 w 
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 B 
 
 W 
 B 
 
 fN 
 O 
 
 CO 
 
 ij 
 <ii 
 1^ 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 279 
 
 After this the completion of the project was 
 merely a matter of time and money. The latter 
 was raised by a limited company, State-organised, 
 in Brussels, the necessary capital being readily 
 subscribed ; and the shares having risen in value 
 during the years of construction from thirty to 
 forty-seven francs, the investment was considered a 
 sound one on all sides. The story of the practical 
 work, and the putting into effect of the surveyors' 
 projections, would make a fair-sized volume. I 
 have only to say that it was carried out by the 
 brigade of engineers of the Congo Company with 
 all possible speed. July last year (1897) saw their 
 efforts crowned with the first measure of success, 
 when the railway was formally opened for trafS&c as 
 far as the Inkissi Eiver. 
 
 On my return journey I travelled over this 
 district by the new line, and, while I cannot 
 speak from the point of view taken by a practical 
 engineer, I am inclined to consider the work as 
 a most marvellous piece of modern railway 
 engineering. I doubt if there are fifty miles 
 elsewhere, even in Europe or America, where the 
 same number of difficulties had to be circum- 
 vented, or where so many extraordinary feats of 
 engineering present themselves to the traveller, 
 calling up his admiration and respect for the 
 constructors. 
 
 The route among such mountains as flank the 
 
280 THE LAND OP THE PIGMIES 
 
 shores of the Congo could not be a direct one, 
 but under the circumstances it would probably 
 puzzle any engineers to have found a nearer way. 
 Still I cannot say it is very comfortable travelling. 
 You look out of the carriage window and trace 
 the line as it winds around the walls of a sheer 
 precipice, or down the rough, boulder-broken sides 
 of a hill — turning sharp corners with a bridge that 
 is thrown across a yawning gorge or gully ; you 
 swing round, dashing down a break-neck slope, 
 and next moment you are puffing up the arduous 
 ascent of a mountain-track. The journey is full 
 of surprises, not the least of which are the glimpses 
 and the flashes of charming scenery that attract 
 the eye as you are borne along through hillside 
 cuttings, where every turn reveals some fresh 
 picture of nature's bold handiwork. 
 
 The labour employed is partly native and partly 
 white. There is always a white engineer on the 
 foot-plate of the locomotive, while the fireman is 
 generally a native. I am told that there is the 
 making of very intelligent engine-drivers in several 
 of the Company's stokers, which is but another 
 proof of the oft-observed latent capability of the 
 untutored savage. For the rest the railway is run 
 on exactly the same system as a Belgian line, 
 even to excess-charge for luggage. The price of a 
 ticket from Leopoldville to Matadi, I beheve, is 
 something like two hundred francs ; but by far 
 
NATIVE CLIMBING PALM-TEEE. 
 
 40 
 
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 283 
 
 the greater part of the Company's revenue is 
 derived from the conveyance of merchandise to 
 and from the interior. Already the pubHshed 
 sheets show a very handsome scale of profits. 
 
 In the beginning of July this year (1898) there is 
 every reason to hope that the line will be in working 
 order as far as Leopoldville, its ultimate destina- 
 tion. The exact route is across the Lufu river to 
 the Inkissi, a distance of about 180 miles ; thence, 
 by Matanda, about 45 miles, to Leopoldville. 
 
 The primary object of the Congo Company in 
 establishing this railway is, as I have said, to 
 facilitate communication with the interior, and 
 to obviate the necessity of portage that has been 
 so long a standing hindrance to trade. But there 
 is a far greater significance attaching to it, for 
 it is one of the most important links connecting 
 the West Coast of Africa with the East. 
 
 Already, under Captain Pringle, E.E., the survey 
 for the Uganda Eailway has been completed, and 
 in part the line is already laid. This survey, made 
 in the early part of 1892, was for a line to run 
 from Mombasa, on the coast, to Victoria Station, 
 on the Victoria N'yanza, at Berkeley Bay. A 
 further survey was made round the shores in a 
 westerly direction, but time did not permit of its 
 completion, nor is it a matter of great moment 
 for the present ; still it is worth noticing that the 
 Stanley Falls on the main stream of the Congo 
 
284' THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 
 
 are in a direct line with the proposed terminus of 
 the Uganda Eailway, and that there is an in- 
 tention of connecting the falls with the shores 
 of the lake. Once it is completed, the highway 
 will be established right across the heart of 
 Equatorial Africa, and its ultimate effect in open- 
 ing up the country is incalculable. 
 
 The other plans which the Congo Government 
 have in view are hardly of less importance. Far 
 from being content with this single effort, the 
 State officials are busily engaged in the prepara- 
 tion of two grand schemes for improvements in 
 the regions of the Upper Congo, one being to 
 connect Katanza to the navigable water-ways by 
 a railway that is to join the Ehodes Railway 
 which is working its way northward ; the other 
 is to strike in a northward direction, in order 
 to effect a junction with the Nile Eailway. The 
 State is confident that at no very distant date 
 it will see these schemes accomplished, nor is 
 it blind as to their immediate and lasting value. 
 Should it succeed in realising these ideals, we 
 may look for a vastly different Africa in a few 
 years' time — Africa with a Grand Trunk line from 
 Mombasa to Boma, and a Cape express running 
 from Alexandria. 
 
