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 Brenda W. Laps ley 
 1930-1989 
 Wife of Professor James N. Lapsley 
 Union Seminary Class of 1955 
 
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LIFE AND LETTERS 
 
 OF 
 
 SAMUEL NORVELL LAPSLEY. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary Library 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/lifelettersofsamOOIaps 
 
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 SAMUF.L \()R\KI.I, l.APSI.KY 
 
LIFE AND LETTERS 
 
 OF 
 
 SAMUEL NORVELL LAPSLEY, 
 
 MISSIONARY TO THE CONGO VALLEY, 
 WEST AFRICA. 
 
 1866- 1892. 
 
 RICHMOND, V A. : 
 
 Whittet & Shepperson, Printeks, Tenth and Main Streets. 
 
 189 3. 
 
COPYBIGHT 
 BY 
 
 James W. Lapsley. 
 1893. 
 
 Printed by 
 
 "NVhittet & Sheppebbon, 
 
 Richmond, Va. 
 
J iT 
 
 
 
 
 /o 6^ f^'f'^^^-cyM . 
 
PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 TT7ITH the exception of the memoir and closing chapter, this book 
 is made up of extracts from my son's letters and diary, beg^inning 
 February 26, 1S90, the day he left New York, and ending March 17, 
 1892, a few days before his death. 
 
 For the better parts of the memoir and the editing of the letters 
 from May to July, 1890, we are indebted to his brother, R. A. L., who 
 would gladly and efficiently have done more of this labor of love had 
 not his time been constantly occupied as an evangehst elsewhere. 
 
 We have a continuous diary and also contemporaneous lettei*s, and 
 I have selected from one or the other, as seemed best, in order to give 
 briefly a clear and connected view of his joumeyiugs and laboi's, and 
 of the countries and peoples among whom he went. 
 
 In his daily intercourse with people of divers tongues, he acquired 
 polyglot capacities and habits which naturally show themselves in his 
 famihar writings, in editing which an effort was at first made to 
 translate or substitute the strange words that occiu' with others. This 
 was found vmdesirable, in place of which I give here a Kttle glossary 
 showing the meanings of those most commonly occurring ; in addition 
 to which, it is well to be forewarned that almost every place and pei-son 
 has at least two names; e. g., Leopold\alle is known also as Kintamo; 
 Bwemba, as Chumbii-i; Luluabiu'g, the farthest point east to which 
 he journeyed, is called also Malange; and Underbill, where he died, 
 is known as Tunduwa, etc, etc. And there are no estabUshed rules 
 of spelling, and hence we must not think it strange to tind the same 
 word written by him in different ways at different times. 
 
 As an example of the strange mixing of languages, see the diary- 
 March 25, 1891, chapter VII., and note. 
 
 J. W. L. 
 
 Annisto>% Aj^\... August, 1892. 
 
CONTENTS: 
 
 Paox. 
 
 CHAPTER!. 
 Memoir, 11 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 Home Letters, New York to Banana, Feb'y-May, 1890, . . 25 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Banana to Leopoldville. Letters. May-July, 1890, . . .52 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 To Bolobo, Lukunga and the Pool. Letters and Diary. July to 
 
 December, 1890, 75 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Canoe Trip to the Duma. Diary. Dec, 1890,-Feb'y, 1891, . 93 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 To Lukunga. Letters. February and March, 1891, . . . 129 
 
 CHAPTER VI L 
 
 To Luebo on Steamer "Florida." Diary. March and April, 1891, 136 
 
 CHAPTER VII L 
 
 At Luebo. Diary. April-September, 1891, .... 164 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Luebo, Luluabui-g, Boma. Letters. Sept., 1891,-Mar,, 1892, . 198 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 The End, . . .229 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 Ba. — A prefix signifying people, as " Bakongo " the Congo people. But in speaking 
 of imUvidaals ainoug the tribes around Luebo, the prefix " Mo " is iised, as 
 Chiuyama of the Bakete tribe is called a " Mokete, " etc. 
 
 Ki. — A prefix signifying tongue or speech, as "Kikongo" the language of the 
 Congo people. 
 
 Bena. — Sometimes written simjjly '"B, " a town or village. 
 
 Bi'LA ^Iatadi. — Literally, rock breaker; the n.ame given Stanley by the Africans; 
 apphed now to all State ofl&cers, soldiers and employees. 
 
 Chimbec. — A house. 
 
 Chicot. — A whip, cat o' nine tails. 
 
 Chop. — Nonn and verb. Food and to eat. 
 
 Cowries. — Shells, used in currency. 
 
 Dash. — Noun and verb. A present, and to give. 
 
 KwAXGA, or QuANGA. — The native bread. 
 
 MuNDELE. — 'White man. 
 
 Nguvo. — Hippopotamus. 
 
 Ntaku. — A small brass rod, about a foot long; the currency. 
 
 Xtau (pronounced Neyon). — Elephant. 
 
 Palaver. — Any sort of interview, talk, controversy, contention, war. 
 
 Sabby. — To know. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 MEMOIR. 
 
 AT Underbill, an English Mission Station, neax* the foot of the 
 Cataracts of the Congo, on the 26th of March, 1892, a young 
 soldier of the Cross put off his armor and entered into rest. He had 
 "been in the dark continent nearly two years, and had not completed 
 his twenty-sixth year when he was called to his high reward. It 
 might seem that his hfe came to an untimely end. But since the 
 days of the martyr Stephen, our Lord has often taken honor to him- 
 self from those who, at the very threshold of a career of richest 
 promise, have laid down their lives for his sake. Thus at the head 
 of the roll of Scottish martyrs stands Patrick Hamilton, who suffered 
 at the stake when but twenty-foiu", accomplishing more by his death 
 than he could by the longest life, although he was learned, eloquent, 
 and of the blood royal of Scotland; and in these latter days Da^dd 
 Brainerd, Henry Martyn, Allen Gardiner, Hannington, Keith Fal- 
 coner, and many more have thus glorified their Master in an early 
 death. To these names of blessed memory we may now add that of 
 another, whose brief life these pages record. 
 
 SAJa'EL NORVELL LaPSLEY 
 
 was born in Selma, Alabama, Api'il 14th, 1866. He came into life 
 with the inestimable advantage of pious parentage and a godly 
 ancestiy. He was the third son of James Woods Lapsley and Sara 
 E. Pratt, his wife : he an elder in the church, and both of them children 
 of Presbyterian ministers. On his father's side the blood was that of 
 the Scotch-Irish and Scotch, who came to the Valley of Virginia over 
 one hundred and fifty years ago; he being descended from ]\Iichael 
 Woods, of Albemarle, an Irish immigrant, who came up the Valley in 
 1734; his son-in-law, Joseph Lapsley, coming by way of Pennsylvania 
 a httle later, and also from Andi-ew Woods, of Botetourt, and Mary 
 Poage, his wife, and counting among his ancestors in the last centuiy 
 the Moores, Rayburns, and Armstrongs, who came into the Valley 
 country when it was a wilderness. 
 
 His father's father was the Rev. Robert Armstrong Lapsley, D. D., 
 
 11 
 
12 MEMOIR. 
 
 of Nashville, Tenu., a name still greatly revered through Tennessee 
 and Keutuck}'. And in the old cemetery at Nashville, over the grave 
 of his father's mother, Catherine Etitherford Lapsley, is an inscription 
 telling of her pious life and triumphant death, and of her descent 
 from Samuel Rutherford, of the Westminster Assembly'. Her father 
 was John Moore Walker, son of Joseph Walker, for thirty years a 
 trustee and treasurer of Washington College, now the Washington 
 and Lee University. Joseph Walker's wife was Jane Moore, an aunt 
 of Mary Moore, the heroine of the little book in our Sunday-school 
 libraries, The (J aptltes of Abbs Valley} How the name and character 
 of the brave old Covenanter, Samuel Rutherford, has been held in 
 reverence, is observable from the constant recurrence of his name and 
 that of his wife, Catherine, in the families of his descendants. An 
 instance is that of Samuel Rutherford Lapsley, an uncle of the sub- 
 ject of this Memoir (and for whom he was named), his father's 
 youngest brother, who, in his twentieth year, got his death wound in 
 the front of the battle at Shiloh, April, 1862, struck down with 
 the colors of his regiment in his hands. 
 
 On the mother's side the lineage was drawn from New England 
 and the Georgia low-country. His mother's father, the Rev. Horace 
 Southworth Pratt, was from Connecticut, but sj)ent his life in Georgia 
 and Alabama, dying while ])rofessor of Belles-lettres in the University 
 of Alabama, in which office he was succeeded by his son. Rev. J(jhn 
 W. Pratt, D. D., afterwards pastor of the Presbyterian Church in 
 Lexington, Va., and of the Second Church in Louisville, Ky. His 
 mother's mother, Isabel Drysdale, was of an old loyalist Episcopal 
 family of the low-country, to which the late Bishop Drysdale, of 
 Louisiana, belonged. Rather than rebel against King George, they 
 fled to the Bahamas, where Mrs. Pratt was bom. She was equally 
 eminent for piety, literary taste, and business capacity. For many 
 years a widow, she managed well her children's education and pro- 
 
 ' Mrs. K.aj^ our venerable auut, yays: "The book, Ciiptlvesof AbbsValley, omits one 
 thing that my mother used to tell. She said, as the Indians were taking Cousin Mary 
 away, that she caught up her Bible and carried it with her through her long cap- 
 tivity, and when she was at last released and came back to live at Grandma Walker's 
 she still had that Bible. Grandma was quite a match-maker, and thought very 
 highly of preachers. She married Cousin Mary Moore to the Eev. Samuel Brown, 
 and among their children were five preachers, one of whom was the llev. Dr. 
 "William Brown, of Richmond. She married her daughter, mj' Auut Peggy, to 
 Eev. Samuel Houston. Their son, Rev. Samuel Kutherford Houston, was mis- 
 sionary to Greece, and his daughter, Janet, is now a missionary m Mexico." 
 
MEMOIR. 13 
 
 perty, and also found time to wi-ite and publish a number of books 
 for children. 
 
 These brief references to an honored and faithful ancestry are worthy 
 of record, showing the value of family religion, coming down from 
 generation to generation, and testifying to the faithfulness of a cove- 
 nant-keeping God. 
 
 The power of religion was early manifest in the life of our young 
 missionary. He was admitted to the communion of the Selma Chui'ch, 
 in which he was born, on the 16th of April, 1876, having just passed his 
 tenth birth-day. And like the Lord Jesus, he "went about his Father's 
 business" at an early age; for, only two years later, he acted as super- 
 intendent of a Sunday-school for the negroes in the little church built 
 by his father and uncles at Vine Hill, their country home, twenty miles 
 north of Selma. The school was, iu fact, managed by his grand-aunt, 
 Mrs. Elsie M. Kay, but he did his part in a quiet and efficient manner. 
 Mrs. Iv. says, "I well remember the iarst meeting, when Sam had to 
 open the school with prayer and say a few words to the crowd that 
 filled the church. He was badly frightened, and came near bi*eaking 
 down once, but he looked toward me and caught my eye, went on and 
 got thi'ough nicety. Among the pupils was William Clark, the black- 
 smith, a colored Baptist jDreacher, who often stopped over after school, 
 to discuss with us some troublesome points of doctrine. I remember 
 Sam's sedate manner as, pacing up and down or standing before Wil- 
 liam, he would say, 'But, Uncle WiUiam, what does Paul sa}^ about 
 that?' And he then would quote to him the Scripture." 
 
 At the outset of his career he was, like his Master, subjected to great 
 temptations and conflicts, which continued for years. It was a very 
 common thing for him to come late at night to the bedside of his father 
 and mother, and tell them of his agony of trial from doubts and fears 
 and evil thoughts ; sometimes it almost seemed as if his mind would 
 give way under the pressure of these teiTible conflicts ; and it is highly 
 probable that some of these siftings of Satan continued in his later 
 years, and helped to wear him away, even though latterly he said but 
 little of it to hunian helpers. 
 
 All kinds of knowledge he carefully gathered and readilv assimilated. 
 He veiy early learned the geography of the heavens, and could call the 
 stars and constellations by their names; and crossing the Equator in 
 May, 1890, he observed and wrote of the new acquaintances he was 
 making among the stars looking down from the Southern sky. 
 
 He had a wonderful love and talent for music ; and we hardly knoAV 
 when he began to get melody from the piano and organ. Very often 
 
14 MEMOm. 
 
 from the little chui'cli at Vine Hill "would be heard late in the night 
 the tones of the organ, as the bo}', all alone in the darkness, plaved 
 over all he could think of, one piece gliding into another, and now and 
 then strange new chords, his own improvising, floating out upon the 
 night air. 
 
 Many in different parts of Alabama remember the fair-faced youth, 
 who during a summer vacation was with the Synod's evangehst, leading 
 with the voice and organ the music of the great congregation gathered 
 under "The Presbyterian gospel tent." In his diary are African boat 
 songs, written down carefully, the notes for each part being given, all 
 being caught by him as they fell from the lips of his wild Bayansi 
 boatmen, in his canoe trip in January, 1891, up the Kassai and Duma. 
 
 In his final j^reparation for college, he was privileged to receive 
 instruction from an eminent scholar and divine, the Eev. James A. 
 Waddell, D. D., of Virginia, who preached and taught in the Vine Hill 
 Church in 1880-'81. The mutual esteem and affection of teacher and 
 pupil was exceeding!}' interesting ; and Dr. Waddell ever spoke of him 
 as the most brilliant pupil that he had ever had. 
 
 He went to the University of Alabama in the fall of 1881, entering 
 Sophomore, and graduated at the head of his class in the summer of 
 1884 ; each of the three years having ended with his taking the highest 
 stand in his class, though that honor was sometimes diNdded with 
 others. He assisted his brother James in organizing the Young Men's 
 Christian Association at the University. It was said in Tuscaloosa- 
 that, while some of the faculty and city pastors were consulting and 
 arranging to get prepared a constitution and by-laws for organizing a 
 Christian association among the students, the " Lapsley boys," who had 
 just entered, and did not know what the elders were doing, had quietly 
 gone ahead and organized it. Of course, an innovation in the direction 
 of religious life among the students did not pass unchallenged, and 
 some of the usual results ensued, but courage, tact and good temper 
 enabled them to carry everything through quietly. ' 
 
 Dui'ing his senior year (not yet eighteen years old) and the year 
 afterwards, he was employed at the University as an assistant professor, 
 and he was elected for the third time in 188G, but declined the ap- 
 pointment, being afraid that the easy, quiet college life, surrounded 
 by books and pleasant congenial friends, would draw him away from 
 his purpose to enter the ministry. But he left in Tuscaloosa a name 
 and history such as few have made for themselves. 
 
 The President of the University,'' conversing with the writer in 1884 
 
 ' See a reference to this iu a letter to his brother J., May 3, in Chapter IX. 
 •'Hon. B. B. Le^vis. 
 
MEMOIR. 15 
 
 or 1885, quoted approvingly the opinion of one of the most judicious 
 of the faculty, to the effect that no one superior to Sam had been 
 graduated from the University since the war. Another," now a 
 member of the faculty at Vanderbilt, writes from Dresden, Saxony, 
 speaking of him as the "brilliant, the heroic, the beloved member of 
 ovir class." Another* member of the University faculty writes, "Sam 
 came as near following in the footsteps of his Master as any man of 
 ancient or modern times." Another class-mate,' now en route for a 
 mission field in Japan, writes, " Sam's death was to me the voice of 
 God calling me to a nobler life. "Would that I had entered the sei-vice 
 as early as he ! " 
 
 He was cadet captain of one of the companies comprising the corps 
 of University cadets; and when the Alabama cadets took the prize at 
 the great competitive drill at the New Orleans Exposition in 1885, he 
 expressed a pardonable pride at their success, recognizing in some of 
 those winning the prize boys whose thoroughness and accuracy in 
 soldierly accomplishments were results, in part at least, of his long and 
 careful driUing. 
 
 The scholastic year, 1885-'86, was sj^ent at Union Theological 
 Seminary, Virginia. A letter from there telling of his work in the 
 neighboring country' says, "His zeal made him go into every home, 
 good and bad, and even the old ' Hardshells ' loved him, and one gave 
 him the wood for this same chapel; another, a Methodist, woidd help 
 him in carpenter work, and two men, who each ' had killed his man ' in 
 drimken carousal, would go to hear 'the little preacher' when they 
 would never listen to others. One man that Sam was interested in 
 was about to leave the neighborhood, and had sent his family away, leav- 
 ing him alone in a big comfortless house. Sam came by my house on his 
 way there. We expostulated, telling him it was too cold, and the man 
 had only one quilt left in his house I can now bring back his merry 
 laugh : ' I am not going there to sleep or eat either ; I want to talk with 
 Ransom.' He wouldn't take or let me send him any comforts." She 
 says, "he came back the next morning bright and hajipy, and being 
 made to tell, it was learned that the fare was ' cold cornbread ash-cake,' 
 and the bed the floor, with the single quilt for theii* cover and a stick 
 of wood for a pillow; but he said, 'I had a good talk with Ransom.'" 
 "That man," she says, "lives now and will thank him some day for 
 pointing his way to heaven. My husband says, 'teU his mother his 
 was the most devoted spirit I ever knew, and now he is tasting his 
 reward.'" 
 
 ' Professor John Daniel. - Colonel E. A. Hardawaj'. ^ j^ey_ jj q Hawkins. 
 
16 MEMOIR. 
 
 Another writing from Hampden-Sidney says, "I have thought of 
 him so often lately, and more than once thanked God that I have 
 known a man capable of such noble self-abnegation." 
 . The summer of 1886 was spent, under direction of the Presbytery of 
 North Alabama, in ministering to the church at Decatur and the 
 neighboring churches in the countiy south of Decatur, Hartsell, 
 Somerville and Fairview. His first appearance at one of his appoint- 
 ments in the country was on foot, having walked the greater j^art of 
 the way from the railroad. He found the family with whom he was 
 to stay all in the wheat-field, and at once set in and worked with them 
 till they were through. A strong attachment sprung up between him 
 and th.ese good people in the hill country, and when the summer was 
 over he was unwilling to leave them uusupplied with preaching. The 
 people at home were anxious to have him with them, and asked him to 
 come back to Vine Hill and spend the year teaching the home school. 
 He had been away constantly for four or five years, and must soon go 
 again and for good, and he was yet young enough to spare a year with 
 those dearest to him, and so he was persuaded to come, his brother 
 James, who was just out of the Seminar}^, going to supply the churches 
 in North Alabama. 
 
 But even now he was not willing to enjoy the rest afibrded him. 
 The Second Church in Birmingham was ministered to by Rev. James 
 Watson, an old and valued friend of his father and grandfather, who 
 was now quite infirm from age and long service. Mr. Watson and 
 the church asked him to come up and preach for them ; and so, 
 instead of resting, he went at the end of each week, a distance of 
 seventy-five miles, and preached and visited among the people, and 
 then retvu'ned to his school on Monday. When the summer came on 
 and the school session closed, he gave all his time to the church at 
 Birmingham. It was very hard work, and his health seemed at one 
 time to be endangered by it, but he suffered no permanent injury; 
 and he formed there some of the warmest and closest friendships of 
 his life. One of his Birmingham friends' writes, May 20th, 1892: 
 "I did not try to restrain the tears this morning as we gathered 
 around his picture and looked in his lovely face; and on 'Children's 
 Day ' the address was devoted in part to him and his work. To-night 
 at our church we are to have a memorial service. Om* people of his 
 day love him and cherish his memory." 
 