APPENDICES 
 
 I.— LETTEE FKOM THE KING OF THE 
 BELGIANS 
 
 THE agents of the Congo Free State have in recent times 
 been severely tried. Their ranks have been exposed to 
 cruel and repeated blows of fate. Identifying myself with the 
 unanimous regret felt for such painful losses, I am anxious 
 to pay a token of gratitude to all who have gallantly sacrificed 
 their lives in the performance of their duty. As is the case 
 with all great causes, the one which we serve in the Congo 
 has had many victims. To those upholders of manly tradi- 
 tions and pioneers of progress who survive, I desire to address 
 some words which my heart dictates to me. 
 
 The mission which the agents of the State have to ac- 
 complish on the Congo is a noble one. They have to continue 
 the development of civilisation in the centre of Equatorial 
 Africa, receiving their inspiration directly from Berlin and 
 Brussels. 
 
 Placed face to face with primitive barbarism, grappling with 
 sanguinary customs that date back thousands of years, they 
 are obliged to reduce these gradually. They must accustom 
 the population to general laws, of which the most needful and 
 the most salutary is assm-edly that of work. 
 
 In such countries, I know, strong authority must be im- 
 
 285 
 
286 APPENDICES 
 
 posed to bring the natives (who have no such incUnation) to 
 conform to the usages of civilisation. For that purpose we 
 must be both firm and parental. In a district like the Congo 
 the native population is at the base of the true wealth of the 
 country, and our first object must be to secure its free expan- 
 sion. Our refined society attaches to human life (and with 
 reason) a value unknown to barbarous communities. When 
 our directing will is implanted among them its aim is to 
 triumph over all obstacles, and results which could not be 
 attained by lengthy speeches may follow philanthropic in- 
 fluence. But if, in view of this desirable spread of civilisa- 
 tion, we count upon the means of action which confer upon us 
 dominion and the sanction of right, it is not less true that our 
 ultimate end is a work of peace. Wars do not necessarily 
 mean the ruin of the regions in which they rage ; our agents 
 do not ignore this fact, so from the day when their effective 
 superiority is affirmed, they feel profoundly reluctant to use 
 force. The wretched negroes, however, who are still under 
 the sole sway of their traditions, have that horrible belief that 
 victory is only decisive when the enemy, fallen beneath their 
 blows, is annihilated. The soldiers of the State, who are re- 
 cruited necessarily from among the natives, do not immediately 
 forsake those sanguinary habits that have been transmitted 
 from generation to generation. The example of the white 
 officer and wholesome military discipline gradually inspire in 
 them a horror of human trophies of which they previously had 
 made their boast. It is in their leaders that they must see 
 hving evidence of these higher principles, taught that the 
 exercise of authority is not at all to he confounded with 
 cruelty, but is, indeed, destroyed by it. I am pleased to think 
 that our agents, nearly all of whom are volunteers drawn from 
 the ranks of the Belgian army, have always present in their 
 minds a strong sense of the career of honour in which they 
 are engaged, and are animated with a pure feeling of pat- 
 riotism ; not sparing their own blood, they will the more spare 
 the blood of the natives, who will see in them the all-powerful 
 protectors of their lives and their property, benevolent teachers 
 of whom they have so great a need. 
 
 Our only programme, I am anxious to repeat, is the work of 
 
APPENDICES 287 
 
 material and moral regeneration, and we must do this among a 
 population whose degeneration in its inherited conditions it is 
 difficult to measure. The many horrors and atrocities which 
 disgrace humanity give way little by little before our interven- 
 tion. Each step forward made by our people must mark an 
 improvement in the condition of the natives. From these 
 territories of infinite extent, nearly all of them vague and 
 uncultivated, where the natives could only procure for them- 
 selves a meagre daily subsistence, the experience and under- 
 standing, the enterprise and initiative of the European evokes 
 wealth and resources hitherto unsuspected. If he creates 
 needs, he satisfies them to the full. Penetration into virgin 
 lands is accomplished. Communication is established, roads 
 are opened, the soil yields its produce in exchange for the 
 articles we make and import. Legitimate trade and industry 
 spring into vigorous life, and in proportion as economic 
 conditions are improved, goods assume an intrinsic value. 
 Private and public property, the basis of all social de- 
 velopment, is defended and respected, instead of being given 
 over to the law that " Might is Eight." 
 