 In the fall of 1887 he went to McCormick Seminary, Chicago, 
 hoping to gather and absorb in the great western metropolis varied 
 
 1 Dr. E. H. ShoU. 
 
MEMOIR. 17 
 
 and useful lessons, not to be found in books anywhere. In the sum- 
 mei* of 1888 he preached at Royalton, Minnesota, returning to Chicago 
 in the fall, and graduating in the spring of 1889. We have few 
 memorials of his hf e during these two years ; but a letter from one, ' 
 whose friendship he gained there, contains the following suggestive 
 sentences: "I never came in contact with a young man who came so 
 close to my heart as he did. I loved him and have followed him with 
 the most tender and intense interest. Dr. and Mrs. Herrick Johnston 
 were deej)ly touched with the news of his death, remembering him as 
 they did with so much interest. Dr. Halsey has always had such an 
 affectionate interest in Sam, both Avhile here and since he left, and has 
 often talked with me of him. Last night he said he had expected 
 him to be read of b}' and by as we read of Livingston now. Three 
 things he said impressed him so much as showing his character and 
 purpose: First, that he should go to Africa; second, that he should 
 go unmarried; third, that he should go with a colored man. He said 
 he seemed to be so long-headed and far-seeing, and he could only 
 wonder why such promise was interrupted." 
 
 A class-mate,* writing from Utah Territory, says: "We were asso- 
 ciated in the oj^ening of the Chicago City Mission W^ork, which is now 
 the Olivet Presbyterian Church. I was named as leader in the mis- 
 sion. Sam never failed me, never ; and I believe the success of that 
 movement was, under God, due more to his efforts than to those of 
 any other one engaged in it." Speaking of the meetings held in their 
 rooms, after returning from the mission work, this brother adds: 
 " Two traits stood out prominently, faithfulness to duty, and loyalty 
 to home; there was always a petition for the dear ones at home. 
 There was no high- wrought feeling, but we had a sense of being in 
 the presence of a soul, with face set Hke a flint to gain ' the power of 
 his resurrection in the fellowship of his sufferings.' " 
 
 In the spring of 1889 he returned home, the family having mean- 
 time moved up to Anniston ; and from his return till the departure 
 for Africa, in Februaiy, 1890, he was engaged mainly among the poor 
 and neglected, whose homes are clustered around the work-shops, 
 factories and furnaces in West Anniston, where his brother Robert 
 was pastor of a new-built church. This brother gives the following 
 account of his life during these months : 
 
 "Sam had been appointed by the Home Missions Committee of 
 Tuscaloosa Presbytery to supply for the summer a group of churches 
 
 ' G. B. Dickinson, Esq. '^ Eev. H. H. McCreery. 
 
 2 
 
18 MEMOIE. 
 
 in Hale county, Alabama. At my earnest solicitation lie gave up this 
 appointment and came to Anniston to spend the summer with me, 
 working partly in a mission of the West Anniston Church, and partly 
 in the mission of the First Church at Glen Addie (another suburb of 
 Anniston). He gave the Sunday mornings to Glen Addie, and the 
 afternoon and night to Washertown, as the West Anniston Mission 
 was famiharly known, from the first of May to the middle of Novem- 
 ber, 1889. The immediate results of his work were the organization 
 of the Glen Addie Mission into the Anniston Third Church, with 
 thirty-three members, and an addition to the West Anniston Church 
 thi'ough the Washertown Mission of almost an equal number ; and 
 beneath this numerical result, striking as it is, was an impression for 
 time and eternity upon these two communities raraly ever achieved 
 by any man in so short a time. 
 
 "In the Washertown neighborhood particularly Uttle short of a social 
 and religious revolution was effected. For the first time in the lives 
 of the poor people in that spiritually neglected locahty, there came 
 into their homes, ate at their tables, and walked with them on their 
 streets, one who bore the manifest image of the Lord Jesus ; and the 
 results were very much like those which followed the footsteps of the 
 Master himself. He was specially successful in individual cases. He 
 more than once quoted to me, 'Who will bring me into the strong 
 city? Who will lead me into Edom? Will not thou, O God?' And 
 he would then say, 'Edom is C.'s boarding-house in Glen Addie, and 
 M. S.'s house in Washertown.' The conversion of the individual last 
 named was given him as one of the most signal triumphs of his work. 
 This man was, upon his own oft-repeated confession in our meetings after 
 his conversion, one of the worst of sinners. He was a man of strong 
 character, carr^'ing under a I'ough and careless exterior much capacity 
 and kindness. Sam wisely selected him as the centre and leader of 
 influence in the neighborhood. He hated Sam's coming to his house, 
 and left messages with his wife (which she never delivered) forbidding 
 his coming again. Sam would come and take meals with him, ask a 
 blessing at his table, have prayers with his family, the host outwardly 
 polite, but inwardly rebelling against it all. The first strong impres- 
 sion on this man's soul was made as he came home one evening through 
 the pines, and saw a man kneeling behind a tree. He drew near to 
 see the sight, and found Sam on his knees, who arose and came 
 forward saying, ' I am glad to see you, I was praying for you ' : and 
 then he made him sit down as he read the Scriptures to him. He says 
 Sam got him to service first by meeting him on the raih'oad-track, 
 
MEMOIR. 19 
 
 some distance from his house, as he came home wet and muddy from 
 his work. (To give the incident in his own words.) 'I wasn't a 
 stud}Tlng about him when he stepped out from behind a box-car, and 
 says he, "How do you do." "Well enough," I answered him, as short 
 as pie-crust. He said, "Are you going home ? " "Yes," said I as grum 
 as I could. " I am going that way," said he. I didn't say nothing, 
 didn't countenance him no more an' if he was a dog, but he went on 
 with me, talking pleasant and friendly, took supper at my house, and 
 after supper said, "You know you promised me to go to church to- 
 night; it's about time we were going." I couldn't think of no excuse 
 to get out of it, and he started on and held the gate open for me to go 
 before, and there was nothing for me to do but to go along with him. 
 And next night I joined the church, and have been following Jesus ever 
 since. ' Other like cases occvurred, all showing the same unwavering 
 purpose and consecration, together with a manifest enjoyment of the 
 service, that at once lessened the hardship and increased his power 
 for good. 
 
 "Dui'ing the last protracted meeting at Washertown, when most of 
 the fruits of his work there were gathered up, and which continued four 
 weeks, he took his valise over to our Httle Mission Cha2:)el, made his 
 toilet and did his studying there (he preached twice a day for the 
 whole four weeks), and took his meals and slept among the people. 
 In this connection he once quoted to me the remark of a friend at 
 McCormick Seminary, who was remonstrated with for going down to 
 live in the slums of Chicago, where he had his Mission Chapel, and 
 made the quaint rejoinder that, ' he had noticed that the Lord Jesus 
 while here among men did not come down from heaven every morning 
 bringing his dinner with him and go back every night.' 
 
 " So thoroughly was his house to house visitation accomphshed that, 
 when he resigned the Washertown work into my hand, he gave me from 
 memory a map of the entire district, with the name of the family and 
 the religious chai'acter of the inmates of every house. 
 
 "I had confidently looked forward to the time when he would have 
 carried out on the banks of the Congo the lessons learned at his 
 Master's feet in this Annistou jVIission work, and a more conspicuous 
 and far wider harvest of souls wovUd have been his. The Lord willed 
 it otherwise. For that very reason it will be a comfort to know that 
 he went to the foreign field, where his work was to end so soon, wear- 
 ing a crown of souls already won for Jesus at home." 
 
 To some there seemed an incongruity between him and his work. 
 He was essentially a scholar, with a mind and manner and appearance 
 
20 MEMOIR. 
 
 showing innate refinement and high culture, yet his life was mainly 
 devoted to labors among a class of people wholly different, and he was 
 eminently successful with them. An explanation of his success is 
 given by his uncle, II. L., in these words: "The trait which this early 
 departure emphasizes is his consecration; honest, thorough consecra- 
 tion. He did not have the traits to influence the poor and low, but he 
 did influence them, everywhere, because 'he gave himself fur them.'" 
 
 But there was nothing of the ascetic about him. We would have a 
 very imperfect idea of his life if we kept out of view that part of it 
 exemphfied by a picture at home, which presents him in the centre of 
 a group of handsome young men and maidens, all seated on the ground 
 and garlanded with flowers; or if we forget how he enjoyed and made 
 others enjoy social and home pleasures and recreations, the song, the 
 ringing chorus, and all the games and merry makings, charactei'istic of 
 a really happy home life. And mention also should be made of that 
 sunny humor which was so bright a feature of his character. The 
 surface of a deep and singularly consecrated life was rij^pled over con- 
 tinually with a genuine appreciation of all that was happy and mirth 
 provoking. None that knew him can ever forget the bright glow of 
 Ins countenance, and the flash of his blue eyes accompanying some 
 playful sally of an ever ready wit. From his childhood he had the 
 faculty of extracting some quaint or odd experience and amusing 
 application out of almost every book he read and new acquaintance 
 he made: and his sober earnest work among the i:ioor was lit up by 
 the keenest yet kindliest appreciation of the oddities and humorous 
 pecuharities constantly cropping out in a societ}' freed from constraints 
 and conventionalities. Those who have I'ead the letters and joui'nal of 
 his African labors will feel better than can be described the charm 
 which this never failing humor imparted to all his writings, especially 
 to those written cur rente calcDno, as his letters were, for the eyes of 
 loving friends ; and not the least valuable lesson of his life is the teach- 
 ing this gives us, that genuine and exalted piety may form the Avarp and 
 woof of one of the sunniest characters ever known. 
 
 And he was equally free from enthusiasm as from asceticism. His 
 final course was chosen and determined on after long and deliberate 
 consideration. Before he left McCormick Seminary he had thought 
 much of his duty to become a foreign missionary, and there was in 
 his mind an inclination toward Africa as the worst field and the most 
 needy, and hence the one calling most loudly for help. Then, the 
 General Assembly, in 1889, concluded to establish the Congo Mission. 
 Some one must go, and yet none seemed willing to offer for it. He 
 
MEMOIR. 21 
 
 had reason to believe he was fitted for the work, and he knew that he 
 was wiUing to give himself up to it. if such was God's will. There 
 were no counter calls or conflicting duties, and the way seemed open, 
 so he offered himself to the cause in these words : 
 
 "Anniston, Ajl.\., August 5, 1889. 
 " Rev. M. H. Houston, D. D., 
 
 " Secretary of Foreign Missions, Nashville, Tenn. : 
 
 " Reverend and Deak Sir : I hereby ask to be sent by yovu' Com- 
 mittee as youi* missionary to the Congo Valley, in Africa. I do so 
 because it is my desire and couxdctiou that I should preach Christ to 
 the heathen, and for several reasons I want to go to Africa, if God 
 and the church permit me. 
 
 " Yours in Christ's work, 
 
 "S. N. Lapsley." 
 
 After due consideration his offer was accepted, and Presbj-terj- met 
 at Anniston, December 4th, 1889, and ordained him for the, work; and 
 the Rev. W. , H. Shepjiard, a colored member of the Presbytery of 
 Atlanta, a highly approved graduate of the Institute at Tuscaloosa, 
 offered, and was accepted also. 
 
 Just prior to lea\dng for Africa they together visited the churches, 
 and deeply interested audiences gathered to bid them good-bye, at 
 Selma, Anniston, Birmingham, Nashville, Louisville, and Washington. 
 Being given a j)rivate uiterview at the White House, the President 
 expressed his warm sympathy and interest, and had Mr. Blaine to 
 give letters to our Ministers abroad; kindly reminding us also, that 
 in these days of electricity and steam a foreign mission was not so 
 far away as in the olden time. At the mission offices in New York 
 and Boston such advice and information as was to be had was freely 
 given. Friends everywhere gave and did what kindly solicitude could 
 do, to prepare and provide them for their long journey ; but the sad 
 hour of departure came, and the steamer Adriatic sailed with them 
 from New York, on Wednesday, the 26th of February, 1890. 
 
 A few months after their departure "Home letters from S. N. L.," 
 which give account of their journey from the day they left New York 
 till they reached Africa, were printed and circulated privately; and 
 from time to time there have appeared in the newspapers extracts from, 
 his letters and diaries, which have been read with great interest, and 
 have evoked frequent requests for publication of more of his writings. 
 Since his death these requests have been more ui'gent, and to his 
 
22 MEMOIR. 
 
 fi'iends it has been i:)reseuted as a duty to the cause we all love, "That 
 some connected account of his life and work should be pubhshed." 
 
 One judicious friend' writes, "I believe it would be blessed as no 
 other missionary literature would be, and it mar be that thus God wiU 
 make most use of the noble young life laid down so soon." Another'^ 
 writes from the far West, "I had often told our children of his brave 
 and consecrated spirit shown in his undertaking that great difficult 
 and dangerous work. . . . Many feel deeply interested in knowing all 
 the facts, and a Memoir would be used to inspire the children of many 
 a Christian family with a deep devotion to the Master's cause." Another^ 
 says, "The effect of this sacrifice will be to stir in many hearts the 
 impulse to say, 'Here am I, send me.'" Another friend suggests that 
 the publication would be "the surest means of perpetuating the in- 
 fluence of his short but devoted life." 
 
 In following these suggestions, the constant effort is to let the 
 subject of these memoirs speak for himself, the letters and diaries 
 being followed as closely as practicable, and with a minimum of editorial 
 interference with the original text. 
 
 The " Home letters " are reprinted with a few additions and some notes 
 taken from his contemporaneous diaries. Then follows the account taken 
 from his letters and diary of the progress from the coast up to Stanley 
 Pool, the long foot and hammock journey of two hundred and thirty 
 miles; and after that comes an account of the trijD up to Bolobo, and 
 then back and down the caravan foot-path, hunting for cai'riers to go 
 to the interior -, and then the expedition in open canoes up the Kassai 
 a,nd Duma and back to the Pool; and then the journey on the Steamer 
 Ilorida up to Luebo ; and then the account of the settlement at Luebo, 
 and the trip to Luluaberg : and then the last journey back to the coast 
 where aU his toilsome wanderings ceased. 
 
 Thus we give all that we know of him during these last busy years 
 till the end came, and the circumstances of his death are told in the 
 words of the kind friends who were with him in the final hours. 
 
 ' Kev. D. C. Ilankin, Nashville. - Rev. J. J. Read, Indian Territory. 
 
 ^ W. S. Plumer Bryan, D. D. , Cincinnati. 
 
ORIGINAL PREFACE TO "Home Letters." 
 
 Anuistou, Ala,, July 1, 1890. 
 "VTTJMEROUS kin people and friends have asked to read these letters, and they 
 -»- ' have gone around, and have become worn and scattered until, that we may pre- 
 serve them and also gratify many to whom the writer is dear, they have been 
 printed. 
 
 The selection of a site for the Congo Mission was, by the Committee, devolved 
 •upon the missionaries, and necessarj' information to enable them to select judici- 
 ously was best obtained in Brussels and London. The Court of Leopold, King of 
 the Belgians, is the centre of political and commercial influence in the Congo Free 
 State ; and the most successful mission work there has its centre at Harley House, 
 East London. Dr. H. Grattan Guinness was met in Boston, and gave a kind invi- 
 tation and introduction to his wife, who, in his absence, is managing affairs at 
 Harley House. In Washington in addition to formal letters from the State De- 
 partment, most influential and kindly commendation was obtained to parties hav- 
 ing influence in Brussels. And the first news of the visit to the Continent was in 
 a letter from General Sanford to Senator Morgan, forwarded to us here. Extracts 
 from which are as follows : 
 
 Bkussels, March 21, 1890. 
 
 Deae Senator Morgan : I have your good letter by the hand of Mr. Lapsley; 
 or rather he sent it to me from London. I wrote to him to come over, and I have 
 put him in communication with the Congo people, who will see that he is well 
 treated and have all possible facilities for carrying out his mission. He is indeed 
 a very young man for such a work, but all I see. of him pleases me and inspires 
 
 confidence He is bound not to suffer at the hands of our people 
 
 there. I'll see to that Your letter was so good that I sent it yesterday to the 
 King for his periisal. I will try and secure him an aiidience of his majesty a 
 
 little later 
 
 Truly yours, 
 
 H. S. Sanfoed. 
 
 And the last letter we have from Europe, was one to General Sanford, written a 
 few days before sailing and forwarded to us, as f oUlows : 
 
 51 Bow EoAD E. London, April 5, 1890. 
 My Dear Sir: Your kind letter of the '2nd inst, came duly to hand. Accept my 
 thanks for the letters of introduction to your Congo friends. I am sure they will 
 be of great service to me. We are to sail about the 15th, the Afrikaan being de- 
 layed as you predicted she would be. My outfit and stores have already been for- 
 warded and are to-night, I suppose, crossing to Holland. 
 
 I have received from M. Tan Eetvelder a letter of introduction to the Governor- 
 General, enclosed in a very kind note. I shall not forget that I owe this and my 
 other favors in Brussels to your kind ofiices. I hope that I may have the oppor- 
 tunity to show my appieciation and that you will command me. I am with sincere 
 regard, 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 S. N. Latslet. 
 Gen-eral H. S. SA^ ford. 
 
 Hotel l)e Bcllemie^ Brussels. 
 
CHAPTER IT. 
 
 HOME LETTERS FROM S.N. L." 
 
 Febeuakt 2G to Apeil 22, 1890. 
 
 Steamer Adriatic, Fehmiary 26, 1890. 
 
 MY Dear Papa and Mamma : To-day lias been a perfect day so 
 far as smooth sea and cloudless sky could make it, and 
 now the moon is out, just past its second quarter, so that we 
 shall have moonlight all our voyage. 
 
 My stateroom looks much like a home — a sort of home now. 
 I have it to myself, and that means more room than in 314 
 Gilsey House. Still I wish I might spend to-night as near you as 
 I have these last pleasant days ; and 314 Gilsey House seems very 
 pleasant in memory now. Here I have an opposite berth for a 
 table, and an upper berth for a rack, or else I may have it taken 
 out. My coats and hats hang on nails, my toilet articles are 
 unpacked and stowed in sight and reach, and then with seat and 
 washstand, I have six feet by five to spare. I am wi-iting on 
 my Glen-Addie portfolio. I have met two pleasant English 
 gentlemen, one a Wesley an minister and the other a Church of 
 England clergyman. 
 
 I felt as I never had in my life, when I saw you walk out of 
 sight in the great shed. I thought I saw you again on the Bat- 
 tery, and waved, and ran, and tried to see better, but lost you. 
 I didn't know how much I loved you till to-day. I want a 
 chance again to show you both how much ; but I shall try to 
 honor you by being a good man, by getting over the faults that 
 you know, and filling the place God has put me in, as ^'o^x 
 have shown me how. 
 
 There are some very sick people aboard now I think, but I 
 don't laugh at them — it don't look funny, and it don't feel very 
 
 25 
 
26 LIFE AND LETTEKS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 funny, as both Slieppard and I can testify. I got squeamish in 
 the stuflfy saloon at lunch, and a " cigarette young man " set me 
 off about an hour and a half after, so I had a typical case about 
 half or three quarters of an hour. Since then, except in places 
 where I smell cooking, etc., I am quite at ease. I hardly expect 
 either of us will suffer. 
 
 I don't think you heard any whistle from our steamer this 
 morning, the tug whistled, and I thought — they are saying, 
 "There's the steamer!" The tug left us to ourselves before we 
 passed the Battery. Then about twelve miles out, I calculated, 
 the pilot dropped off, and rowed over to the pilot yacht, that 
 stood off about five hundred yards, leaving us to the light-house 
 above, the sun by day, the moon and stars by night. I thought 
 that my piloting henceforth must be from the lights above. Do 
 you remember, Mamma, we sang "pilot me" at Mr. Moody's 
 meeting? Well, I must find Sheppard for prayers, and say 
 good night for this first day's journal. Tillie and Isabel, part 
 second. 
 
 Your loving son, Sam. 
 
 February 28. — The diary has this: "Enjoy my Bible a good deal. 
 Read Hannington. What a brave man! . . . Jesus and Paul avoided 
 needless peril. Wisdom of a serpent often enabled Livingston to pass 
 through savages unharmed and unharming. Let this Book be my 
 'time book'; God the time-keeper." 
 
 Saturday, March 1. 
 TiLLiE AND Isabel, Dear Little Girls : You want to know 
 something of our voyage, I su23pose. Well, I did not enter into 
 it with much zest, I confess ; seeing the last of Mamma and Papa 
 was about all I could think of for the first day — still there 
 was much to see. Two steamers started out with us, and the 
 race would have been very interesting if we had been nearer 
 together ; but before night they were out of sight. About 4 P. M. 
 we passed the great Teutonic outward bound — she is a monster, 
 more than twice the weight of the Adriatic. We ran iip a signal 
 flag of enquiry, and she replied with a string of little flags, blue, 
 red, red-white and blue, roan, brindle and brick dust. I sup- 
 pose, and I think our captain imderstood by them whether there 
 
LETTEIiS WHITTEN ON THE STEAMER. 27 
 
 had been storms or icebergs, fair or foul winds, — I didn't. We 
 whistled with our three-headed whistle, there rose a column of 
 steam by the Teutonics forward stack ; then after a still minute 
 the deep response came to us across the ripplin<:f water, and we 
 passed on our ways. Thursday was rough, and I found it more 
 salubrious in my berth, after an unpleasant experiment at break- 
 fast. Friday and to-day were nice again, as I am quite easy 
 with only the ordinary rocking. The white gulls follow us way 
 out here 900 miles from New York. I can't divine the attrac- 
 tion, but they are beautiful ; once in a while they take a rest on 
 a wave, then up and on again. 
 
 It is strange to wake at night and listen, not quite recognizing 
 the new world I am in, swash-sh-w-wash against the sides, on 
 my little windows, port holes they call them ; then from the heart 
 of the big mass, the big thump of the steady pulse, felt rather 
 than heard — I like it. First night I was waked by the big 
 whistle. I jumped up to see if a steamer was in sight — saw 
 nothing. Again and again the big toot, till I thought of the fog 
 whistle, and understood the warning to any stray vessel to keep 
 out of our way. To-day we passed the Grand Banks ; we had 
 fog again ; and to-night at dinner we almost stopped. About 
 nine to-night we passed three icebergs, one a monster, then a 
 wide ribbon of ice, "pancakes," about two miles long by fifty to 
 a himdred feet wide. There is the whistle again. The fog has 
 settled down, and we are stock still, afraid to move lest we hurt 
 some fine iceberg ; what a pity that would be ! 
 
 The boat's people are very fine for their places. The purser 
 is a bright, quick, gentlemanly fellow. He said, speaking of 
 Sheppard — ^" I had a fellow last trip who grumbled at a negro 
 whom we had — I bounced him. If a man acts the gentleman 
 we make him have a good time, white or black." So Sheppard 
 is very politely treated. The bedroom steward on my side is 
 very kind, and understands what is needed when people are a little 
 under the weather. The stewardess shows a striking family like- 
 ness to Her Majesty, the Empress of India, in face and figure ; so 
 she is a comely matron. The table is very good. To-day for 
 dinner we had a rabbit soup (under a novirae de plume), bass, 
 fillet of beef, goose or mallard duck, charlotte (which was blanc 
 
28 ' LTPE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 mange), lemon ice, coffee, with two or tliree alterations each 
 course. 
 
 There are no good looking ladies on board, or only one 
 medium face. Everybody is just getting about now with ease; 
 but I don't expect to get acquainted with any of the ladies. 
 There is a good elder from a London Presbyterian Church here 
 on his Avay home from Honduras. He is co-elder with Dr. 
 Oswald Dykes, who is now principal of Regent College (Presby- 
 terian). Mr. Brodie (Scotch, I am almost willing to bet,) is 
 acquainted with a Tuscaloosa friend of Jimse and mine, now 
 living at Balize, British Honduras, Frank P. Watrous hj name. 
 I have his picture at Anniston, a peculiar looking fellow, but 
 quite a gentleman. The whistle blows every minute, and by 
 the echo we know there are icebergs near and in what direction. 
 We are creeping along like a man in a dark room, with rocking 
 chairs m it too — four knots an hour. 
 
 Nappy time — good night. 
 
 I do wish 3'ou could see the waves and the spray. I could 
 vv^atch it a month " steady," I believe. 
 
 Sunday, March 2. — The diary says: "A poor Sunday. Slept late 
 and otherwise dawdled. Not allowed to go to steerage. Much time 
 wasted in unprofitable discussion on Episcopacy and Presbytery." 
 
 Monday Evening. 
 Dear Norvell: I wish you could come aboard for awhile 
 this evening, what a fine time you would have! There isn't a 
 cloud in sight hardly, and that clear sunshine makes the water 
 clear, deep blue. The wind is quite on a lark, so we roll half 
 over on one side, then the other, and go diving head foremost 
 for a change. Its a lively trip to walk around the deck. Some- 
 times a big wave jumps up as high as the upper deck, that wets 
 folks on the lower deck you may be sure. It didn't keep me 
 from playing a new game on deck to-day. We have a broad 
 platform, about three by four, built sloping a little toward the 
 front, and a few inches from the floor. It is divided into twelve 
 squares, and the game is, to pitch little iron weights into the 
 squares, so they will lodge there. Each j^layer takes his turn, 
 throwing all five w^eights, aiming first for square one, then two, etc. 
 
LETTERS WRITTEN ON THE STEAMER. 29 
 
 Wlnehever player lias first lodged a weight in each square in 
 order, has won the game. I am in the saloon writing to yon, 
 and they are setting the two long tables in the middle for snppei- ; 
 they call it dinner, you know, like hotels. There are pineapples 
 and nuts and oranges on, and the napkins look much like they 
 expected a birthday party. Two curious things: there are 
 boards all around the table, fastened so as to stand three inches 
 and keep things from jumping into our laps. Above hang broad 
 boards with deep notches in their edges to hold wine glasses, 
 little red and blue, and clear ones. I don't use them, but many 
 of the gentlemen do. The chairs are screwed down of course, 
 and the seats arranged to turn. 
 
 Dear Eutherford : I think you would like to know some- 
 thing about our trip ; I know you would have found much that 
 was interesting in to-day's happenings. 
 
 Well, before I got up, I am sorry to say, a big whale paid us 
 a visit, and played fire-engine at a great rate. That probably 
 meant that he was a little shocked at our looks and ways. About 
 ten o'clock a big steamer passed about four miles south of us. 
 An old sea captain aboard pronounced it a Cunarder, because 
 her mainmast had yards, or I think that was why. At twelve 
 the captain (our vessel's captain I mean) took his sextant and 
 chart up on the bridge (that is, a platform across the upper 
 deck, about ten feet long, at the forward end of the deck), and 
 the reckoning for the day was taken. He found we were on 
 latitude, 4-4', 45' ; longitude, 37", 18'; and had run since yester- 
 day noon, 328 miles. We were then about 43"' north latitude 
 and 40' west longitude. We have to get to about 52" north lati- 
 tude, I think, and 3" west longitude. We are already a good 
 way north of the latitude of New York and about 1,708 miles 
 away. That leaves 1,200 yet to Liverpool. The passengers watch 
 very eagerly for the charts to be posted, showing our progress, 
 and lively guessing as to the number of miles, begins early in 
 the day. We had raw, cold weather when we passed the Grand 
 Banks of Newfoundland. You see the icebergs come cruising 
 down there as spring opens, and the chill in air and water is 
 so great, that we could almost tell how far off they were by the 
 
30 LIFE AND LETTEES OP S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 tliermometer. But yesterday and to-day we have been in the 
 Gulf Stream, and that insures us mild weather until we reach 
 England. 
 
 About twelve to-day we enjoyed a pretty sight — a fine sailing 
 vessel with all sails standing out against the sky about five 
 miles, I suppose, South of us. At three, a very large steamer 
 passed us on the North side not more than a mile off. We sent 
 up a long string of bright little flags. She answered with some 
 other signals, I couldn't see what at the distance, but the offi- 
 cers told us it meant that she had left Havre on Saturday. It 
 was a great big steamer, with two fat smoke-stacks, one behind 
 the other, red with a black ring around their tops. 
 
 We don't expect now to get to Liverpool before Saturday 
 evening ; maybe will be too late for the tide to take us over the 
 bar, and have to wait till morning. 
 
 I wish I could see you and Norvell and have a good game of 
 marbles; and I wish you could take my trip, or rather one of 
 your own like it, you would enjoy it, I am sure. 
 
 I know you are having lots of fun, saying I am sea-sick, but 
 you are much mistaken. I was sick last Thursday, but I lay in my 
 berth and read, and so Friday morning I was quite well again. 
 
 You can't guess what they call those side guards that keep 
 the dishes from jumping off the table, so I'll tell you. They 
 are "fiddles." 
 
 We had a strange sort of church on Sunday. The hymns 
 and tunes were new, and the prayers were all read out of a 
 book and there was no sermon at all. Not a word spoken ex- 
 cept the announcement of the collection — all read. That's the 
 Episcopal way; sometimes they have no sermon, you know. 
 
 You are going to write to me arn't you? I can't answer 
 often, but I will sometimes. You and Norvell and Eobin write 
 to me, and I'll tell you some wonders. 
 
 P. S. Anything about home you write will be pleasant to me, 
 and I want to make a bargain with you, I am going to pray for 
 you every night, and you for me. 
 
 Wednesday. 
 Dear Katty: A very pleasant day has closed with us, 
 though you are just coming homo from school about now. 
 
LETTERS WRITTEN ON THE STEAMER. 31 
 
 How late does that make it with me? There's an arithmetic 
 problem for 3-011. Wo are now 29" West of Greenwich, or a lit- 
 tle less than that, now 29" at noon. We have climbed up to 48*^ 
 North latitiide. There has been little vdud for two days, hardl}' 
 any at all to-day. So we had made 342 miles by to-da}-, 12 M., 
 and were very proud ; that is 14 better than yesterday, and that 
 12 more than any other day. We had a sea almost smooth all 
 day, and that is about as good as if we had a good wind behind 
 us, because we can run by steam faster than any ordinary wind, 
 and so it is not needed, in fact hardly any help. We do not 
 hope now to reach port before Saturday morning, because we 
 lost so much time during the fog off the Grand Banks. There 
 we ran only three or four miles an hour and spent our steam 
 tooting that wretched fog horn. That was from Saturday noon 
 to 4 P. M. Sunday. But you are tired of so much sea talk, I 
 know. I won't show off my bearings any more. 
 
 One thing that would get you I know, unless you have amended 
 one of your little ways you had when I was at home. Our 
 steward is quite an enthusiast for early rising, and has a little 
 dodge to wake us up. You can* hear in any room whatever is 
 going on all along the passage. So he calls in quite an audible 
 tone to some imaginary passenger : " So you saw the man-of-war 
 just ]5assing now, did you?" or "If you will go aloft you'll see 
 two polar bears on the nearer of two icebergs." All of which is 
 meant to tempt us up on deck. He has a new dodge every lit- 
 tle while. But it is getting old now, and does little good. 
 
 Goodnight. Write me a letter soon, little woman. 
 
 Diary, March 6. — "Bull a good game. Glad I had grit enough 
 to hold out and beat the English parson. I have not worked weU — 
 not a bit of work for sinners. Jesus help my traitor-heart truly to 
 renounce sin and take up the testimony to thy love! " 
 
 Friday, 2farch 7. 
 
 Dear Mamma: Mails are about to close and start back from 
 
 Queenstown, so a good-bye note to you will close my diary for 
 
 the voyage. I enclose the daily bulletin and map. We expect 
 
 to land Saturday afternoon and spend Sunday in Liverpool, I 
 
32 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 shall try to hunt up the friends I have letters to* on Saturday 
 afternoon, as that may direct my Sunday movements. 
 
 I Avas vaccinated four days ago, but don't know yet whether 
 it will take. I have studied my photography "quite a little," as 
 these people say. I think I shall learn to make fair views 
 without great loss of time ; shall probably have too much spare 
 time before I get to work, for a while. 
 
 On the whole, my time has been very pleasantly spent, but I 
 have accomplished much less than I hoped. Besides the home 
 letters, one to Zaidee, and one to Aunt Elsie, I hoped to have 
 done a piece for the Observer, which may sound a little like 
 something you heard at Anniston Sunday morning. 
 
 I am sorry to say nothing is accomplished that I know of for 
 the passengers, cabin or steerage, and most of them are irre- 
 ligious. I shall know better how to proceed the next time, I 
 hope. There are men here from every quarter of the globe. 
 There is a fellow-voyager who is bound for the gold fields of 
 South Africa, one who has lived on the Gold Coast (above the 
 Congo, you knoAv), one irom Jamaica, one from India, and 
 so on. • 
 
 Our circle of congenial companions has become distinct, and 
 it is very pleasant. Mr. Windsor, the churchman, is more jovial 
 than devout in his ways, but may be more solid than he'll have 
 us think. Elders Erodie and McMurtrie, both Scotch, the 
 former now of London, the latter a Baltimore ship-builder, are 
 quite interesting. Yesterday Mr. McM., "the parson," and I 
 played. The good elder would throw into the B. at the top and 
 have to take ten off, so it got to be quite a joke. That is a dif- 
 ferent game from what I told Norvell about, played though with 
 the same board and weights. In this we play into any square 
 we want to, or can add up the numbers printed on squares Ave 
 land in, deducting ten when a weight lands in one of the top 
 course of squares, and playing for one hundred. 
 
 The other night Avhen we were just half way, Mr. McMurtrie 
 broke out suddenly, Avhen we Avere trying to stand erect in the 
 rolling cabin, " Well, Ave're half seas over to-night ! " and won- 
 dered Avhy Ave laughed. It is Avell that Ave knoAv that he never 
 takes any spirits. 
 
1..ETTEKS WRITTEN ON THE STEAMER. 33 
 
 It was qiiite crisp and cool after we got ou the ocean, very chilly 
 in the iceberg region, but since then we have forgotten overcoats 
 and strolled about with coats unbuttoned. 
 
 To-day's excitements are two steamers, a shoal of porpoises, 
 and just now a cry of land! and through the misty distance we 
 see Avhat is supposed to be Cape Clear, on the Irish coast. 
 Whether Ave shall get a glimpse of the ever-green fields on which 
 the Irish bulls flourish is ver}^ doubtful. We are still far from 
 land, running parallel with the coast, not towards it. 
 
 Mr. Brodie came up to-day with Psalm xxxii. 8, "I will 
 guide"— for me. At Auut Maria's Saturday night we sang, 
 "There is a scene where spirits blend," you know the rest. I 
 often think of it. I want you to know a text that did much to 
 keep me from evil at Tuscaloosa, you sent it to me once in a 
 letter, "All thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great 
 shall be the peace of thy children." 
 
 From Liverpool next. I am in perfect health. That is my 
 blessing. 
 
 H. M. S. "Adriatic," Friday Night. 
 
 Dear Isabel: I enjoyed your letter to New York very much 
 indeed. I am especially glad of the movement towards Glen- 
 Addie. I take this as an answer to my prayers for the Third 
 Church. I hope to see Mrs. Stevenson's people on Sunday. 
 We shall reach Liverpool to-morrow afternoon, at four, it is 
 likely. 
 
 Give mv love to all at Mrs. F.'s and to all my friends who 
 you think would like to hear from me. Land is in sight a few 
 miles off. Hills in South Ireland. 
 
 I enclose our bulletin for each day of the voyage. I expect 
 it will interest you. 
 
 Fast-net Light-house sixty miles from Queenstown is now in 
 fine view. 
 
 Now a flash light-house is in sight, flashing out after a min- 
 ute's darkness. It flashes eight times, then goes out again. 
 
 It is recognized by this number of flashes. A captain knows 
 it as soon as he counts its flashes. 
 
 The saloon is almost too pleasant now to be a nice writing 
 
34 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 place. A good voice is just now singing "Good bye Summer," 
 our Tosti, you know. One good song follows another. 
 
 Good bj'e letters! it is. 
 
 I am writing a pleasant farewell to a friend in Birmingham. 
 But now good night. 
 
 LETTERS EEOM ENGLAND. 
 
 LiYERPOOL, Saturday Night, 3-8. 
 
 My Dear Tillie: We finished oar trip very merrilj^ this 
 evening. Had to pass through the Custom House at once on 
 landing. We waited comfortably in a warm room for the bag- 
 gage to be got up to the inspection room. Then as soon as I 
 could get my turn each bundle was opened ; I had seven with 
 the trunk, and it corded in memory of E-ob. — about forty feet of 
 grass rope. The porters next seized us and our things, taking 
 time to ask where we would go, and to demand their fi::ed fee 
 Is. 6d. The cab took us to our hotel, the Shaftesbury, where 
 we are comfortably fixed. As to Sheppard, the English don't 
 notice at all what seems very odd to us. He is very modest, 
 and easy to get along with ; also quite an aid in sight-seeing, 
 and in anything else where I need help. He took a jaunt in 
 the ueighborliood to-night, and came in quite full of the sights — 
 the railway coaches opening at the sides, and the market — 
 "such a market!" The Shaftesbury hotel (named for the Earl 
 of Shaftesbury) is a temperance hotel, which means even more 
 than the name implies. Everything is quiet, prices are reason- 
 able, and it is like a family ; prayers are held every evening. It 
 is not a cheap house though. Though plain, everything is more 
 than neat ; cooking is homely and good tasting, and provision 
 plentiful. Comely maids, W'ith snowy aprons and caps and 
 curtseys, always suggested in their air of serving 3'ou, wait on 
 the Coffee room, and seem to run the house; men arc in the 
 minority. 
 