 This material prosperity obviously consolidates the interests 
 of whites and negroes. Their primitive nature will not resist 
 indefinitely the pressing appeals of Christian culture. Their 
 education, once begun, will proceed apace. It is in its success 
 that I see the consummation of the task undertaken by our people, 
 and so admirably seconded by our priests and missionaries. 
 To establish a direct immediate current of communication 
 with the natives spread over the basin of the Congo has been 
 the most important part of our programme, and this was done 
 by Belgium during fifteen years, without the co-operation of 
 any other State. The network of railways and stations has 
 gradually put an end to the incessant warfare of tribe against 
 tribe, village against village, and thus has brought about a rule 
 of peace. 
 
 Geographically determined, the Congo is a state whose 
 boundaries are occupied and guarded, a result nearly unequalled 
 in the history of colonisation, but which is explained by the 
 concentration of all my efforts in one field of action. 
 
 The difficulties we have encountered will be greatly reduced 
 
288 APPENDICES 
 
 with the speedy completion of the railway from Bas Congo to 
 Stanley Falls. 
 
 I appeal again to the devotion of which our agents have 
 already given so many proofs. The creation of that fresh 
 means of communication will soon bring forth fruit. It will 
 connect closely the Congo with the mother country, which will 
 prompt Europe (whose eyes follow us) to take a benevolent and 
 generous interest in all our labours, which will convey to our 
 progress a more and more rapid and decisive impetus, and 
 which will soon introduce into the vast region of the Congo 
 all the blessings of Christian civilisation. 
 
 I thank our agents for all their efforts, and I reiterate the 
 expression of my royal affection. 
 
 LEOPOLD. 
 
II.— A GLOSSAEY OF WOEDS AND 
 PHEASES. 
 
 Here I give a small dictionary of the chief words used in 
 the Mang-bettou tongue, to which glossary I have added a 
 collection of colloquial phrases and ordinary terms of con- 
 versation. The words are given in alphabetical order, and 
 the phrases are put together in the OUendorf method. 
 
 English. 
 
 Mang-hettou. 
 
 Ant (cont.) 
 
 Bmumsiani- ungive 
 (very large) 
 
 
 A. 
 
 ,, 
 
 Makakaro (white 
 
 Antelope 
 
 Nadda (deer), ndi- 
 
 
 ant) 
 
 
 mbo (grand) 
 
 Afternoon 
 
 Totiani 
 
 J) 
 
 Nkpedde (blue) 
 
 Arm 
 
 Nebiba 
 
 Animal 
 
 Neri 
 
 Amulet 
 
 nabiko 
 
 Arrow 
 
 Nembangu 
 
 Ashamed 
 
 
 Arm (fore) 
 
 Netckwo 
 
 (to be) 
 
 nekanyangasini 
 
 Alior 
 
 Nassoro 
 
 Angry 
 
 netopakpara 
 
 Arrive 
 
 mopopoburu 
 
 
 
 Ascend (a 
 
 
 
 B. 
 
 hiU) 
 
 mongoli ta kopi 
 
 
 Afraid 
 
 neru 
 
 Bad 
 
 menganda 
 
 Axe 
 
 n'koombi 
 
 Bag 
 
 baggara 
 
 Awake 
 
 n'angaaoonia 
 
 Banana 
 
 mbipe 
 
 Ant 
 
 olioli (very small) 
 
 ,, 
 
 nabira 
 
 ,, 
 
 nebibiani (small) 
 
 ,, 
 
 n'mbugu (fruit) 
 
 >) 
 
 nandchutchu(large) 
 
 Bullet 
 
 nevanga 
 
 41 
 
290 
 
 APPENDICES 
 
 
 Bow (instru- 
 
 Cap 
 
 Kepsurn 
 
 ment) 
 
 nekudive 
 
 Cock 
 
 Mabangane 
 
 Bother 
 
 Yanangueh 
 
 Cow 
 
 muti 
 
 Body 
 
 nambelu 
 
 Chair 
 
 nobara (woman's 
 
 Bed 
 
 n'karagbah 
 
 
 stool) 
 
 Bedstead 
 
 nego 
 
 )J 
 
 kittypara (native 
 
 Beer 
 
 aur 
 
 
 chair) 
 
 Bread 
 
 ebagara 
 
 Cord 
 
 nameiniba 
 
 Bottle 
 
 gezaze 
 
 Cooking-pot nimbu-dekareh 
 
 Box 
 
 nepuguru 
 
 Carrier 
 
 n'ebili 
 
 Boot 
 
 gessoom 
 
 Cold 
 
 netu 
 
 Black 
 
 mekoo 
 
 Cleanse 
 
 kobaru 
 
 Basket 
 
 netookoo 
 
 Cloud 
 
 Mundugu, banerobu 
 
 jj 
 
 baggara (small) 
 
 Eain cloud 
 
 nindura 
 
 Bead 
 
 n'leke 
 
 Chin 
 
 n'etachieehi 
 
 Butter 
 
 nepazu 
 
 Chain 
 
 esserigbi 
 
 Big 
 
 massibobo 
 
 Cassava 
 
 no-u 
 
 
 (persons) 
 