 I have not seen Mr. Franklin's peojile nor Mrs. Stevenson's 
 yet. I iuay not until Monday. I expect to be in London 
 Monday. 
 
letters from england. 35 
 
 36 Bedford Place, London, W. C. 
 
 My Dear Mamma : To-da}- about two o'clock we reached the 
 city and proceeded to find lodgings. Mr. Brodie, my Scotch 
 friend, now a London merchant, kindly directed mc to a good 
 place near this. It was full. "' I might try 51, across the street, 
 cind say he sent us." Full there. "Try 5." Five sent us to 36, 
 just across Russell Square, and 36 we found was willing to take 
 us at 2 pound 15 a week for us both, two rooms foiu'th floor; 
 breakfast and seven o'clock dinner. Lunch we must find. It 
 is a place for young men in business down town, and there are 
 seven young men beside us. The house is a roomy one in what 
 used to be the fashionable part of the city, very near where the 
 shops and business begin. I don't know 3-et whether it shall be 
 my address or not ; I will decide to-morrow. Address care of 
 Dr. Guinness till I can get you word to the contrary. 
 
 "\^"e had the pleasure of keeping our party together in Liver- 
 pool, and four of us came in the same carriage to-day to town. 
 
 Yesterday we attended the Cathedral in the morning and 
 another Episcopal Church at 6:30. Both services were quite 
 spiritual and pleasant. But I felt as if this noble church were 
 bound hand and foot with red tape, and a napkin about its 
 mouth, so that they heal the w^ound slightly. 
 
 The trip to-day was delightfid to me. I saw the Manchester 
 canal, that is to give Liverpool's prestige to Manchester, by 
 taking the cotton right to the factories. 
 
 I saw the famous school towns of Rugby and Harrow, and I 
 saw the English landscape, one continuous meadow, literally — 
 now all gi'een except where it is laid off by the early ploughman 
 into the evenest of fiuTows. Cozy old villages, all the houses 
 of a rough brick or stone, tiled or thatched, or covered with 
 thick slate, and all over ivy in some jjlaces : 
 
 " Meadows ta-im .... 
 Shallow brooks, and rivers wide, 
 
 Towns and battlements, it sees 
 Bosomed bigh, in tufted trees : 
 
 and many an old church "uith several difterent but ever recur- 
 ring kinds of architecture, that of our Grace Church being most 
 common. 
 
36 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 I enjoyed it all immensely. I had to postpone my \asit to 
 Liverpool friends till later. 
 
 Providence is still helping me in a wonderful way. Mr. 
 Brodie will introduce me to Mr. Whytc, a most influential Pres- 
 byterian in the city, and a man of great spirituality. Of my 
 plans, more anon. 
 
 I must write some other letters to-night. My j^en is wretched, 
 as my baggage is still at Euston Station about a mile away. I 
 am waiting to see Mrs. Guinness and other friends, and so find 
 out where I can most conveniently locate before I take it out. 
 The station is in the city, you understand, but quite a way off. 
 I am very thankful for help thus far, and " He who has been 
 mindful of us will bless us." It helps me no little to know you 
 are all praying for us day and night. 
 
 Harley House, Bow Koad, E. London, 
 
 Wednesday Eve., March 12. 
 
 Dear Papa : Yesterday and to-day have proven days of great 
 blessing to us in our enterprise. On Monday we onl}- got our 
 bearings. Tuesday morning I presented my letter to Mrs. 
 Guinness, and on her hearty invitation that I should stay there, 
 I accepted her kindness. I then met ShejDpard by appointment 
 at noon at Mr. Brodie's office. Mr. B. took me to see Mr. 
 Robert Whyte, a warehouseman and supplier of fancy goods 
 and of many other things ; using a four-story building in his 
 great business, in the heart of London. Mr. "\Y. was cordial to 
 me as Mr. Brodie's friend and as a missionary. He offered to 
 take me to meet North London Presl)yter3^ at quarter to five. 
 He also intimated that though his business was wholesale, he 
 might be able to supply me with all I needed. 
 
 Mr. B. then asked his advice about my money, and the result 
 was, that I was introduced to the National Bank of Scotland, 
 No. 37 Nicholas Lane, Lombard St., by Mess. Whyte and 
 Brodie. The polite manager undertook my business very readily ; 
 as I signed his book, he said, "Wherever you were, you learned 
 to write " (we had been talking of my American birth and Scotch 
 extraction). This was rather a new compliment! I put ^600 
 on a deposite account to draw interest from date and X112 on 
 
LETTERS FllOM ENGLAND. 37 
 
 current aceonnt and took a cbcck-book. Coming ont and finding 
 Slieppard avc walked througli tlie Royal Exchange and found a 
 lunch in a court not far off. I think I gave away a shilling too 
 much on tip, by missing count of change. 
 
 Then I looked around the Mansion Hoiisc, walked a little down 
 Victoria street and back, and took a front seat on top of a bus 
 going from the Bank down Cheapside, Ludgate Hill, and the 
 Strand to Charing Cross and back. I can't tell you how I felt 
 on turning a corner to see filling the whole prospect between 
 the opening houses, a grand dome rising on a mass of stone 
 graced withcolumnsand relieved with smaller towers. If it were 
 not so beautiful, I should be afraid in its presence. Soon after 
 St. Paul's was passed, I saw the Law Courts, which is a very 
 striking grove of light turrets, rising from a long mass of 
 columned, arched and blackened stone, pierced by many gates ; a 
 light spire over-tops the pile. The whole way is rich with old 
 buildings, manj^ of whose names had associations for me. Look- 
 ing casually to the right side, I saw, " Tickets for H. M. Stanley's 
 Lecture at the booking office." It was Exeter Hall, the temple 
 of Evangelicism. Stopping on the return trip, I found Stanley 
 will lecture here soon, date not fixed. 
 
 To the Presbytery with Mr. Whyte by underground railway. 
 Met there Mr. John McNeil, the young Scotchman, Pastor of 
 Regent square, one of the great preachers of London; the most 
 popular just now, I think, yet quite faithful and simple ; just a 
 great man, that explains it. I also met Dr. Frtiser, Dr. Monro 
 Gibson (of Chicago once) and several gentlemen of influence. 
 I met too. Dr. Matthews, of one of the Executive Committees, 
 who already knew us by name and had written congratulations 
 to his friend, Dr. Houston, at Nashville. Introduced to Presby- 
 tery — which so took away my breath, that in reply to the kind 
 speech of the moderator, said something which was not English, 
 nor sense, I fear, and sat down. 
 
 Dr. Matthews took me from Mr. Whyte and we went to Dr. 
 Alexander's, near my quarters at that time. This gentleman is 
 doing a private mission work in the slums, of his own means, 
 and has gathered a little seminary of young men around him, 
 whom he trains in his mission, and at his house, and keeps 
 them at the Presbyterian College ; boarding them himself. 
 
38 LIFE ^VXD LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 Among tliem is one who is going to Africa, ami is looking for 
 a place, a fine young man. He bad also a young man who 
 knows the Congo; and Sheppard, Dr. Matthews and I, are to 
 meet this young man Friday, in Dr. Alexander's parlor. 
 
 Established at Harley House to-da}-. I find a party is prepar- 
 ing to sail April 15, for the Congo. They have all their arrange- 
 ments to make. So I can learn just what they think necessary; 
 indeed can doubtless biiy with them. 
 
 I am writing in the room of a Mr. Sully, a jovial ft^low, who 
 has lived in Missouri, and ran an engine on a Chicago road, and 
 who goes to run the new steamer, the Pioneer, of the Balolo 
 mission. He will show us after 9 : 30 cupper (?) to our lodgings 
 in the neighborhood. 
 
 The people are kindness itself. A fine lot of boys in the Insti- 
 tute, of great cordiality and ec[ual delicac}'. One of them, pick 
 of the seniors, is going out April 15. Three Swedes are going 
 to their mission (Cataract region) same time. What a chain of 
 Providences ! " According to the good hand of my God upon me." 
 
 Our expenses here will be light, about one pound a week 
 each, liberal estimate. I think our board is kindly furnished 
 us at cost price, and rooms six shillings apiece per week. I 
 have hopes of leaving some money here, j^erhaps a considerable 
 sum. Isn't that good? 
 
 I think Mr. Whyte will be the man to do my buying for me. 
 He is a famous business man, and equall}' prominent church 
 leader. His solicitor told Mr. Brodie that Mr. Whyte usually 
 saw through a point of business as quickly as the solicitor him- 
 self. He is very influential in Presbyterian circles, as I already 
 see. 
 
 Your letters written the day I left have just reached me. I 
 hope my good news will help you and Mamma to bear the great 
 sacrifice the Master has asked of you. I feel as never before, 
 the daily answer of your prayers for me. 
 
 My Dear Mamma : I am very busy, but must try to get you a 
 line to-night. To-day I got detailed list of all I shall need. It 
 will be under $300 for each one of us, and we have $3,500 in 
 bank to draw on. Many needed things are in my trunk, thanks 
 
LETTERS FROM ENGLAND. 39 
 
 to your foresight, if Papa autl I did laugh at you. I think I 
 may get Mr. Whyte to buy for me, so as to get in connection 
 ■with English Presbyterians. A Presbyterian elder is a good 
 and useful agent to have, especially when his business abihties 
 are exceptional. Lunched at Dr. Alexander's to-day with Dr. 
 Matthews, Secretary of the Presbyterian Alliance, and Mr. Smith, 
 of the Congo ^Mission. Found several things new and important. 
 Dr. Matthews took us to the Houses of Parliament, St. Margarets, 
 "Westminster and the Abbey, all near together. I'll tell you about 
 it later. How I was moved over the blue-stone slab on which 
 the brass letters inlaid tell that LIVINGSTONE lies beneath, 
 you must imagine. I felt a similar emotion, but less deep, stand- 
 ing before Havelock, Nelson, and Gordon, in Trafalgar Square. 
 
 I want you to think about the marvelous providences that 
 have brought me here, and what I have experienced in Lon- 
 don — the succession of coincidences that have favored me lately. 
 I know it will encourage you. " Hath been mindful." " Will 
 bless." But I am very slipshod and dilatory still. If I were as 
 deeply possessed by my mission as I should be, it would not be 
 so. Pray especially for me to be strengthened with might in the 
 inner man, that I may receive grace to be faithful! 
 
 My lodgings are exceedingly nice, a ■s\idow and her young son 
 and two grown daughters. Don't get alarmed on the last score; 
 but they are all very nice and really pious. The house is very 
 comfortable and nicely furnished— though the six shilhngs per 
 week is an object to them. I am in marvelous health, and think 
 with much love and longing of you and all the loved ones at 
 home. 
 
 P. S. The double New York and Hartford letter received 
 with great appreciation. 
 
 Cottage Grove, Bow Eoad, 
 London, March 15, 1890. 
 Dear Kitten : I am writing in a cozy little sitting-room, 
 where I stay, near the Institute for training missionaries, where 
 I board and where you write to me. It is a very nice place. 
 Three stories, and a basement wide and long enough for two 
 medium-sized rooms, and a hall and stair alongside of them, not 
 
40 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 a big house by any means. But it is wonderfull}- neat and 
 comfortable. Willie Short and his sister, Addle, are sitting by 
 the same fire — she is sewing across the table from me, and he is 
 learning his Sunday-school lesson. Just 4:20, Saturday even- 
 ing, the clock says. The room is papered nicely and tastefully, 
 and hung with quite a pretty lot of small paintings and illumi- 
 nated texts. The piano and tables in the room, and the desk, 
 sideboard, and sofa in the little front parlor are very pretty ; the 
 chairs look comfortable, and are upholstered with good brown 
 leather. My room upstairs is as complete. The walls there 
 have promise texts hung all around ; they helped me much one 
 day I was in a difficulty, so I consider them old friends now. I 
 go up to Harley House to my meals, and often sit in the library 
 there, or in one of the boys' rooms, to read or write. How 
 many times do they eat in a day would you guess ? — exactly four, 
 not exactly four either, for I notice sometimes a "threepence 
 worth " of sweet biscuits makes a fifth bait for some of the hearty 
 fellows. My friends, the Shorts, are getting quite friendly 
 indeed. They are very anxious to make me feel at home. 
 Every night when I come in from supper (almost ten o'clock ! ) 
 we sit up and talk till — later than we should. Every morning 
 Willie brings me my shoes blacked, and a pitcher of hot water 
 for shaving; then, just before I start out, a cup of hot tea ; the 
 English customs, you see. 
 
 Time to stop now. Good bye. 
 
 I know by the strange way our Father is helping me here in 
 our work, that you are praying for me. 
 
 Your loving brother, Sam. 
 
 I'iary, /Sunday, March IG. — " To Mr. Spurgeon's. Three floors. 
 Pulpit on 2nd floor. Mr. S., medium height, portlj', slow almost, with 
 ag-e and weight. Deeji melodious voice. Eunyanic, liomely English 
 (learut from old Puritan divines). Often ejjigrammatic and figui*a- 
 
 tive. Uf?es ' Thou. ' " 
 
 LETTEES FROM BRUSSELS. 
 
 English Hotel, 44 Rue de Bkabant, 
 
 Brussels, March 21. 
 Dear Robin : You see I am on new ground to-day. Last night 
 
LETTERS FROM BRUSSELS. 41 
 
 about 7 o'clock I walked over to the elevated station (five minutes 
 from my lodgings in " Mile end"), and in ten minutes was in the 
 city at the central station (they don't say depot) of the Great 
 Eastern. Buying a second-class return ticket for Brussels, I got 
 into the express for Harwich ; at ten I got on the steamer Ips- 
 wich, got my supper and went to bed ; waking up this morning 
 to see that we were steaming up the Scheldt. We reached Ant- 
 werp about ten, and passed the old city of Mechlin at eleven. 
 There I saw the old double, square Cathedral tower. The clock 
 is curious. The dial is a great gilt rim, twice as big as our wind- 
 mill wheel, fixed outside the tower. Great gilt bands passing 
 over it. I couldn't make out the time ; it was a mile from where 
 I passed. 
 
 This is rather out of the region of dikes and wind-mills, though 
 I saw many low embankments, about three feet higher than the 
 marks the tide had left. The regulation wind-mills were on 
 every side. Some have great brick towers ; some seem to stand 
 on four legs and have a long wide ladder up to the room, mak- 
 ing the tail to the queer "varmint." 
 
 You would have been interested in the fortifications of Ant- 
 werp. The old wall (I think there was one) is replaced by a 
 huge earthen mound, thirty feet high, with lines of heavy guns 
 along the crest. Passing through a tunnel to the inner side we 
 see that the mound covers a great brick wall, with large rooms 
 all along for men and ammunition, as I suppose. I have just 
 bought a map of Brussels, and shall proceed to explore a little, 
 and finally call on General Sanford, whom I have come to see. 
 I hope to go over to Rotterdam on my way back and see the 
 steamer AfrlJiaan, in which I am to sail about April 9. 
 
 Your loving cousin, Sam. 
 
 Brussels, Saturday, Marcli 22. 
 Dear Papa : I came over yesterday in response to a letter 
 from General Sanford. I am in a quiet English hotel, near the 
 Station du Xord, b}^ which I entered the city. Before I saw 
 General Sanford I had time to see something of this historic 
 city. The Cathedral (?) Church of St. Gudule is very beautiful, 
 indeed the finest I have seen, to mv taste. The Hotel de Ville 
 
42 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OP H. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 attracted mj interest by tlie busts in relief of diaries tlie Bold, 
 liis dangliter Mary, tlie heiress of Burgundy, Maximilian, Charles 
 the v., Philip II., and several others of the rulers of other days. 
 The Hotel de Belle Vue, where General Sanford lives, is on the 
 site of the palace of Charles V. Brussels is like Washington, a 
 place to spend money. The people's faces are very interesting, 
 and the blouse and the wooden shoe, no longer universal among 
 the poorer class, attracted my attention at once. 
 
 General Sanford received me very kindly indeed. He had 
 sent a copy of General Morgan's letter of introduction, to King 
 Leopold, so we went over to the palace and inscribed my name 
 on his register with my address, in case he wants to see me. 
 At noon I called again and met Lieut. Thys, of the great Congo 
 Company. He will give me letters of introduction to Boma. 
 The Russian, Turkish and Portugese ambassadors were also 
 there. 
 
 To-day I have met several more of the Congo dignitaries 
 through General Sanford, and am assured of transportation being 
 furnished (@ 30 f per carrier) up to the Pool. I am also invited 
 to consult these gentlemen on several matters I need to know. 
 So jnj mission here is a success already, how great, depends. 
 I see God's hand wonderfully in it all. I am booked to sail by 
 the Steamship AfrULaan from Rotterdam April 5,-10, date not 
 certain. My affairs are in the hands of AVhyte, Kidsdale & Co., 
 Commission Merchants, 75 Houndsditch, London. They buy, 
 pack and ship for five per cent., allowing me all trade and cash 
 discounts. 
 
 I am in haste for mail. 
 
 Brussels, Rue de Brabant, 3 r. m., 
 
 Sunday, March, 23. 
 My Dear Mamma: To-day has been full of j-ou somehow; 
 your letters have come to my mind and I have read them over ; 
 the "good bye" verse and hymn are transferred from the 
 little paper (it is getting worn now) to my memory, and to my 
 heart too. I am quite sure I have experienced it somewhat at 
 least, and my Bible reading has been very sweet. I finished 
 the hundred and nineteenth Psalm. It amazes me. I once 
 
LETTEES F150M LJliUSSELS. 43 
 
 thought it liarJly inufh more than a sacred literary curiosity. 
 Now it is a mine. " I liave found great spoil," as one verse 
 says. AnotliiT vrrsc in it came to my notice. It is on one of the 
 illuminated cards in my room in London, at Mrs. S.'s. You'd 
 like to hear all of them, two I forgot, but the rest are, "We 
 love him because he first loved iis"; "I will never leave thee 
 nor forsake thee," and "Thou art near, () Lord." (Psa. cxix. 
 vs. 151.) 
 
 I am writing in the Salle a manger of a quiet little hotel right 
 at the station where I take the train for Antwerp. I began while 
 waiting for my dinner. Now I am just through that necessary 
 evil, have gone through a dozen raw oysters, and cups of good 
 tea — four! You see, I pay for a pot, and I must "get what's 
 coming to me." That's why I ate all the rolls also. 
 
 Now, as I write, you are all going to Sunday-school, or about 
 beginning. Mr. Williams is reading from Gospel Hymns No. 5. 
 I hope it is a bright day, and that you all have your heart- 
 windows open, to know and believe the love God hath to us. I 
 am very happy to-day, and though I long after you all, it doesn't 
 distress me. My prayer and my hope is, that we may all get all 
 there is in religion, joy and great power (" all that is coming to 
 us"). Just when you got up this morning, if you were up by 
 quarter to six, I was being ushered into the Palais da lioi, 
 relieved of my overcoat and umbrella by half a dozen liveried at- 
 tendants, and directed to the great stair and up to the ante-room. 
 There a decorated official received me, and found enough Eng- 
 lish to let me know I had five minutes to wait, my time was 
 11:45. By the way, I was terribly scared by this gentleman. 
 He was so much gilded (and so was the room) that I thought 
 I was in the royal presence. He made things worse by two 
 profound bows, before he opened his lips, his heels cracked 
 together, and his spurs rattled smartly as he did it. He didn't 
 find out my mistake. 
 
 After ten minutes (it seemed so at least), my courage now 
 i-ome back, I was ushered into another great room, and heard a 
 kind voice from the middle of it, " Good morning ! " I was 
 reassured, and after a respectful bow, I advanced and took the 
 Land extended to me. He said, "you asked to see me?" I 
 
44 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 told liim my business, whom I represented, the Presbyterian 
 body in the tJuited States, what I meant to do, and our plan of 
 working with a combined white and colored force. 
 