 Cry 
 
 ungoumoo 
 
 )) 
 
 nekpopwo (of 
 
 Circle 
 
 mekikiri 
 
 
 things) 
 
 Canoe 
 
 nekoko 
 
 Buy 
 
 nebaugwe 
 
 Chief 
 
 ue Kin6 
 
 Behind 
 
 nengu 
 
 Copper 
 
 nattaroo 
 
 Blood 
 
 aripo 
 
 Curly (hair] 
 
 Angoi yandedru 
 
 Belly 
 
 neo 
 
 Crooked 
 
 ne kere mako 
 
 Buck 
 
 meme 
 
 Crush 
 
 korpu 
 
 Buffalo 
 
 nekibi 
 
 Cord 
 
 ne duppeh 
 
 Black 
 
 nameku 
 
 Climb (a tree) kanderubu 
 
 Before 
 
 ketu 
 
 
 
 Brother 
 
 Yandugu iengwa 
 
 
 D. 
 
 Bird 
 
 nari 
 
 Do 
 
 Kaesci 
 
 
 
 Dear 
 
 metetere 
 
 
 C. 
 
 Door 
 
 nossoossoo 
 
 Cup 
 
 n'kosi 
 
 Dog 
 
 nessi 
 
 Come 
 
 kieri 
 
 to Drink 
 
 mambo 
 
 Corn 
 
 nendo 
 
 Death 
 
 angunzi 
 
 Child 
 
 negongwe 
 
 Drum 
 
 neguku 
 
 Crocodile 
 
 negondi 
 
 Dance 
 
 kobe 
 
 Cloth 
 
 n'roomoo-nogi 
 
 Dry season 
 
 nebura 
 
 
 (nature cloth) 
 
 Dirty 
 
 n6duida 
 

 APPENDICES 
 
 291 
 
 Dry 
 
 nekaranga 
 
 Flour 
 
 Kiumbapu 
 
 Drop 
 
 diporah 
 
 Flower 
 
 ungoekbo 
 
 Drum (big) 
 
 nekudu 
 
 Feather 
 
 nekudu 
 
 to Dam 
 
 Kangobu n'eddah 
 
 Fly flap 
 
 nongw6 
 
 Dumb 
 
 otikah 
 
 
 
 Deaf 
 
 ebematoh 
 
 
 G. 
 
 
 E. 
 
 Good 
 
 momb6 
 
 
 
 noli (walk) 
 
 Ear 
 
 nebi 
 
 
 maiyo (go) 
 
 Earring 
 
 edenghe 
 
 Go 
 
 Kweeo (go) 
 
 Eat 
 
 manijo 
 
 
 (Imperative) geza- 
 
 Bye 
 
 nengo 
 
 
 du (go away far) 
 
 Elephant 
 
 noko 
 
 Gourd (un- 
 
 
 Egg ^ 
 
 ebaragaka 
 
 dressed) 
 
 nabio 
 
 Evening 
 
 Tabu 
 
 Guinea fowl 
 
 
 Earth 
 
 nap6 
 
 (black and 
 
 
 Exist 
 
 asedru 
 
 white) 
 
 Corunja 
 
 Eleusine 
 
 ne kiymboo 
 
 Guinea fow 
 
 
 Eh ! what 
 
 kabbah 
 
 (black and 
 
 
 F. 
 
 blue) 
 
 Kenge 
 
 
 Giraffe 
 
 nabewara 
 
 Father 
 
 papa 
 
 Gun 
 
 negundu 
 
 Finger 
 
 netengwe 
 
 Grass (high) 
 
 nopi 
 
 Foot 
 
 epoindu 
 
 „ (short) 
 
 umma 
 
 Fish 
 
 nanger6 
 
 Give 
 
 nabidda 
 
 Forest (under- 
 
 God 
 
 ara (allah) 
 
 wood 
 
 nopi 
 
 Gourd 
 
 nekodu 
 
 Forest(trees)negbondo 
 
 to Gash 
 
 kangovoni ni kotu 
 
 Fork 
 
 nedjodjo 
 
 Gum (teeth 
 
 nekirikiri 
 
 Fire 
 
 nekago 
 
 Gone 
 
 angoro 
 
 Far 
 
 mendondro 
 
 Grind 
 
 korpu 
 
 Few 
 
 peidi 
 
 Grave 
 
 kungotetapi 
 
 Fly (noun) 
 
 anzi 
 
 Gum 
 
 banderri 
 
 Fall 
 
 angude 
 
 Ground 
 
 daburu 
 
 Finished 
 
 angebi 
 
 
 
 Flee 
 
 Kuruengo 
 
 
 H. 
 
 Friend 
 
 Andragu 
 
 His (posses- 
 
 
 J J 
 
 augaeru 
 
 sive) 
 
 baneh 
 
 Forget 
 
 akubaya 
 
 House 
 
 nedjo 
 
292 
 
 APPENDICES 
 
 
 Hail 
 
 ekubibilu 
 
 Lemon 
 
 nemepopwa 
 
 Here 
 
 Baza 
 
 Leg (lower 
 
 How 
 
 Assidu 
 
 part) 
 
 netopu 
 
 Hoe 
 
 n'kongo 
 
 Lightning 
 
 N'imbimbatu 
 
 Hysena 
 
 oongah 
 
 )» 
 
 n'kirima 
 
 Hen 
 
 naredra 
 
 ?» 
 
 n'eturu 
 
 Hat (straw 
 
 buranita 
 
 Lance 
 
 Caru 
 
 Hand 
 
 anit6 
 
 Laugh 
 
 ekati 
 
 Head 
 
 nedru 
 
 Live 
 
 kudi 
 
 Hair 
 
 edrui 
 
 Little (of 
 
 
 Heart 
 
 negugu 
 
 persons) 
 
 mayeyere 
 
 Hippopota- 
 
 
 Little (of 
 
 
 mus 
 
 nedrupa 
 
 things) 
 
 massasangwe 
 
 Heaven 
 
 norro 
 
 to Lie 
 
 njeie'to 
 
 Hat 
 
 notuku 
 
 Lip 
 
 tipokepi 
 
 Heat 
 
 Kodemundi 
 
 Lighten 
 
 komadendi 
 
 Hunger 
 
 nemu 
 
 Land 
 
 neba 
 
 to Hide 
 
 angodje 
 
 Liver 
 
 kubia 
 
 Half 
 
 kaki 
 
 to Limp 
 
 nabruamodai 
 
 Honey 
 
 neboi 
 
 Long- 
 
 
 Husband 
 
 mashmandra 
 
 sighted 
 
 nainya mambettwa 
 
 Hook 
 
 nekuruba 
 
 Log (for 
 
 
 Hate 
 
 kamomami 
 
 burning) 
 
 nakidu 
 
 to Hail 
 
 Kanyakka 
 
 
 M. 
 
 
 I. 
 
 Many 
 
 Mekutukutu 
 
 I 
 
 emma 
 
 More 
 
 Mekutu 
 
 Iron 
 
 nbik6 
 
 Man 
 
 namasi 
 
 If 
 
 obondend 
 
 Maize 
 
 n'endo 
 
 Ivory 
 
 nekoki 
 
 Mule 
 
 akudja 
 
 
 K. 
 
 Mother 
 
 yangwe 
 
 
 Monkey 
 
 nabura 
 
 Knife 
 
 n'dopwa 
 
 „ chim- 
 
 
 Kill 
 
 matomipa 
 
 panzee 
 
 nozu 
 
 Kick 
 
 angoduna 
 
 Milk 
 
 ebagu 
 
 
 
 Mat 
 
 nekanga 
 
 
 L. 
 
 Messenger 
 
 nadedunbi 
 
 Lion 
 
 mazambula 
 
 Moustache 
 
 endulu 
 
 Leopard 
 
 lukundoo 
 
 Month 
 
 nangwekanna 
 

 APPENDICES 
 
 
 Mouth 
 
 tipo 
 
 
 P. 
 
 Meat 
 
 neri 
 
 Potato 
 
 namazenge 
 
 Mountain 
 Manioc 
 
 kobi 
 nehu 
 
 Pipe 
 Parrot 
 
 nammepopwo 
 akowa 
 
 Melt 
 
 angou 
 
 Python 
 
 n'gooma 
 
 Moon 
 
 nangwe 
 
 Pepper 
 
 massambala 
 
 Many 
 
 
 Porridge 
 
 quakie 
 
 (how ?) 
 
 neri 
 
 Pirogue 
 
 nekoko 
 
 Morning 
 
 neburubu 
 
 Plate 
 
 nagatu 
 
 
 
 Present 
 
 nagazedji 
 
 
 N. 
 
 Pin 
 
 nogopwo 
 
 
 
 Powder 
 
 nengumbe 
 
 No 
 
 kare 
 
 Paper 
 
 warrigah 
 
 Not 
 
 kayebo 
 
 Palm-tree 
 
 uku 
 
 Nine 
 
 Tegeligikanna 
 
 Palm wine 
 
 awa 
 
 Nose 
 
 namo 
 
 "D 
 
 
 Nuts (pea) 
 
 selemoindi 
 
 Pan 
 
 Pot (ordin- 
 ary) 
 Pot (large) 
 Paddle 
 
 nepengo 
 
 Night 
 
 nekini 
 
 nedegger6 
 
 Near 
 
 kundi-kundi 
 
 nimbu 
 
 Now 
 
 gagaddi 
 
 kapi 
 
 Net 
 
 nado 
 
 Pompom 
 
 narekudu 
 
 None 
 
 a tupa 
 
 Papae 
 
 eissita (Arab) 
 
 Neck 
 
 nekoropo 
 
 Jr 
 
 O \ / 
 
 Noon 
 
 totiani 
 
 
 0. 
 
 Nail 
 
 n'ekeke 
 
 
 vy. 
 