 He warned me of the entire rudeness of tlie country, com- 
 mended our plan of beginning on a small scale, until the tide 
 comes in on the completion of the raihvays, then enter on that 
 tide. "The Congo has a future," he said. "I cannot believe 
 that God made that great river, with its many branches all 
 through the land, for any lower jjurpose." He explained that 
 if American negroes came, they must not hope to remain a 
 separate colony, distinct from the State, but become citizens of 
 the country and obey its laws. He also warned me of the 
 danger of wine drinking in Africa. About my location, he 
 recommended the Karsai, "I would advise, I would ask you not 
 to go to the Ubaugi yet ; we cannot protect you, if you go so far 
 from our stations." He said he admired the Americans, and 
 wished his people to learn from oiu* amazing progress. " Our 
 people are slow," he said. 
 
 The king asked my age, and said he was glad I had begun 
 the work of Christ so soon. I quite forgot he was a Catholic 
 or a king, when he spoke with so much apparent sympathy of 
 my mission. After half an hour's talk ho asked me if I wanted 
 to speak with him of anything else, and said he "felt sincerel}"," 
 and if you will allow me, "warmly interested in my mission, and 
 was glad to see a young man show ' so much courage, enterprise 
 and Christian pluck.'" 
 
 King Leopold is tall, erect and slender, a man, I should say, 
 forty-seven years of age ; no, not so mucli. His hair, rather 
 thin and gray, he parts a little to the right of the middle ; his 
 beard is long and fine, turning a little gray. His eyes, soft and 
 clear, blue I think. His expression is very kind, and his voice 
 matches it. He wore a dark green military frock coat, epau- 
 lettes and sword, with no star or decoration whatever. His 
 manner is both bright and gentle, and his English is full, ready 
 and expressive. 
 
 I may be mistaken in my description ; I was of course highly 
 strung in such a presence, and may have seen incorrectly. 
 
 I wonder at his kindness and freeness in talking with me, and 
 
LETTEKS FEOM BRUSSELS. 45 
 
 qviestioniug me, for I was not well-dressed nor courtly in manner, 
 and worst, I had no special business witli him, and I wonder 
 now how God has so changed the times that a Catholic king, 
 successor to Philip II., should talk Foreign Missions to an 
 American boy and a Presbyterian. 
 
 I treated him just as I would any man I thought good au(I 
 great. I asked nothing of him but his protection. What will 
 come of my yisit I do not know. I prayed long last night before 
 I saw that it was my duty to go on Sunday. The character of 
 the interyiew satisfied me that it was altogether right. 
 
 General Sanford has been yery kind indeed. He is a zealous 
 Congo man, not a yisionary, for he has large interests there. He 
 treats me as if I were on his business ; directs all my movements, 
 takes me to see everybody of importance to me, and claims from 
 them in his own and General Morgan's name their good offices 
 for me. He is quite free in his suggestions to me : "If you go 
 to the king, you must have a top hat."^ So I proceeded to have 
 a tall silk hat, reflectinsj that Nehemiah would doubtless have 
 had one, and a swallow-tail coat too. As my interview was to 
 be in the morning, I deferred the dress-coat until my j^urse is 
 more rej)lete with shekels. 
 
 I wore Gus Hall's shoes, Birmingham pants, Chicago coat, 
 "Famous" collar, Brussels hat, Rogers, Peet & Co.'s gloves (you 
 bought them), and cravat of sister Gene's make. Be sure to 
 tell her! I should like to have been somewhat better arrayed 
 " among those that wear soft "clothing," but the money can be 
 better used just now in medicine, tea and jam, beads, etc. 
 
 I have placed the most difficult orders for my outfit; tools, 
 stationery and medicines. Eatables and barter are simpler. I 
 hope to perfect these lists by conferences with African people 
 to-morrow. At nine I have an engagement with M. de La 
 Fontaine, head of the great Dutch trading company of Rotter- 
 dam, and hope for a very fruitful interview. 
 
 I wish we each had a set of Sir John Bennett's clocks, showing 
 the comparative time of Congo and Anniston. When you are at 
 
 ' In the diary he says, General S. also said, ' ' I made Henry "Ward Beecher get 
 a top hat." 
 
46 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 prayers in the morning I shall be enjoying a midday rest, read- 
 ing, fiddling, photographing, writing home. When you sit down 
 about 9 o'clock to read your Bible, I shall begin the latter and 
 shorter half day's work. When Papa comes to dinner (1 : 30), 
 I shall be adjusting the musquito bar around my early couch. 
 We shall, God willing, reach Banana by Ma}' 10th, r.t the 
 farthest. 
 
 Good bye ! God be with you and supj-jh' m.j place, and give 
 more than I could of peace, and joy, and hope. 
 
 Brussels, March 24, 1S90. 
 To the Ladies of the Glen Addle Aid Society : 
 
 My Dear Christian Friends : I take a chance I have wanted 
 ever since I last was with you, to tell you how I have felt your 
 true kindness to me during the months we worked together for 
 Christ. To-day, alone in a great foreign city, unable to speak 
 for Christ in the strange tongue these poor people speak, I am 
 glad to write to Christian friends at home. While you were 
 worshipping God to-day, I passed a great church with a lofty 
 gilded dome and many little towers, and over the doorway I saw 
 an image, graven in stone, of the Virgin Mary. Bight by the 
 church in the same square were merry go-rounds and swings of 
 curious make, all crowded full of people. I suppose a thousand 
 people, most of them children, looking like our own Sunday- 
 school children, were busy at play or at buying and selling toys 
 and candies. Bight under the eaves of their church ! And no 
 wonder! for that church teaches them no better. I am glad my 
 own friends and loved ones are in a hapj)ier land, but I wish I 
 could do something to show these Belgians a happier and better 
 way. I have been often in your homes, in spirit I mean, since 
 we had our good-bye meeting. I pray for you all often, together 
 and singly by name. I feel sure that my prayers and yours will 
 be richly answered, and that in your church work, and in yoiir 
 families, and in your own Christian experience God will en- 
 courage you, and fill you with grateful praises for special bless- 
 ings. As Joseph said to his brethren and friends at his death, 
 I say to you by faith, " God will surely visit you."^ I hope that 
 you will expect this. Expect and pray that God will convert 
 ' This little church has prospered iu the midst of great financial distress. 
 
LETTERS FROM BRUSSELS. 47 
 
 people, even those yoii have almost despaired of. And I hope 
 that the band of Christian workers in the Third Presbyterian 
 Chnroh will cmbraee all the ladies in the chnrcli. If any are 
 apt to be sometimes careless, and not regular in the attendance 
 on service, a visit from two or three of the ladies would help to 
 win them back. I know you could do it, not in the spirit of 
 fault-finding, but of love, and show them that they are missed 
 and the church cares for them. 
 
 A little system aboait this, and an understanding after each 
 service that each missing one shall be found before next time, 
 and agreeing as to how the visiting is to be divided out between 
 the ladies, wouldn't this insure our little church a full and regu- 
 lar attendance of its members ? I only suggest this. I am 
 sure your good sense and energy can find the right way, very 
 likely a better one than this, if you consider it together. And 
 I hope that the few of our ladies whom sickness, or absence 
 or other causes kept away from church, are again regular at- 
 tendants, or soon will be by your prayerful efforts. 
 
 I especially send my Christian love to the two ladies who last 
 joined us, and commend them to the sympathies of you all. 
 
 My request for you, you will find in 2 Thess. iii. 1, and Eph. 
 vi. 18, 19 ; my wish for you in Romans xv, 13. 
 Your friend always, 
 
 Samuel N. Lapsley. 
 
 Diarrj, March 25.— To U. S. Muiister (Mr. Terrell's), and left my 
 letter and card. Then to the Egmont and Hooru Memorial. A neat 
 little park or garden. In the centre above a fountain stand Egmont 
 and Hoom in their sixteenth century di'ess, each with an arm about 
 the other and the inscription is: " Comptes d' Efjmont et IToorn." 
 " Condemned by the unjust sentence of the Duke of Alva and beheaded 
 at Brussels, , 1568." I feel much as I did standing under Have- 
 locks: "Your bravery will not be forgotten by a grateful country." 
 Or Nelson's, "England exj^ects," etc., and Gordon's, 
 
 These monuments "all remind us we can make our lives sublime, 
 And departing leave behind us, foot-prints on the sands of time." 
 
 Steamship Afrikaan, April 20, 1890. 
 My Dear Mamma : You have wondered wh}' I have been so long 
 silent. 
 
 The last week in England was very busy indeed, from early 
 
48 LIFE AND LETTEPiS CF S. N. LAPSLEl'. 
 
 morning until I tumbled into bed, rather later than you would 
 liave liked, maybe. But I got all my business done economically, 
 and I tliink satisfactorily. 
 
 My friends were very kind. Their kindness touched me very 
 deeply. 
 
 I think Mr. Whyte, my agent, will be a valuable friend. He 
 is a very prominent Christian and Presbyterian as well as a 
 capital business man. The boys at Harley House were very 
 kind and cordial as we left them. Indeed, they laid themselves 
 out to make us welcome all the time we were there. 
 
 My friends at 20 Cottage Grove, where I had my room and my 
 home , seemed to regret my departure as if I had been their own 
 kin. I may tell you of a kind thing they said. Thej' said: 
 Plebrew xiii. 2 applied to them now. I saved that up for you. 
 It was a delightful home for me. The house was holy. Such 
 depth and simplicit}' of piety I rarely meet. They took me to 
 their church. Archibald G. Brown, their pastor, was quite kind 
 too. The last Saturday night he had Sheppard and me, Sully 
 and Scannell (of the Congo Balolo Mission) on the platform with 
 him at the prayer meeting. He said perhaps the people could 
 best pray for us if we prayed for what we wanted. So, though 
 I did not like the plan quite for myself, we led in turn, and a 
 thousand Christians joined in our petitions for a good work on 
 the Congo. A large basement was literally packed from back 
 to desk, aisles then filled with chairs. It was a wonderful meet- 
 ing, and every week it is the same. I had Miss Millie Short to 
 send Bob some of Mr. Brown's year books. He and his work 
 are quite after Bob's heart, I kuow. 
 
 Miss Millie is a devoted Christian, regularly employed by Mr. 
 Brown as a missionary, besides office work. She has one street 
 in the slums, which she tends as her own patch in the vast field. 
 The Shorts did everything they con Id, more than I could allow 
 without protest (ineffectual!) to make me comfortable. 
 
 Willie came up with my hot water for shaving in good time ; 
 then as he started for the city, and I for Harley House for 
 breakfast, I could smell a fragrant cup of English tea coming 
 up stairs and maybe a "hot X bun" at Good Frida}- time, 
 or a nice bread and butter to jDrepare for going out in the 
 cold. 
 
LETTER ON STEAMSHIP AFRIKAAN. 49 
 
 I enjoyed the religious life of London Christians. There is 
 in those I know ca rare acquaintance with the Bible, letter and 
 spirit, and a delightful acquaintance with the Saviour. Much 
 is said of tlio Spirit's presence and aid. 
 
 Last Sunday I went to hear Eev. John McNeil, the yoimg 
 Scotchman, who fills the leading Presbyterian pulpit here. 
 There wi>rc about one thousand tAvo hundred in the great 
 central hall, Holborn, mostly Scotch ; he gave us a good sermon 
 indeed, on Eev. xxii. 17. I Avalked there and back, about six 
 miles both ways, to find nice tea, bread and butter waiting for 
 me before going to church at half past six. 
 
 Of Monday and Tuesday I have a very misty idea, so exceed- 
 ingly full of business was I, though the really essential part was 
 quite finished two weeks ago. I went twice to the Royal Geo- 
 gra})hical Society, took lunch Monda}- with Mr. Whyte in an 
 old-fashioned English chop-house. Monday night I sent Sliep- 
 pard ahead with Sully to Rotterdam. Tviesday night my friends, 
 Mr. Ellis and Yrillie Short, put me on the train for Harwich. 
 Harritch, they call it ! 
 
 Mrs. Banks, of the A. B. M. U., was starting back to Equator- 
 ville, and Miss Dalgarno and Mr. Scannell were going to 
 reinforce the Congo Balolo Mission. 
 
 Their friends, some fifty strong, filled the platform and sang 
 hymns of encouragement as we left old England. 
 
 Scannell was very sick in the "Ipswich" from Harwich to 
 Rotterdam, so I had my hands full. I learnt my trade as a 
 sailor very effectually on my way from New York, so I can help 
 the new hands. 
 
 After a few hours in Rotterdam, we took the tender down the 
 Maas, some miles again to the Steamship Afrihaan, which lay 
 near the river mouth. It was nearly night before we got started. 
 After a quiet sleep we rose Thursday morning to see the chalk 
 cliffs of Dover, gray and white mixed now, but bright enough to 
 give Albion her name. Under our field-glasses the castle on 
 the hill, and the town lying back in a valley which leads to the 
 beach, with the great long buildings which line the cliffs for a 
 great distance each way, shone out finely. I was shown Shakes- 
 4 
 
50 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 pear's cliff, where lie is said to have written many of his plays. 
 It suits King Lear very well. 
 
 Our party is a very pleasant one indeed. The majority are 
 Swedes, of the new Evangelical Church. Their piety is most 
 refreshing. They seem as if they only lately heard the story of 
 Jesus, and had not got used to the new joy and wonder. Such 
 charming simplicity and earnestness! Two of them learn Eng- 
 lish very readily, and speak with an accent that reminds you of 
 a sweet little child learning its first words. One of them, a 
 young lady, on her way to her betrothed at Mukinbunga, was 
 in here a minute ago to remonstrate against my writing here in 
 the saloon, instead of staying on deck with the rest. She would 
 do for the "Yiking's Bride" in Longfellow, quite pretty and 
 clever. Miss Dalgarno is a young Scotch woman, having the 
 size, shape and accent of Aunt E. She knows her Bible. She 
 has already been to Kaffir land, and now is going to keep Miss 
 DeHails company in Balolo land. She wears a blue flannel 
 Deaconess dress (uniform at the ladies' department, Harley 
 House), with blue bonnet, and wide collar with cuffs outside the 
 dress. Her plump, vigorous figure, crowned with a mass of red 
 hair in the blue bonnet, makes quite a striking figure. 
 
 Mrs. Banks is a typical English lady, quite sweet, delicate, 
 with a remarkably developed piety. Her delight in Christ and 
 in missionary work is very refreshing — not that I ever heard 
 her speak of it. It is only a flavor to all she says and does. 
 She has left her little girl in England with her mother and sister 
 and goes back to help Mr. B. You would wonder that so slight 
 and delicate a woman could do good work on the very outposts 
 of the A. B. M. IT. I pra}- that her slight, frail form may be 
 God-kept amid the hardships and pestilence of the Congo. 
 
 Sully is a good, hearty fellow. He has spent many years in 
 America, and now goes out as engineer on the new Congo- 
 Balolo boat, Pioneer. Scannell is a true, brave, gentle English 
 boy. It is remarkable that he and several others of our party 
 come from families only recently religious. He shows the same 
 sweetly simple faith and love. He and several of the Swedes 
 are still half in bed, lounging around, heavy-eyed and silent. 
 
LETTER OX STEAMSHir AFEIK.YAN. 51 
 
 All are longing for Madeira, ■whither, we hope, Wednesday •^dll 
 bring ns. 
 
 Yon see the Afrihaan is a trader, -with limited passenger ac- 
 commodations ; onr saloon and cal)ins altogether abont the size 
 of the hall and parlor at home (I'd like to be there a little while). 
 To make matters worse, onr Dutch fellow-passengers, though 
 sleeping in a forward cabin, can come into onrs and smoke, pol- 
 luting the atmosphere still more. I wonder I have been so well. 
 To-day (Monday, April 21st,) we feel the change of climate most 
 pleasantly, everybody is about, and most of us are quite bright. 
 Yesterday we had service on deck; just a little prayer-meeting; 
 but it found one of the passengers. He is a young man from 
 Rotterdam, whose mother, brother and cousin came to the Afri- 
 kaan to say "good-bye" to him, a distressful good-bye it was. 
 
 He is of a pious Mennonite family, and is going at nineteen 
 to be a trader on the Congo. Three weeks ago his brother, a 
 Mennonite preacher, baptized him. I am glad to see that the 
 impressions are still fi'esli. He and an officer in the Belgian 
 army are my instructors in French. They speak no English, 
 and are quite patient as I stumble ahead wdth my ]30or French. 
 
 To-day (Wednesday) w^e near Madeira. The rocky island of 
 Ponte Santo is in sight on the left, and Madeira in full view on 
 the right as we sail around to the harbor. The sick are quite 
 well again. We are very thankful. Our prayer-meetings are 
 quite refreshing, and the passengers are asking us to come and 
 hold them where all can sing. I desire a full preparation of 
 heart before I leave this vessel, that the work may be begun 
 aright. Several of the passengers are becoming interested in 
 you. Particularly the Scotch maiden, and the sweet little Eng- 
 lish woman, who has taken your place for the time. We had a 
 new "ame last eveniner : saviniij texts around, "oincc dov, n the 
 alphabet. It is wonderful how the hap-hazard clustering of pious 
 words strike one ! I shall not forget Mrs. Banks saying : "I 
 love my Master, I will not go out free ! " I hope in a few weeks 
 to get a batch of sweet home letters. They are exceedingly 
 delightful now. I believe from them that you have already 
 been blessed in giving me to Christ. Good-bye, dear Mamma, 
 with a heaiiful of love to all of you, and two for yourself. 
 
 Your loving son, Sam. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 FKOM BANANA TO LEOPOLD^^ILLE. 
 
 May 9 to Jvly 18, 1890. 
 
 FiEST Days on the Congo Eh^er. 
 
 ON the evening of May 9tli, we saw the light on Shark's Point, 
 the hooked promontory that forms the southern lip of the 
 mouth of the Congo. At midnight we were at anchor (and some 
 of our number were actually fishing!), in the river itself. At 
 daylight on Saturday, May 10th, we could see befoi-e us on the 
 north bank the sand point of Banana, a pretty picture, the rows 
 of long, low houses dressed in white, even to the roofs, peeping 
 through green shrubbery, with cocoanut palms waving over all, 
 so green and warm ; and the broad river, dim, misty, with dark 
 green banks beyond. 
 
 Then came the first boat alongside, with its crew of half-clad 
 Africans, just like our OAvn darkies; it made mo feel quite at 
 home to see them, muscular, active, rather slight than big, and 
 with faces I liked to watch. It was pleasant to hear them sing, 
 as a boat crew rowed Sully, Sheppard and myself to the shore. 
 The " stroke," a fine-looking fellow, took the verse and the rest 
 joined heartily in the refrain. The words were simple sounding 
 and musical; the syllables are so many and quick that the 
 rhythm is marked and carries you along with it. The tones are 
 weird and strange. I liked it. Mrs. Banks told me afterwards 
 that they were improvising right through, praising the white 
 man and promising themselves that he would give them a " dash." 
 