 Narrow 
 
 nedaur sesangwe 
 
 Quick 
 
 togara 
 
 E. 
 mengbamba 
 
 
 0. 
 
 Eed 
 
 Oil 
 
 nezu 
 
 Eoad 
 
 nei 
 
 Ostrich 
 
 nekudu 
 
 Eeed 
 
 essumbo 
 
 Orange 
 
 namendendenge 
 
 Eain 
 
 n'kuma 
 
 Oracle 
 
 mapingo 
 
 Eat 
 
 nepi 
 
 Other 
 
 nakaone 
 
 Eice 
 
 nepunga 
 
 to Open 
 
 kapu 
 
 Eiver 
 
 nemaijo 
 
 Oval 
 
 n'morbwa tappoo 
 
 Eivulet 
 
 messesangwe 
 
 One-eyed 
 
 engamoteh 
 
 to Eun 
 
 kuriungo 
 
 One-armed 
 
 neminger6 
 
 Eectangular n'ekarugba 
 
 Oil (palm) 
 
 nepazi 
 
 Eainbow 
 
 n'ekirina 
 
 293 
 
294 
 
 APPENDICES 
 
 
 Eoad 
 
 n'^hyi 
 
 Scratch 
 
 ango gundi 
 
 Eemember 
 
 amenganja 
 
 Square 
 
 n'morbo 
 
 Eough 
 
 
 Shut 
 
 kagbo 
 
 (edge) 
 
 mababer6 
 
 Sesam6 
 
 nezizi 
 
 
 
 Sharp 
 
 amamika 
 
 
 S. 
 
 to Slap 
 
 angatami 
 
 
 „ Strike 
 
 angopinoma 
 
 Sister 
 
 nomandro 
 
 „ Slip 
 
 angaeriah 
 
 Son 
 
 andrangwa 
 
 Short 
 
 m& eyerri 
 
 Shoulder 
 
 netebaba 
 
 Straight 
 
 namameyo 
 
 Stomach 
 
 neki 
 
 Stop 
 
 nepaki 
 
 She-goat 
 
 nismenandro 
 
 a Shield 
 
 nengouma 
 
 Snake 
 
 netatara 
 
 Stockade 
 
 n'egboto 
 
 Salt 
 
 nagandju 
 
 Stick (for 
 
 
 Sugar 
 
 naturu 
 
 back res 
 
 t) nybangbah 
 
 Star 
 
 eturu 
 
 
 
 Sun 
 
 neka 
 
 
 T. 
 
 Stone 
 
 nekopi 
 
 
 
 Spoon 
 
 nebebi 
 
 Thigh 
 
 nedo 
 
 Sunshade 
 
 nesisi 
 
 Tooth 
 
 ekki 
 
 Socks 
 
 marcub (Ar) 
 
 To-day 
 
 netune 
 
 Strong 
 
 mapagpara 
 
 To-morrow 
 
 Toboruba (early 
 
 Sick 
 
 nunzi 
 
 
 morning) 
 
 Seek 
 
 maudamunda 
 
 Tree 
 
 nakere 
 
 to Suffer 
 
 nunzi 
 
 Thunder 
 
 nagbara 
 
 to Sleep 
 
 mangedu-ey6 
 
 Tobacco 
 
 tobo 
 
 Shield 
 
 n'guma 
 
 to Throw 
 
 kuddi 
 
 Sheet 
 
 kato 
 
 to Throw 
 
 
 Sing 
 
 nolia 
 
 over 
 
 kato 
 
 to See 
 
 magu 
 
 True 
 
 mundia sodru 
 
 to Smoke 
 
 mandru netabu 
 
 Thou 
 
 immi 
 
 Stop 
 
 kallemudio 
 
 to Tie 
 
 kori 
 
 Sold at 
 
 ebasseye 
 
 to Thank 
 
 mametetere 
 
 Sell 
 
 kaomaku 
 
 Tongue 
 
 nekadra 
 
 Speak 
 
 kudia 
 
 This 
 
 dondre 
 
 Skin 
 
 kepi 
 
 That 
 
 nendri 
 
 Shoe 
 
 makaku 
 
 Toe 
 
 katwa 
 
 Shame 
 
 neganyi 
 
 to Tear 
 
 kangoon 
 
 Stumble 
 
 angifoo konadi 
 
 Triangle 
 
 n'doga 
 

 APPENDICES 
 
 2 
 
 Top 
 
 n'ametippo 
 
 Wind 
 
 nebimbatu 
 
 to Talk 
 
 nekodenapakeri 
 
 Window 
 
 nosussu 
 
 Tear 
 
 ondwoa 
 
 Wine 
 
 awa 
 
 Tall 
 
 nekeretati 
 
 War 
 
 napu 
 
 Tie 
 
 m'ingati 
 
 Where 
 
 ari 
 
 Tickle 
 
 angekirima 
 
 Wash 
 
 mabegu 
 
 Tomato 
 
 netanga 
 
 to Wish 
 
 mauma 
 
 Thin 
 
 apaedo 
 
 to Work 
 
 nemiru 
 
 Thick 
 
 n'bumboru 
 
 to Weep 
 
 kumu 
 
 Trumpet 
 
 
 to Wrap up 
 
 anyoma ondrooae 
 
 (big) 
 
 nombrus&i 
 
 
 p6tt6 kooro 
 
 Trumpet 
 
 
 Whistle 
 
 nekere 
 
 (small) 
 
 nombongo 
 
 Wise 
 
 etiodu etwa 
 
 
 