 Arrived on shore, some of our party (seven Swedish, six 
 English, and two American missionaries) found both pleasure 
 and sadness awaiting them. The young Swedish girl, who had 
 come out with us, found her betrothed waiting for her on the 
 
 62 
 
1 
 
VISIT TO MISS KILDARE AND KING DOMGELE. 53 
 
 beach ; but their happiness was tinged with sorrow by the news 
 he bro^^ght of the death of one of the Swedish mission up the 
 river. We liad a little meeting in one of their rooms in the 
 afternoon, when we prayed for the young couple, just after the 
 young gentleman had put on, in our presence, the ring she had 
 brought him (she had hers already). Afterwards sixteen of us 
 missionaries bowed in united prayer for the poor l)lack people 
 to whom God had brought us. 
 
 The groups of natives along the wharves and around the 
 factories, which make u]i the town of Banana, gave us our first 
 glimpses of African costume. Most of the men wear a simple 
 breech-cloth, to which Sunday adds, in some cases (as we saw 
 next day), a cane and a smashed derby hat. The women are 
 much more decently and gracefully attired, in wide, gay colored 
 bandanas, secured below the shoulders, and falling in drapery 
 very picturesque and graceful. 
 
 How the scenes shift in this country ! After a quiet Sunday 
 in the company of fellow missionaries, Monday morning finds 
 Shej^pard and me in a native canoe, going up Banana creek (as 
 big as the Alabama river, b}' the way,) to visit Miss Kildare, 
 Bishop Taylor's lone lady missionary. Our pilot was George 
 McGill, of Virginia, and Liberia, trained by Bishop Payne, of 
 Piichmond, once a missionary of Bishop Taylor's, who quit self- 
 support and is out of favor with his former colleagues, but who 
 still claims to he a worker for Christ. Our oarsman was a native 
 convert, a pupil of McGill, Malafine by name. We started off 
 to Nitambe's, Miss Kildare's station, in a long, narrow canoe, 
 dug out of a large hard-wood tree, each of us on a box, and 
 a big water bottle with a derby hat on top between us, and the 
 paddlers standing in the prow and stern. 
 
 The water is a clear tea color, many big fish playing in it, 
 frequently so near the boat as to splash water all over us. The 
 river is lined with mangrove swamps, their matted roots in the 
 water and dark green foliage above, and branches shooting out 
 in every direction ; many horizontal branches grown to trunks 
 and resting on great roots in the water look like so many giant 
 devil's horses. 
 
 Malafine, our oarsman, is a most interesting study. He has a 
 
54 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 Testament (Eii^lisli), and is proud of it; knows something of it 
 too. He describes liis conversion in this one pungent sentence 
 of Kruboy English : " First time fit to drink Malafu (native 
 wine), now no drink." This Kruboy English, by the way, is a 
 queer featiire of West coast life, the Lhujaa Franca, known all 
 along the line. It is a perverted English, seasoned with bad 
 Prencli, Avitli no inflection, and very limited vocabuhirv, one 
 word being made to do duty for ten kindred shades of meaning. 
 It is strange how many natives know it. The Fiote people 
 often answer K'l -fiote M'ith Kruboy English. Even the state 
 officials and traders who know no English speak Kruboy. 
 
 The Kruboys themselves are Guinea negroes imported for 
 w^ork for which the Congo natives could not be relied on. Thev 
 are brought down from the coast above the Congo in large 
 numbers, and this accounts for the wide prevalence of Krul)ov 
 English. 
 
 Miss I^ildare was glad to welcome us; a white face must have 
 been a pleasant sight to that one woman alone among the 
 heathen. She is a genuine heroine, full of faith and courage. 
 Her material surroundings are pleasant enough however. She 
 lives in a corrugated iron house, built high enough for a good 
 room beneath, with a cool porch in front, a clean, nice yard on 
 one side of the house, and a great, thick-growing baobab or 
 calabash tree, seven feet in diameter on the other. She owns 
 ten acres of land around her house, on which palms, ])lantains, 
 guavas and coffee trees flourish. We went on beyond the mis- 
 sion station to the native village, where we saw our first live 
 African king, his royal highness, Domgele, imposing, deliberate, 
 vv-rapjDed in a toga like a Roman senator, and walking with a 
 royal reed studded with brass nail heads. He knew a shilling 
 when we gave him one, and sent his Prime Minister for a present 
 in return, which when l)roiight, was found to consist of throe 
 eggs! 
 
 We did not dine Avith his Majesty, however, but came back 
 to Miss Kildare's for lunch, and had canned mutton, stewed, 
 canned apples, good bread and tea. Then we started back down 
 the tide. We saw two crocodiles, plenty of big fish, and a fish 
 fence one hundred yards long stretching around a point in the 
 
" \VEH ! liULA MATARI. 55 
 
 river. Pretty soon Bauaiui hove in sight, looking, -^ith its white 
 roofs and flags here and there, not imlike a big circns! And 
 our third day on the Congo is over, a most pleasant and valu- 
 able day, for which we thanked God and took courage. 
 
 The missionaries here say that the Congo natives have learned 
 the important lesson of discrimination between the missionary 
 and other white men. Since Stanley, the State officials, and 
 even the white settlement here, is called Bala 2Iat(U'i (Stanley's 
 native name ; it means breaker-of-rocks, from his road-making 
 achievements !) White man is mundila ; the missionary is mun- 
 dUa-nzamhi, "God's white man"; or, sometimes, Jiganga-nzamhi, 
 " God's medicine man." If a party of white men approaches a 
 lower Congo village the cry goes round: "Who is coming?" 
 Answer, ^'' Mundila ^ "What mundila?" Answer, JfundUa 
 nzamhi f' then out they all come to talk to and welcome the 
 traveller. But if '' Weh ! Bida Matarlf" ihe^ "S/t-s/i."' And 
 whiz they all go to hide in the long grass ! 
 
 We are very much interested in two little Flote boys, who are 
 here in charge of a Swedish missionary from the up country. 
 They sing gospel hymns very sweetly in their native Ki-fiote. 
 One of them, Kianauua, had his teeth filed sharp like a saw for 
 fighting, before he knew Christ. Now he is in training to preach 
 Jesus among his own people. 
 
 May 20th, 1890. At six in the morning, a hurried breakfast, 
 and we are off for Boma. Mr. Skaep (Swedish missionary), sick 
 with fever, is carried by hammock along the beach ; we take a 
 row-boat from the hotel pier. A crowd of darkies line the door- 
 way and porches of the hotel looking out for "dash." (They 
 didn't all get it.) Our luggage is put in a long dug-out by the 
 posse of porters, and follows us as we glide along the various 
 piers and the hulks that line the shore of Banana Creek, and 
 soon we clamber up the sides of the steamer Morlan. There is 
 the characteristic singing, with its complicated rhythm and half- 
 concealed melody, as the "boys" windlass in the anchor. Then 
 we go out of Banana, chasing the Httle French steamer. Prince 
 Baudoin. 
 
 The banks of the great river are most interesting. Sometimes 
 there is a full, deep, dark forest, mangrove or large trees with 
 
56 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAFSLEY. 
 
 creepers and uudergrowtli, dense and impenetrable ; or there is 
 a lighter, more oriental growth, the feather-duster palm, high as 
 a pine tree, against a rich forest hill, with low, fern-like palms 
 lining the water side. Here and there is a strip of beach, then, 
 clear, open land against the water, lined with six-foot water 
 grass. This grass is a beautiful green. As we crossed the 
 river to Scotchman's Head on the south bank (Banana you re- 
 member is on the north bank) the lead was plied steadily, the 
 boy in front reporting the depth in a curious monotone. Both 
 banks are in good sight, though far off sometimes; the river 
 probably not as big looking as many other rivers. (It is really 
 three to seven miles wide.) This is partly due to the large 
 islands which so stop the view that you cannot guess where the 
 course is going to be. We skirted one many miles long. We 
 found the main channel near the hills on the south bank ; the 
 wide forest swamp on the north Iniuk, with the net-work of 
 creeks intersecting it, hid the hills until a long way^ up, where 
 both banks converge to the deep Congo gorge from Boma to the 
 falls. When we met the hills near Boma, we found them yellow 
 with sere grass (it is winter now), red clay showing here and 
 there, the gulches still green Avith tropical vegetation ; finall}', 
 big sand rocks stand out. " Fetish Bock" impressed me particu- 
 larly, abruptly ending a hill Avhicli juts out into the river. Here 
 we bid good-bye to the sea-loving mangrove. 
 
 Boma is quite a town, and makes a most refreshing contrast 
 to squatty little Banana point. The river as you come up seems 
 to end in a nice harbor, almost round; the hills encircle it cup- 
 like. A.t the far side on the slopes, Boma's white roofs dot the 
 green. We find there a place of comfortable Dutch houses, 
 each with its full garden of rich, new flowers and fruits. A 
 swift, deep stream rushes in front. Across the river, on the 
 island that here divides the Congo, is a striking green mound, 
 like a Rhine hill. 
 
 There are some things in Boma which the African traveller 
 would hardly expect. First, there is the hotel, a highly orna- 
 mental two-story building, tiles and hard-wood finish inside, 
 verandas around each floor outside ; an iron fence with brick 
 curbing around the grounds. The eating is excellent — "good 
 
BOMA. 57 
 
 chop," as tlie Kruboys say ; we had to pay for it, too. Then, in 
 the second place, there is not a dummy line and electric lights, 
 exactly, but there is a narrow-guage railroad, with a real live 
 locomotive pulling two small coaches up the steep slope to the 
 government bureaux. When you are waked in the morning by 
 the shrill whistle, and look out to see the engine puffing out of a 
 new car shed, pulling the coaches up the hill, you almost forget 
 that you are in Central Africa. 
 
 The town of Boma consists, first, of a row of establishments 
 stretching out for a mile along the river bank, six large trading 
 liouses, each with a considerable station of three to six good 
 houses and sheds. Next from the river front is the hotel already 
 described; then come the local government offices (City Hall 
 and Police Court). Back of these latter, a row of houses is 
 gradually extending towards the plateau, whither the railroad 
 and good walks already make way. On this plateau, along a 
 semi-circular avenue, well-shaded and graded on the edge of the 
 hill, are the church (Catholic of course), the Court of Justice, 
 the offices and residences of the officials who govern the Congo 
 Free State. These buildings are neat and substantial, some of 
 wood, whitewashed, many of ornamental galvanized iron. Near 
 the government offices, across the hollow beneath the hill, is the 
 great shed where some four hundred native soldiers are daily 
 drilled, making a gay spectacle in their red coats, blue trousers 
 and white crossbands. At the end of the shed are the " fortifica- 
 tions," a red clay breastwork, surmounted by a half dozen small 
 cannon. 
 
 There is a large Catholic mission station on the hill between 
 the English trading houses and the rest of the town. 
 
 Street scenes in Boma are a strange medley. Here in the 
 market you see side by side, piles of rice, palm-nuts and pea- 
 nuts, with rolls of matting, bunches of bananas and bottles of 
 spirits. Yonder is a man carrying a piano-stool to the shop for 
 mending. Here is a rough and tumble fight over a bag of sugar. 
 Over there is a native tying in his pannier a demijohn of rum. 
 At the factory door yonder they are having a " drink all round," 
 and here are boys passing with a bottle under the arm. In the 
 
58 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 midst of this turmoil, imagine mj feelings at hearing an African 
 
 singing : 
 
 "Not one day of service give him, 
 Lay no trophy at his feet. " 
 
 There is always somebody bathing in the river. One morning 
 I saw a whole company of black soldiers taking their bath. 
 They were all in at once, then the bugle sounded, splash ! 
 scamper ! and in a moment here they came marching by in their 
 red, white and blue. 
 
 There are crowds of imported workmen. Thej lire in separate 
 quarters according to nationality, Kmboys, Accras, Loangas, 
 Kabindas, Liberians, Sierra Leone men. The soldiers have 
 their barracks, they are Bangala. 
 
 These imported workmen raise a question which is a "live 
 issue" among Christian men out here. If they won't work, or 
 are rebellious, or insolent, shall they be coerced with the lash? 
 Mr. Weeks (B. M. S., Tuuduwa Station), says, "Yes." Mr. 
 Clark (A. B. M. U., Palaballa Station), says, "No, it is wrong. 
 But as they can't be managed any other way, don't get them." 
 But if you don't get them, you don't get any work done, for the 
 Congo native is above work. And so you don't get any houses 
 built, nor any fields planted, and there the matter stands. The 
 Liberians and Sierra Leone men who speak English, complain 
 bitterly of their treatment by white men, other than missiona- 
 ries. They say they suffer here, are called canaille, bushmen, 
 etc. A mechanic gets, besides his pay, rations of one bottle of 
 rum and a cup of rice. A common laborer gets just one half of 
 this. If he Avants fish or fruit, he has to sell rum for it. We 
 held a meeting for the English-speaking blacks at Boma, with 
 about forty of them present. They sung English hymns fairly 
 well, but like our home Africans are "too superstitious." Shep- 
 j)ard preached to the Sierra Leone men at Matadi, after which 
 they spoke to him freely of their condition. One of them said, 
 " No good here for Sierra Leone man ; plenty sick, too much 
 flog." 
 
 Before leaving Boma I had a pleasant interview with Governor 
 Coquilhat, the official head of the Free State. I found him very 
 bright and clever, at the same time unaffected and exceedingly 
 
GOVEKNOR COQUILHAT. 59 
 
 kind to me, wdth uo "put on" about liim. He offered me his 
 map, from which I got the vahiable details needed about the 
 regions "vve are to consider in the location of our mission, par- 
 ticndarly the altitudes throughout the southwest section of the 
 Congo region. 
 
 I could not but be sorry for his physical condition, almost 
 used up with one of Africa's scourges, chronic dysentery. 
 
 We spent the time from May 22 to June 17, moving back and 
 forth from Boma to Tunduwa, getting ready for our trip further 
 up the river. We formed most pleasant and useful acquaint- 
 anceships with the missionaries at Tunduwa and Palaballa 
 Stations, but I must reserve an account of our visits , to these 
 interesting points for another letter. 
 
 Tunduwa and Palaballa. 
 
 From May 22d to June 17th, we made Tunduwa our head- 
 quarters, paying occasional visits to Boma, Matadi, Palaballa 
 and other points in easy reach. This stay of nearly a month at 
 this point may seem a long delay to one unacquainted with the 
 difficulties of African travel. It will be recollected, however, 
 that here the navigation of the lower river comes to an end ; and 
 from this point to Stanley Pool, where the upper river is reached 
 and navigation again resumed, a distance of two hundred and 
 thirty miles, you have to go afoot. There is not so much as an 
 ox or mule in all this Congo region ; the railroad commencing at 
 Matadi, one mile above Tunduwa, is only finished two miles as 
 yet ; all your goods and you yourself, if you cannot walk, have 
 to go on the back of the native or imported African. And as 
 we were arranging for the transport of the supplies upon which 
 our future subsistence depends, it took some time before the 
 needful arrangements were complete. 
 
 We consider this time well spent, however, outside of making 
 the arrangements just alluded to. We were able by intercourse 
 with experienced missionaries, to get a valuable insight into 
 ways of living and working and travelling here. We made 
 many valuable acquaintances, one of them was that notable 
 character in these parts, African fever. It was a special mercy 
 that we both had it here at Tunduwa among kind and experi- 
 
60 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 enced friends. We are not so apt to liave it soon, and will 
 understand it somewhat wlicn it does come again. I had it 
 several times before I found it out, I believe now, and finally 
 the temperature ran up to one hundred and five degrees, which 
 is right hot. I did not mind it much, however, as it went away 
 in twelve hours after taking my bed. Still it might have had a 
 very different termination with either or both of us. 
 
 It was only a mile from here at Matadi, that this same fever 
 cut shoi-t the life of that young girl, a Swedish missionary, whose 
 death we heard of as we landed at Banana Point. She was on 
 her Avay to the river, to take steamer for Europe ; there to be 
 married to a fellow missionary w^ho had preceded her to the old 
 country. Through unwise exposure in walking from Palaballa 
 to Matadi (she unfortunately missed her way and was much 
 delayed in the great heat) she took a fever which shortly proved 
 to be of the violent hematuric type. A few hours was enough ; the 
 temperature ran up to one hundred and ten degrees, and when 
 evening came, she "fell asleep." 
 
 Frequent trips back and forth have made us quite familiar 
 with this lower part of the great river. Its course is very much 
 like a rail fence — sis panels from Boma to Vivi. Each stretch is 
 like a good-sized bay, no way out is to be seen. The deception 
 is enhanced by the clearness of the atmosphere, which makes 
 the hill in front seem nearer than it really is. It is almost 
 impossible for the eye to judge any distances in this country. 
 
 The power of this river impresses me more every time I look 
 at it. When it turns Tunduwa Point it gets a current in the 
 mid-stream like a mill tail, forming an awful whirlpool, where 
 Sheppard took a good spin one day when out on the river. One 
 of the singular features of this mighty stream is the up-current, 
 due perhaps to the depth and over violence of the river here. If 
 you know wiiere to look for it, there is almost always a strong 
 current up stream, somewhere between bank and bank, when 
 the main current is so strong that only a most powerful steamer 
 can breast it ; this is most fortunate, if you are rowing up the 
 river. Going down stream, however, it plays strange pranks 
 with those ignorant of it. I have seen canoes carried up, when 
 the rowers were pulling down stream with all their might. 
 
a g 
 
 3 S 
 
 > rt 
 
 a . 
 
 a -s 
 
UNDERHILL CEMETERY. 61 
 
 A few words oa the localities around Tiinduwa, or Underliill. 
 (TiTuduwa, is the native ; Underlull, tlie English name). Tun- 
 duwa is on the south bank of the Congo, some twenty or thirty 
 niil(\s (air line) from Boma. Just up the river, around the bend 
 on the north bank, is Vivi, so graphically described in Stanley's 
 Founding of the Free State. Opposite Vivi, on the same side 
 with Tunduwa, but higher up, is Matadi, the head of navigation 
 and terminus of the great Congo railway, now building. Ten 
 miles back of Tunduwa and Matadi, on a lofty hill which over- 
 looks the entire country, is Palaballa. As we come up the river 
 to Tunduwa Point, we see on the hill jutting out into the river 
 the neat line of white houses, which forms the Tunduwa (or 
 Underhill) Station of the Baptist Missionary Society (English). 
 Below the mission station on the river bank is the group of gray 
 corrugated iron storehouses, in one of which the Baptist Mis- 
 sionary Society receives and stores its goods from steamers. 
 The Swedish Missionary Society and the American Baptist 
 Missionary Union are granted space for the same purpose, on 
 Baptist Missionary Society ground. 
 
 A little back in the hollow of the hill are the graves of the men I 
 who pioneered this work — a sacred spot ! ' The mission station, | 
 originallv down here on the beach, has been moved to the 
 healthier locality on the top of the hill, and is approached by 
 an admirable stone walk, five feet wide, built out of the stone 
 only too abundant, just at hand. The climb of one hundred and 
 fifty feet is made in a zig-zag of six sections, so that the ascent 
 is just perceptible. Arrived at the top, we find a row of four 
 excellent frame houses, roomy and substantial to look at. Good 
 stone walks connect them ; flowering shrubs, quick-growing 
 shade trees, and tropical fruits, aloes, cactus, custard-apples, 
 limes, oranges and pine-apples are flourishing around them. 
 We found in Mr. Weeks, the principal missionary in charge of 
 the station, a friend and valued helper in forwarding the busi- 
 ness necessary to our onward movements. 
 