 Well 
 
 n'dudrui 
 
 White 
 
 U. V. W. 
 
 Whirlwind 
 
 What 
 
 eh ? What ? 
 
 nabiri 
 
 assingw6 
 
 kabbah 
 
 (man) 
 
 mussungu 
 
 
 
 (colour) 
 
 mobu 
 
 
 
 Water 
 
 egumanbo 
 
 
 Y. 
 
 Wife 
 
 n'andronandra 
 
 Yes 
 
 ee 
 
 Warm 
 Woman 
 
 mode 
 nandro 
 
 Yesterday 
 Year 
 
 oburunde 
 nekaranga 
 
 Wood 
 
 kir6 
 
 You 
 
 imma 
 
 295 
 
 It is desolate and rainy. 
 
 I see a man standing up in the 
 
 boats. 
 I am a European, and you are 
 
 a Suaheli. 
 We are Europeans, you are 
 
 Suaheli. 
 This is a hunter, the others are 
 
 fishermen. 
 This inspector is worse than 
 
 that one. 
 
 Kakoumonounet. 
 
 Magongou nabour kano angodri 
 
 tekoko. 
 Ima nemosoungou em Suaheli. 
 
 Ama nemousoungou, eke Sua- 
 heli. 
 
 Nabour oporinet, nabour no- 
 ponguet. 
 
 Neloula matende nepagpara 
 endri kabasibenet. 
 
296 
 
 APPENDICES 
 
 This tree is higher than that 
 
 one. 
 This bed is larger than that. 
 This ditch is larger than that. 
 It is tirae for us to go. 
 I strike the servant of the Arab. 
 
 We strike the slaves of the 
 
 Arabs. 
 I have a good knife. 
 I do not like this place. 
 Have you broken the bow ? 
 The man who has broken the 
 
 bow will be punished. 
 The individuals who stole the 
 
 cucunaber out of my garden 
 
 have not yet been caught. 
 Where is the man who has 
 
 stolen the bin of the guide ? 
 The servant has washed the 
 
 clothes of the European. 
 We have loaded the guns of 
 
 the European. 
 They have stolen the shoe of 
 
 the Doctor. 
 He has destroyed the hut of 
 
 the Doctor. 
 You have gathered the nuts of 
 
 the palm of the European. 
 Tell me that I may know also. 
 Tell them not to leave the 
 
 house. 
 Tell him again that I can 
 
 understand him. 
 Speak slowly that I may write 
 
 down what you say. 
 The master is in the house. 
 Even when he speaks the truth 
 
 no one believes him. 
 
 Nekiret namoda nako mengwu. 
 
 Nigo mepogpo mekanobou. 
 Nekopi uepagpara endri nepara. 
 Kamayo amayo. 
 Mangossou namodia nematema- 
 
 tamba. 
 Mangossou mangari namodia 
 
 nematematamba. 
 Nesapi mebali. 
 Kamsmou edri. 
 Mangopou nekoudet ? 
 Emi mopo nekoudet mopo. 
 
 Naboui egwa nadrone magouke 
 kogadu. 
 
 Adoungwe egua nekoumbi ado- 
 
 nelu? 
 Namodwenamandro abewumou 
 
 nemoungou. 
 Kangete futaki naboundouk ne- 
 
 mounugou. 
 Kangegou markouf nemoganga. 
 
 Kanopou nedio nemogangi. 
 
 Kangofo oko nemousoungou. 
 
 Kaboumoko nemangetti. 
 Kaboumoko nagesabiri indioto. 
 
 Kaboumoko boumettje. 
 
 Mongodeberet tirri sedou mai 
 
 waiga. 
 Nekignet nedjotto. 
 Angodjo mobs madendi neto. 
 
APPENDICES 
 
 297 
 
 See that one who shot at me. 
 
 There is no wind to-day. 
 
 If you do not understand Sua- 
 
 heli I will explain it to you. 
 If you were intelligent you 
 
 wovild understand quite well. 
 We have four. 
 There are three bananas. 
 You have two long arrows. 
 Go and fetch. 
 Put it on the ground. 
 Sit down. 
 
 I will not give you. 
 Shut the door. 
 Open the door. 
 
 This house is better than that. 
 We have put on our best 
 
 clothes. 
 These buckets are full of water. 
 The servant will wash your 
 
 clothes. 
 What is your name ? 
 This tree has large red leaves. 
 I have the toothache. 
 His eyes are black. 
 The elephant tracks are no 
 
 longer visible. 
 Look for my key. It is lost ; 
 
 I do not know where it is. 
 The Arabs have not yet arrived. 
 