 On May 26th, we took a trip (a ten-mile walk up the moun- 
 tain) from Tunduwa to Palaballa. We were up and off before 
 breakfast, a boy, carrying my valise on his head, following 
 behind. The path is ten miles long, up and down hill, and the 
 ' His own resting place " till He come.'' 
 
62 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 ascent is between one and two thousand feet. The road is 
 only half wide enough for one, the bush and grass closing over 
 it in spite of hundreds passing every week. It is as rough as 
 can be, with holes w^ashed in it and covered with stones, big 
 and little, smooth and sharp. At one point the path winds 
 around the mountain, with a towering cliff above, and a pre- 
 cipitous chasm beneath. The hills seem solid rock, first flint, 
 then sandstone, broom sedge over all, with scant bush, which 
 looks like the mockery of an orchard. Many a valley between 
 the hills, however, is full and running over with rich, green trees, 
 clad with creepers flowering red and white. 
 
 The boy took his time following us. I could see my valise 
 moving uncertainly through the grass far below us. We met 
 two caravans at the M'Pozo river, one going each way, most of 
 the loads in crates, the carriers' own make. At last, near the 
 top of the hill, we saw palms in the distance, then a house, then 
 MTalaballa! 
 
 This is the first station on the Congo of the American Baptist 
 Missionary Union. The station has three local points. 1. In 
 a native hut at a considerable distance from the rest of the mis- 
 sion work, Miss Fleming teaches between twenty and forty 
 heathen children every morning. As school comes at the very 
 hour when they ought to be out digging their dinner, each gets 
 a cup of rice every day. Miss Fleming also has a dispensary 
 here, where she prescribes for the simpler diseases of the na- 
 tives. They make a wry face over her doses, but come again 
 for more. 2. In a much more pretentious wood and iron house, 
 with two or three good out-houses in a spacious yard, is the 
 girls' seminary (on a small scale as yet), presided over by Miss 
 Gordon. It is ten minutes' walk from the native town, and 
 about fifteen from the Central Mission Station, so as to be at a 
 safe distance from the distractions and temptations of both. 
 3. The Central Station of the mission. Passing liy a narrow^ 
 path through the native town, we enter a beautiful little avenue 
 or shaded path, at the end of which is the station. There is 
 quite a group of buildings — two dwelling houses, the main one 
 broad and low (African stjde), Avood frame, iron roof and sides; 
 the inevitable storehouse « long, stout, iron building; the school- 
 
 3 
 
PALABALLA. 63 
 
 house and eliapel, corrugated iron with little bell-tower; plain 
 seats and desk, mud floor; and the printing office, some one 
 hundred and fifty yards from the rest of the buildings. 
 
 The dwellings are flanked on one side by what might be 
 termed the orchard. Here are some fine orange trees in full 
 fruit, limes, mangoes, etc. On the other side is the garden. 
 The banana and plantain usually have the? honor of a special 
 plot allotted to them, one being the staple fruit, the other the 
 staple vegetable. Peas, potatoes and yams are planted without 
 order, and grow with little cultivation. It looks as if the whole 
 garden were growing spontaneously in nature's rich profusion 
 and confusion. 
 
 Beyond the station is a village, then a wood, a banana plan- 
 tation, another village, and the crest of the hill crowned with a 
 big rock, from which I saw the Congo many miles away winding 
 through the mountains among the cataracts. This is a favorite 
 walk with the missionaries. 
 
 The last morning of our stay at Palaballa — we were there four 
 days — I went to this spot with some of our missionary friends of 
 the Afrlkaan, who are resting here on their way up the river. It 
 was a charming walk and talk, the last for a long time, most likely. 
 
 The path through the villages leads right through the midst 
 of everything, in one place in three feet of a native house, almost 
 under its little veranda. At several places the road leads by 
 the grave of an African king, a huge mound covered as thick 
 as it will hold with white man's crockery and glass-ware, broken 
 vessels making up where the whole one's give out, pitchers, cups, 
 mugs and plates, but especially jugs and bottles. These last 
 give a sad significance to the monument, wholly unintended by 
 the friends of the deceased monarch, for the}' too often tell the 
 story of how he came to his death. 
 
 One of the most touching episodes in the history of this 
 Palaballa Mission centres around the king who was reigninor 
 when the missionaries first came. He was their staunch friend, 
 listened wilHngly to their preaching, was "almost persuaded," 
 but would not give up the white man's drink, with which the 
 traders were too ready to supply him, and he died unsaved, 
 clincrincr to his bottle. 
 
64 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 You would like, perliaps, in closing, a sketch of a day at 
 Tunduwa, a pretty fair sample of missionary life at tliis impor- 
 tant station. We rise at six, and an hour or more is given to 
 private devotion. Breakfast comes at 7 : 30, tea and coffee, oat- 
 meal, with diluted condensed milk, cold chicken, ham, light- 
 bread and butter, and jam for finish. Family prayer together, 
 and then all hands go to work, the resident missionaries to 
 casting up accounts for carrier pay and rations, or to unloading 
 steamers and carrying goods up hill to their proper storerooms, 
 and this means bossing a gang of twenty Lundas. The visitor 
 may v/rite or pack for the road, or help, or do nothing, as he 
 likes, maybe take a trip to Matadi to see how the railroad is 
 getting on, if he can find men to row. At twelve comes dinner, 
 soup, goat or fowl, and tinned meat of some kind, stew, rice, 
 African beans, maybe macaroni for a rarity; canned fruit, or 
 rice, cornstarch, cr tapioca pudding. One hour's rest; no work 
 allowed; then a lunch of tea and biscuit, as they call our 
 crackers. 
 
 In the afternoon is lighter work, translation and the like. 
 Supper comes after dark ; after supper, conversation or a game 
 of bagatelle. Missionaries out this way are "like other mortal 
 folk," joke one another, and tease the ladies, if they have the 
 good luck to have any around. They do not speak oratorically, 
 missionary address style, but are sober and business like, none 
 the less earnest for that. They are human, sometimes speak 
 too quick; sometimes say unkind things about other people 
 whose ways and ideas of work are not the same ; sometimes lose 
 temper and quarrel, Paul and Barnabas-like, it is to be feared. 
 
 The climate has certainly an influence in this direction ; not 
 on all, but on some naturally sweet-tempered men, making them 
 irritable and unreasonable. Especially under the influence of 
 African fever, one is not to be judged too closely for hasty acts 
 and words. Yet while the missionaries are very human, there is 
 one who is very God, working through them for the regeneration 
 of this dark land. 
 
 Diary, Sunday, June 15, 1890. — Led service at Uuderliill. Read 
 Moody's "Divine choice of instruments." Sheppard in bed — fever. 
 At dinner found my temperature 103; was sent to bed. Got to 105 
 
HAMMOCK TRAVEL. 65 
 
 bynig'lit. Clear of fever in the morning. Both up Tuesday morning I 
 went by boat to Ango Ango and hired forty-three men from the Dutch 
 house to bring up the bulk of my j)rovisions and barter goods to Lu- 
 kunga. Finished preparing loads ; settled with Mr. Forfeitt ; and off by 
 3 o'clock. Sheppard too sick to walk much. Started off in hammock. 
 
 The Tramp to Stanley Pool. 
 
 TUXDCM-A TO LUKUNGA. 
 
 You will, no doubt, like to have some details of our 230-mile 
 tramp from Tunduwa to Stanley Pool. We took the road Tues- 
 day, June 17, the very day we got tip from that attack of Afi'ican 
 fever, by the advice of our most judicious friends, who assured 
 us that we would find the road good medicine, as, indeed, it 
 proved. We had twenty-five men in all, and made quite au 
 imposing caravan. Our bedding rolled up and put in big black 
 valises, and our bedsteads, took three men. Two carried the 
 tent; two took our pocket-l)Ook, which contained seventy-five 
 dozen red bandana handkerchiefs and thirty-seven twelve-yard 
 pieces of check domestic; four men carried the trunks; one 
 carried the table, chairs and guns ; one carried the " chop-box" — 
 about three feet long, twelve inches wide and eight inches deep, 
 containing corned beef, jam, hard bread and crackers, lard, 
 butter, salt, tea, coffee and sugar, all sealed up in tins. Another 
 carried the "canteen," which was a big bucket, with nice little 
 kettle, sauce-pan, tea and sugar holders, bucket, two plates, a 
 dish, tW'O cups, two large and two small spoons, two knives and 
 two forks, all fitting in under one cover, so that they could not 
 be jostled while on the march. 
 
 But, the drawing-room cars, our Pullman palace coaches, 
 were borne on a bamboo pole on the heads of two men. There 
 were tw^o canvas hammocks with pillows inside and a shawl 
 spread across the 23ole — jump in and the men trot off' as if they 
 had no load at all. It was fine to walk as fast as I could for an 
 hour, then call up the hammock men, climb in and rest, while 
 the}' made even better time than if I w-ere walking. In this way 
 we travelled fast without getting tired. The caravan made a 
 most interesting sight as they moved off, Indian file, up the hill. 
 You could just see a line of black backs showing above the 
 
66' LITE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 grass, witli a big bundle on top of each. One of our men carried 
 a load of 102 pounds, and always got to camp among the first. 
 
 Our first day's journey took us over very familiar ground, by 
 the route already described, from TunduAva to Palalialla ; the 
 roughest road I ever sdw, path ten inches wide, high grass on 
 each side, and sharp-cornered flint rocks, fist size, fiUing the 
 little ditch of a footway. The country is all broken here. One 
 of the first Baptist missionaries said it was like going up and 
 down a church steeple. The way takes us up and down hill till 
 near the M'Pozo river. Then we drop down a hill like Blue 
 mountain (near Annistou), very, very steep. We camped the 
 first night at the river, as we had to go slowly ; learned tenting 
 in a very practical way, and made our supper on tea (Shep- 
 pard's make) and little crackers and jam, and breakfast the 
 same. So when we went vip the 1,500 feet pull on the other 
 side of the river next morning we gave our hammock men a 
 good job. 
 
 "We were received most cordially at Palaballa, where we knew 
 everybody, and had a cup of tea at once ; and at dinner took 
 the little boy's plan of eating fried chicken at Miss Gordon's, 
 and smothered chicken and canned peaches at Mr. Hyde's. 
 Mr. Clarke and the ladies of our Afr'ikaan party were gone 
 to the Pool by the time we started, and there they take boat 
 promptly for the interior, six hundred miles further up the river. 
 A lonely place to work this would be but for the belief in the 
 experieiice of Jesus' presence ! I am praying daily for a strong 
 hold on that blessed fact. 
 
 We rested till after dinner at Palaballa, and then took the 
 road again. Our mode of travel each day after this was to start 
 before sunrise, after a good breakfast on corned beef or bacon 
 from the tins in the chop-box, tea and cabin bread, then march 
 until ten or eleven, stop by some little river in good shade, dine 
 on a chicken, bought en route, with the bacon left from break- 
 fast, and tea and jam, or pawpaws and bananas, for desert. 
 Sometimes boiled sweet potatoes helped out the dinner. The 
 women bring the j^otatoes, chicken and other " chop " they have 
 raised ; sit right at the roadside, in some ojDen place, and sell to 
 the carriers and white men that pass. Some days the road is 
 
CARAVAN llOUTE. 67 
 
 one iiuhrokon string of carriers. So the women make a good 
 thing of it. 
 
 We Avould rest after dinner until 2 o'chjck, then march for 
 two hoiirs or more. Before sundown we stopped and camped, 
 always by a stream of water. The Capita, or head man of the 
 earners, sweeps a place clean for the tent, and soon it is iip, all 
 the cords over the pegs, the water-proof floor in, the beds made 
 and the mosquito nets spread. Meanwhile the men have made 
 several fires, a boy has brought water, the chop-box and can- 
 teen are opened, the table and chairs untied and on their feet, 
 an early supper, and then bed. 
 
 Our journey was a very pleasant one indeed. We got very 
 fond of walking, besides it was inspiring to feel with every step 
 that we were that much farther on our way towards the real 
 work we had come to do. We would have had a very different 
 trip six months later on. Then it would be both disagreeable 
 and dangerous, very hot, — a kind of steaming heat from wet 
 earth and grass, — big rains, drenching everything on short 
 notice, and making great torrents of the little branches that 
 cross the road every half mile. Now it is the dry season, the 
 Congo winter, and everything is favorable for the road. 
 
 One daj' and a half brought us to the N'Seke river, a nice 
 little stream, with elegant water and shade. I remember one 
 tree in particular there by the river side, whose long arms 
 stretched out behind our tent. Just think of limbs as large as 
 a good-sized tree, and reaching out for forty feet, sometimes 
 almost meeting across the big creeks ! 
 
 A Belgian, or rather State officer, lately in charge of Stanley 
 Falls Station, Captain Bodson by name, had camped by the 
 N'Seke ahead of us. He was glad of an audience, and toLl me 
 much of his place and the people there ; his march to the Sou- 
 dan boundary of the Free State by the Itimbiri, and especially 
 of His Excellency Tippoo Tib. He had a boy and a chimpanzee, 
 which this neighborly celebrity had given him. 
 
 It is funny to hear these State men's English (not English, 
 but Kruboy), "Me look him" ; "You sabby where dem dead men 
 live?" The latter a question asked our Acras by Mr. Sjoholm, 
 a Swedish missionary, meaning : " You know where men go 
 
68 LIFE AND LETTEltS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 when they die?" Captain Bodson spoke the English he had 
 learned in order to talk with the coast men employed at his 
 station, and it was most amusing. 
 
 Eight fires under the green roof that night, with some eight 
 men at each fire, made a pretty sight. The sun was still high 
 in the heavens on the fourth day when we climbed another very 
 steep hill, and calling up the hammock men, straightening the 
 rug and buttoning up all trim, rode in style up to Mr. Ingham's 
 at Banza Manteka. That was Friday, so we could not wait 
 over Sunday, as we would have liked so much to do, but pushed 
 on (three hours late) next morning. I got a notion of this cele- 
 brated mission, however, before starting. 
 
 Mr. Ingham, noAv in charge (Mr. Bichards is in England on 
 furlough), entertained us nicely. Such a good dinner the night 
 we got there! You will find encomiums upon Mrs. Ingham's 
 housekeeping in Stanle^^'s " Free State." Mr. Ingham was a State 
 ofiicer and has shot fifty elephants. He has kept this record 
 up lately by killing an enormous leopard, six feet from nose to 
 tail, and able to jump a six-foot fence with a grown hog in his 
 mouth. The morning after this monster was killed, the natives 
 flocked around, almost afraid to be glad. " He don't eat grass ; 
 he eats meat every day," they said. Leopards seldom attack a 
 man, but I own to sundry tremors as I walked the two hundred 
 yards to my room that dark night. 
 
 The church here at Banza Manteka has between three hundred 
 and four hundred members, though nearly a thousand have 
 claimed conversion. The interest, though not at revival heat, con- 
 tinues. The iron church given by Dr. Gordon's church, Boston, 
 has its six hundred sittings pretty well tilled, though the cold 
 weather causes much sickness and keeps many away. Some 
 twenty-eight villages belong to this community, some are miles 
 away, but the people come. It looks strange to see a handsome 
 galvanized iron church and a dirt floor inside. The men sit on 
 one side and the women on the other, like Methodist churches 
 at home. Mrs. Guinness says that the men make the women sit 
 by themselves, not because there is any social custom requiring 
 the separation of the sexes, but because the men don't like to be 
 troubled by the babies. 
 
BANZA MANTEKA. 69 
 
 I saw tlio collection l)askets in the clinrcli, and what do you. 
 think was their size? They were regular market baskets, and 
 receive every Sunday a load of blue beads (the copper pennies 
 of Congo land), and maybe a handkerchief or piece of cloth, but 
 not often I fear. The ruling passion is trade. "What they make 
 they keep, and many of them are very "nigh" — I might say all. 
 There is none of the thriftlessness and wastefulness character- 
 istic of many negroes at home ; still the Banza Manteka Chris- 
 tians ca:i be liljeral enough when they feel the nccessit}' for 
 giving. AVhen the iron church was unloaded at Matadi in 1887, 
 the natives volunteered to carry it up free of charge. It made 
 two hundred and thirty-seven loads, and weighed live or six 
 tons. They thus contributed in their own labor the equivalent 
 of about $1000. So great was the desire to have a share in 
 the work, that the women who could not carry, worked and earned 
 the means to pay men to go for loads. 
 
 In the morning before we took up our march, I went throiagh 
 the villages and saw the improved houses the converted com- 
 munities are building; inside you could see four-post beds, 
 cupboards and tables, instead of the mats which formerly had to 
 serve all purposes. 
 
 We spent Sunday on the road and had service with our men. 
 I read Luke ii. 1-12, in the Ki-Kongo Testament, and we sang 
 some Ki-Kongo hymns. It was fine to hear them sing, "We're 
 marching to Zion," in Ki-Kongo. Then one of the men prayed 
 in their language, and Sheppard and I in English. 
 
 Tuesday, June 25th, we reached Lukunga, called half-way to 
 the Pool, 110 miles, in less than seven days actual travel. 
 
 Lukunga to the Pool. 
 
 Lukunga is the half-wa}^ station to the Pool, and in this 
 neighl)orhood all the up-river institutions transfer their loads to 
 other carriers from the Pool, who take them on. Our carriers 
 were exchanged here. A lot came from the Pool and took the 
 loads our first caravan had brought from Tunduwa. 
 
 Mr. Hoste (American Baptist Missionary Union), a capital 
 missionary, has a good work here. He was a naval officer, and 
 still shows the s^'stem, determination and the great secret of 
 
70 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 succeeding in what lie undertakes, wliicli cliaracterizes that 
 service. Stern and inflexible in carrying out his plans, making 
 things, and people too, give way, he is really gentle and loves 
 the natives to a passion. That is why he sticks here through 
 interruptions and frictions, and health that is never even fair, I 
 am told, and will neither go home nor die. But he does not 
 advise others to do the like, but to go to bed if they possibly can, 
 when even a little fever holds on a while. Mr. Hoste thinks 
 that the church at home ought to pay for his living, so he makes 
 no eflfort at self-support, but gives himself entirely to preaching 
 and looking after the boys he has gathered in a boarding-school. 
 I believe this concentration, and similar plans at Banza- 
 Manteka, have made these the only markedly successful mission 
 stations on the Congo. The ice was broken here only three 
 years ago, and now there are two hundred members from various 
 villages within a ten-mile radius. At night you can hear, besides 
 three separate prayer-meetings at the station, the singing of the 
 natives in all directions carrying on their own services, singing 
 in Ki-Kongo, " What can wash away my stain," " We're march- 
 ing to Zion," etc. 
 