 Are you pleased with the knife 
 
 I have bought ? 
 The cups which we bought at 
 
 Zanzibar are all broken. 
 The palms we planted two years 
 
 ago have still no nuts. 
 The man whose name I don't 
 
 know will return to-morrow. 
 
 Angawi neborendau nandu. 
 Nebattou kanobou netinet. 
 Kagneti Suaheli, madimoko. 
 
 Naboureteret nemandou angis- 
 
 saka pete. 
 Ekoumbi sai qu'a sosiwa. 
 Ebangu d'asotie metete. 
 Nebangou sorou sanou meteti. 
 Commodru maku. 
 Ketu duburu. 
 Kudi duburu. 
 Mau-ku-mi-ko. 
 Kato nosussui 
 Kangi nosussu. 
 
 Nedjo mombe, endri konombe. 
 Mangepiroumou nebali. 
 
 Nede kere egou tope. 
 Nandra kaba nogi. 
 
 Anoru bassi ? 
 
 Nekere ameli niepopo bangba. 
 
 Aneke kuboran. 
 
 Anengo meku. 
 
 Noko andebiri agasinga. 
 
 Nefoungoula agasinga kamogou. 
 
 Ne matamatamba kekouka ko- 
 
 godri. 
 Nesape moge ebamikou ? 
 
 Nekopi magi Zanzibar angounsi 
 
 pete. 
 Oko nedimede nekaranga sown 
 
 kanoke. 
 Nabour ekou obowie canati 
 
 anerou. 
 
 42 
 
298 
 
 APPENDICES 
 
 Is there any one who speaks 
 
 Suaheli? 
 The Arabs destroy all the 
 
 houses. 
 People despise those who do 
 
 not pay their debts. 
 The cook has cooked him every 
 
 day potatoes. 
 Give me a little water to drink. 
 His arrow has wounded me in 
 
 the ear. 
 Measure the length and breadth 
 
 of that plank. 
 This situation does not please 
 
 me. 
 We shall have eight fat sheep. 
 
 Wash these ten white coats. 
 I saw him bathing and he was 
 
 drowned. 
 When the clock strikes three 
 
 wake me. 
 If the food is ready let us eat. 
 The cook has eaten your bread. 
 When Abdullah comes tell him 
 
 I am out. 
 If they had not been afraid 
 
 they would not have got this 
 
 contract. 
 Bring the empty cups. 
 I will buy a very fine pipe. 
 If they don't come we shall eat 
 
 alone. 
 When are you going to visit 
 
 him ? 
 What Doctor cured your wife ? 
 What tree are you cutting 
 
 down ? 
 We do not smoke. 
 
 Nabour kana abeti netou bag- 
 
 nene Suaheli? 
 Nematematambas kapopou ne- 
 
 dio pete. 
 Kamomou nekegou kamamou- 
 
 net. 
 Nekouk odimasinge kim pete. 
 
 Komoko egou piedo mambo. 
 Kaugossou nebi mekou. 
 
 Kaude egou bari. 
 
 Nape endri kanombe. 
 
 Kondoro toa tesernet egi sota 
 
 sai koba tua. 
 Kaboma egi nebebenet teke. 
 Magounga nobadiet onzi. 
 
 Neko opoundrenet neroumo. 
 
 Agno kebi momagno. 
 Nekouk agno nekwanga pete. 
 Abdullah, ekounet madi noko 
 
 kai madre. 
 Kaguewnet mogahoberet noko. 
 
 Ekore nekopo tapurri. 
 Mangogi mebali nepoko. 
 Kagnekounet momogno kanna. 
 
 Ekeni kabassi manoya monag- 
 
 nani 
 Moganga kagna nendro indio ? 
 Azekeret moufome ? 
 
 Monoundiouka netobo. 
 
APPENDICES 
 
 299 
 
 I will buy absolutely nothing. 
 
 Don't you know where my pipe 
 is? 
 
 That arrow fell where I was 
 standing. 
 
 We like honey. 
 
 We Uke water better than the 
 palm wine. 
 
 We are all hungry. 
 
 We are all thirsty. 
 
 I have questioned him several 
 times, but he has not an- 
 swered. 
 
 You have not done well. 
 
 Tell me again. 
 
 They won't come to-day. 
 
 We will not cut down this tree. 
 
 Kamomou nemaginedou. 
 Kai eti nepoko indri ? 
 
 Nebangou kaisou nape mapo 
 
 iendri. 
 Moma nebo. 
 Moma egou komomo eko awa. 
 
 Nemori angessi. 
 Btiongongo angessi pete. 
 Medegonokotua, kana demoko. 
 
 Kagnesi mombe. 
 
 Mabeti. 
 
 Ekou opia netoune. 
 
 Magoku nekirenet. 
 
ICbe ©tcBbam JSi'csb 
 
 UNWIN BROTHERS, 
 WOKING AND LONDON.