 Diary, Sunday, June 29. — A profitable, but not a jDleasant day 
 until towards evening. Indeed, while Lukunga has been stimulating 
 to my spiritual endeavor, I have been in one steady fight (and many 
 bad falls) all the week spent here. Walked before breakfast by river, 
 and went across bridge and read ItutherforcVs letters and the Chris- 
 tian, of April 25th. At eleven, a meeting in the long, white mud 
 chapel. A stream of j^eople had passed me at the bridge for some 
 time before. Mr. Hoste announced and raised a hvmu, which the boys 
 heartily carried. As there are hardly a hundred hymns in Ki-Kongo, 
 all or most are quite familiar to the congregation. Mr. Hoste prayed 
 with much fervor. Another hymn. Prayer by Luwawa, native evan- 
 gelist. Mr. Hoste read the promise in John xiv., that Jesus will mani- 
 fest himself to us, and spoke on it about seventeen minutes. Luwawa 
 rose, one foot on bench and his body twisting nervously around. Began 
 slowly, but soon caught fire. Got his foot down and his hands in use 
 and tongue loose. Spoke like his life depended on it. Not ranting 
 style, nor very loud, but in a hot stream of emphatic words, and his 
 little eyes l)ack under liis forehead burnt like coals. His gestures 
 were not extravagant, but naturally animated. 
 
FIRST PREACHma TO NATIVES. 71 
 
 Afternoon, a similar service, with about the same congregation. 
 The low, rough benches pretty well filled. IMission boys with clean 
 shirts and cloths from waist to knee ; a few girls in plain dresses- 
 Men, some stripped to the waist; some with clean cloth about shoul- 
 ders and another about the loins. Women, bare shoulders ; one large 
 cloch to knees, or two aprons, one tied with string before the breast 
 and other about waist. Strange congregation of believers met for the 
 communion! Yet quiet, attentive, well behaved, though some eyes 
 wandered and some slept (like Eutychus), in the warm room. The 
 bread broken was the native bread, quanga. It is inspiring to see 
 these fruits of work done in the past, and still more to know that it is 
 going on steadily in many villages, where the converts testify daily and 
 the question is on all minds. 
 
 It may interest joxi to know of my first efforts at preaching to 
 the natives. 
 
 At Lutete, or N'Gombe's, I preached in English, and one of 
 the missionaries interpreted ; but it was very unsatisfactory, hard 
 to "keep up steam." I like it much better to speak in "white 
 mans^fiote," though it w^as little I could say, and that in perfect 
 innocence of grammar and of the language. Still I could tell for 
 myself the story of Jesus, and they understood me. We were in 
 touch. I did this with our carriers after we took the road ; so 
 soon as I could, held prayers with them, and told them in their 
 own language who Jesus is, why he came to this earth, and how 
 he died for sinners. It w\as the greatest pleasure to see how 
 they listened to the " old, old story," which was all new to them. 
 
 W^e travelled from Lukunga to Leopoldville on the Pool, with- 
 out special incident, reaching the end of our tramp, July 18. 
 
 As we approached Leopoldville we had convincing proof that 
 important settlements were before us, in the large goods cara- 
 vans which we overtook from time to time. They numbered 
 from twenty to forty, or more, and I could see by the labels on 
 the goods that the different caravans w^ere bound for the 
 different stations which are grouped at this base of upper-river 
 navigation. Some of the carriers had boxes of provisions or 
 tools, some bales of cheap cloth, or coils of brass wire, to be 
 used as currency in trade with the natives ; others bore kegs of 
 powder for the State. 
 
72 LIFE AXD LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 Leopoldville, or in native j)arlaiice, Khitamo, is at the -^-estern 
 end of that envious Lxke-like expansion of the Congo, known as 
 Stanley Pooh The roar of the first cataract of the Congo is in 
 our ears at the station, while eastward the Pool stretches out 
 twenty-four miles long and a few miles wide. Around the Pool 
 wc count six well-equipped white settlements ; each of these the 
 base of a cliaiu of posts extending up the river into the heart of 
 the continent. The communication between each base and its 
 outposts is maintained by one or more capital steamboats, made 
 in Europe in small pieces, weighing less than a hundred weight 
 each, transported on the heads of the Congo natives to the Pool, 
 and there rebuilt and launched. This is very wonderful to me ; 
 and to make it more so, I know of at least five new steamers on 
 the way up, or already being put together. These three great 
 trade companies, French, Dutch and Belgian, evidently have 
 large faith in the commercial future of the Congo. And already, 
 1 am told, the tvvo last have more than paid for their costly 
 steamers by the sale of ivory. 
 
 The supply of ready ivory seems to be running short, yet 
 this, it seems to me, is a decided advantage ; for rubber is 
 already taking its place, and a dozen other valuable products 
 are waiting until the trader shall take a little time and pains to 
 show the natives their value. We met numerous ivory caravans 
 with loads amounting to at least five tons, counting all we saw. 
 We met only a few caravans vni\\ rubber. 
 
 Three of the settlements at the Pool are Protestant Mission sta- 
 tions : the American Baptist Union Missionary Station at Leopold- 
 ville, adjoining the headquarters of the Free State, the mission 
 station in charge of Dr. Sims, who is also surgeon at the State 
 Post ; the British Missionary Society .Station at Kinshassa, a 
 few miles up the south bank, and Bishop Taylor's "self-siip- 
 porting" Methodist Mission at Kimpoko, near the eastern end 
 of the Pool. Each of the Baptist missions has a fine little 
 steamer, and these, though not the largest, are the best boats 
 that ply the upper Congo. The American Baptist Missionary 
 Union steamer is the Henry Reed, the British Missionary Society 
 steamer is the Peace. 
 
 We were comfortably lodged at the American Baptist Mis- 
 
SUNDAY AT LEOrOLDVILLE. /3 
 
 siouary Uuiou Station, and most kindly cared for. In fact, the 
 ■way strangers' hearts liaye been opened, priceless advice and 
 help freely given, events shaped so as to lead iis plainly tints 
 far, is more than I can realize. Truly, God hath been mindful of us. 
 
 You would like an account of a day (Sunday) spent Avitli 
 these kind brethren. At 6 A. M. my boy, Nkuka, came in with 
 cofi'ee — a very staid, important young gentleman,, about ten 
 years of age. His big, round head was shaved three weeks 
 ago, and that makes him look still wiser. He is very black, 
 very fat, very round. A cloth around his waist and falling to 
 his knees, with a blue calico print shirt, makes his outfit. I 
 don't suppose he ever owned a hat. This young man throws 
 back my mosquito net, hands in my coffee, arranges for my bath- 
 ing, etc., takes away the cup, and disappears until breakfast.^ 
 Mr. Blake, of the Guinness' Congo-Balolo Mission, and Dr. 
 Howison, of Bishop Taylor's Mission, who broke his arm Satur- 
 day at house-building, and is here for treatment, slept at the end 
 of the room. All move over to Dr. Sims' house for breakfast. 
 Each man's boy stands behind his chair at table and waits on 
 him. After breakfast we have prayers, and then there is a quiet 
 time until nine o'clock service in the chapel. Dr. Sims led, 
 doing all the speaking, as none of us could take part in the 
 native language. It is nice to hear them sing, but Lukunga and 
 Banza Manteka have spoiled me. Here there are hardly any 
 believers, and I feel the want of a response. At the night ser- 
 vice Scannel, whom we knew at Harley House, and who came 
 out with us on the Afrikaan, spoke in English, and Dr. Sims 
 interpreted. 
 
 AVe are now three hundred and thirty miles inland. The first 
 hundred was on a lower river steamer. We stopped half-way 
 at Boma, the capital. Fifty miles above Boma the rapids cut • 
 off navigation. There is Underhill, the English Baptist Station, 
 and just above is Matadi, where is the beginning of the railroad 
 to extend around the falls ; but it is likely we will have to walk 
 these two hundred and thirty miles for some time yet. 
 
 ' This seems a i;niversal custom in Central Africa. The natives send the brightest 
 of their boys to the merchant, official, and mission stations to learn the ways and 
 language of the envied foreigners. 
 
74 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 We found it a long tramp, fourteen days of actual marcliing, 
 and quite a while to wait lialf-waj. 
 
 Stanley Pool is a widened stretch of the river at the head of 
 the rapids, and the beginning of upper river navigation. Here 
 w^e find people from most of the tribes on the upper river. In 
 countenance and physique they are superior to the j)eople we 
 have seen. Their districts, too, are far more populous, accord- 
 ing to what I can hear. It is among these we seek a field of 
 labor. I leave to-day for Bolobo, five days' distance by steamer 
 up the main branch, to confer with the veteran missionary 
 explorer, Kev. George Grenfell, of the English Baptist Mission. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 BY STEAMER TO BOLOBO AND BACK, AND FROM LEOPOLD - 
 VILLE AFOOT TO LUKUNGA, AND BACK TO THE POOL. 
 
 July 29 to December 3, 1890. 
 
 DIARY AND LETTERS. 
 
 Ox THE Henry Reed. 
 
 Diary, July 29, 1890. — Mr. Billing-ton, of the American Baptist 
 Mission, consents to take me in the Henry Reed up the river to 
 Bolobo, so that I may consult !Mr. Grenfell. The charge is only the 
 estimated cost of the food I use. Mr. Scannell and Miss Dalgarno, of 
 the AfriJcaan party, are also aboard. 
 
 It is exhilarating to feel how the little mission steamer defies the 
 powerful current, and in a moment turns, advances, or retires when 
 the way is dangerous, or dashes up stream at a good speed. This is a 
 seventy-foot, flat bottom steel boat, a stern- wheeler, standing about 
 twenty inches out of the water, and di-aws twenty-two under, when 
 loaded. A light, flat, wooden roof, or a"wning extends from stem to 
 stem, and is a necessity in this climate. . . . Passed Gallina Point. 
 Crocodiles on the rocks, and many hippos in the Pool rear their 
 horse heads to breathe, and eye us over. Had to waste a few bullets 
 on them. Abvmdance of all game in these pai'ts. Buffalo, hippo, 
 elephant, and deer tracks cover the beach. Saw water birds, large 
 and small, flocks of ducks and guinea fowl, feeding on the sand and 
 wet grass. Many shots, but only two guineas to show. 
 
 When it was neai'ly dark Ave tied up at a long sandy beach, and the 
 men were all sent for fire-wood for the engine, which is sawed into 
 blocks eighteen inches long. Had supper in the cabin. All ravenously 
 hungry. Fried quanga excellent ; so are Miss Dalgarno's jam puddings. 
 Sleep on top of the cabin; the awning about two and a half feet above 
 us. Rather close quarters. 
 
 July 31. — At day, 'Six. BiUington calls the boys ; and by the time 
 we are di-essed, we get a cup of coffee, and the boat is under way. 
 
 75 
 
76 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 The wind makes big waves, so that we had to wait half a day for quiet 
 water. 
 
 Leaving the expanse of ''Stanley Pool," the width of which is not so 
 apparent, owing to the great islands, we find the river narrow, about 
 a mile wide and very deep, and high hills hem it in. 
 
 Saturday/, August, 2. — We reach Bwemba Station (American 
 Baptist). Some miles below, the hills receding leave a fertile lowland 
 which the Bayansi occupy. They build their houses in a triple, or 
 double row (with short breaks) for miles along the river, shading their 
 long brown streets with the palm that gives the wine, malafu. 
 
 Anchored at a good sand beach with deep water, and see a new 
 opening in the front, about six acres. Up the slope 150 yards, is an 
 excellent frame house with avenue of pawpaws and plantains. Many 
 fruit trees planted over the ground. All looks clean and trim, and all 
 done in little more than twelve months by Messrs. Billington and 
 Glenesk. 
 
 We stopped before reaching here at one of the first Baj'ansi villages. 
 A trader threatened a native chief near there some time ago, and was 
 shot dead on the spot. After a good deal of bad management, the 
 State officials decided to visit the chief of the long row of towns that 
 line the Congo just below here, to adjust the quarrel by a friendly 
 "palaver." Mr. Billington was asked to advise the chief (Boukaiiya) 
 of the proposed visit. So he stopped at his town (Mobimo) an hour 
 below here, and took me with him to Bonkanya's "palaver," shed, or 
 council chamber. When he heard the message, the cool old chief 
 replied : " Tell Bula Matadi (their name for all State officials), that if 
 he brings 'Nganga Boko' (the missionary. Dr. Sims,) I will talk with 
 him here, or I will go to your place if he likes ; but if Bula Matadi 
 tries to land here without ' Nganga Boko,' I will shoot him." No timid 
 lower river jDeoj^le here! Bold, free, good as anybody, willing to 
 welcome a friend, or one the}^ can make something out of; but ready 
 to fight, caring little for death. The men generally' go armed with 
 spear in hand, knife sheathed by the side, or a gun slung across their 
 back, or all three. I am told women also go to war holding the hus- 
 band's powder calabash. 
 
 Leaving Mobimo, we steamed along the beach, here rocky at the 
 water's edge, crowds peering at us thi'ough the bush, or standing in 
 the village streets. We passed a strange object floating. When near, 
 saw it was the headless trunk of a man. Afterwards found he had 
 been killed in the town next the station. 
 
 The men had a fine song and dance when we sighted the station. 
 
UP THE KIVEli AGAIN. 77 
 
 keeping time to the beat of the engine, and accentuating with hand 
 and foot. A finale, which seems universal, is this : One makes a short, 
 sharp "Ah!" in high pitch. The chorus rejoin, "Ah! ah!" in perfect 
 concert and perfect unison, repeated once, twice, and all is still. 
 
 August 3. — Sunday, still at Bwemha. A better day than usual for 
 me. Held a morning service ; fii'st for the station people, then a com- 
 munion service. It was good for me to be there. After dinner iMr. 
 Billington took me through the town adjoining. We passed the strip 
 of land next the mission, and heard the voice of weeping, and saw 
 women mourning. By the low window lay the emaciated corpse of a 
 man, his body covei'ed with cam wood. I think they were painting him. 
 
 A httle further on we came on the old chief, Ebenda. He sat on a 
 coarse i-eed mat under the tree, in the centre of his quarter, enter- 
 taining a few visiting braves. Drunk and silly Ebenda ! The poor 
 old man has been tall, finely-proportioned and powerful, now a shriv- 
 elled wreck. He points to a pile of seven skulls against his house; 
 (memorandum on margin of Journal, "Dec. 22, skulls now gone,"), 
 brandishes the spear that killed, and the knife that beheaded them. . . . 
 All the afternoon a rapid triple-measured drum-beat in the town south 
 
 of the mission, indicated a drinking and dancing frolic Saw a 
 
 woman who was sentenced by the king to be killed for lewdness and 
 idleness, particularly that she wouldn't work. Her grave was half 
 dug, her head was decorated by the women, and she waiting the end, 
 when Mr. Billington interceded and had her spared by payment of 100 
 brass rods. 
 
 August 5. — Off up the river. 
 
 Augitst 6. — Cut wood from a forest of copal. The gum was seen 
 caked on the bark. The tree has a bark like beech, smooth and light 
 colored. 
 
 9 : 30 A. M. — Anchored at Bolobo, after a beautiful sight of the vil- 
 lages and their tall palms on the shore as we came up. Met by Rev. 
 George Grenfell, F. R. G. S., and Mr. Glenuy. ... I decide, finally, 
 to stop here now. So good-bye to the last of oiu- Afrikaan party, 
 Miss Dalganao and Mr. Scannell, who go on up the river. 
 
 August 7. — Much sense of the reality of my work, and of things 
 
 divine for me Copying map, lent me by Mr. Grenfell, of the 
 
 Kwango, according to survey made by him in 1886. Aside from their 
 utility, these maps are veiy interesting as finished scientific work of 
 the highest order. . . . Mr. GrenfeU discussed mission work, sketched 
 the B. M. S. enterprise. Almost dissuades me from going to Kin- 
 kunji, as strongly as his modesty Mould permit, in favor of Musid. 
 
78 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 At Bolobo there are mission-residences, store, cook-house, school, 
 visitors' house, observatoiy, wood-work shop, photograph room, ser- 
 vants' house, machine shop, and charcoal kiln, and on the beach a wet 
 dock and slip, in which to repair the Peace, and a wharf ; altogether a 
 splendid establishment. 
 
 To Lis sister, he writes: I write from Bolobo, a long way up 
 tlie great river. From the veranda of the central house, which 
 is Mr. Grenfell's, you would just now, if jou were here, look on 
 what seems a wide lake, about five miles wide, with a strip of 
 green in the distance, as the edging of that blue sheet, "a piece 
 of the sky fallen through from on high." When the sun sets, 
 its wonderful good-night glories fall on that same sheet of glass ; 
 for we are looking directly west ; and then it is not a bad sight. 
 But though like a lake, if you saw one of the canoes shoot from 
 behind the great tree on the right, and with only a few strokes 
 now and then, glide pass at a railway speed, you would guess 
 there was somethinsr of a current there. The canoes are beau- 
 
 O 
 
 ties, very long and straight, and perfectly shaped, and if you are 
 close enough to see, carved into long diamonds. 
 
 Monday, August 11. — Fever. Only well again Thursday. The 
 fever Monday, 9 a. m. to dark. Tuesday, 5 : 30 p. m. to midnight. 
 
 Friday, August 15. — "With Mr. Glenny at the towns north, for 
 perhaps a mile and a half. Quite a j)rocession gathered behind us. 
 En route we passed a group of women dancing by the path, whether 
 for joy or grief, I cannot say. It soon appeared our friends were 
 leading us to some interesting spectacle. Unexpectedly I caught 
 glimpses of what seemed a great idol profusely decorated with gaudy 
 clothes, feathers and paint, sitting in state at the head of the street. 
 Approaching we stood before the corpse of a man who died yesterday, 
 and was propped up on a chair or throne of some kind. Around his 
 head was a cluster of rooster feathers, his face was painted, smeared 
 with several colors. The body to the waist covered with the red wood 
 (palm oil being used to make it stick). The gay clothes that covered 
 the chair enveloped the limbs and feet. Among the throng around 
 him I counted six weeping women, who kept uj) the usual slow dance 
 and wail. They had on nothing but fringed belts of grass, or green 
 bark. . . . Another thing I often see is an old or sick pe'.'son given up 
 by friends to die. These poor creatures look like skeletons, and their 
 faces show absolute hopelessness, or that reason has already gone. 
 They lie beside logs in the ashes of a smouldering fire, or go creeping 
 about among the bananas or j^lantains 
 
KWANGA MAKING. 
 
 79 
 
 A commou sight iu the towns of an afternoon is the womGn making 
 kwanga. They fill their wooden trays (not quite full) of the soft, 
 fibrous, white cassada roots, which have just come out of the soak- 
 baskets in the river. A little 
 roller, six inches long, and 
 size of their arras, reduces 
 these roots to a white paste, 
 looking like butter in a -pig- 
 gin (only white). ^Vhen quite 
 to the required consistency 
 they wrap this in plantain 
 leaves, and it is ready for 
 use. In little rolls, finger 
 size, they keej) it for home 
 eating. In jDound and two 
 pound balls or rolls they sell 
 it at market, steamer, or 
 station, one ntaku for two 
 pounds, or they dry it and 
 make it into flour. 
 
 August 17. — I passed a 
 pleasant day. Spoke in the 
 morning service to the sta- 
 tion j)eople and natives, 
 James Showers (a Cameron 
 man) interpreting for me in 
 Kibangi. They come, but 
 seem all untouched as yet. 
 One Sunday at breakfast, 
 word came that a man had 
 been murdered near by. On going to the village we found the mur- 
 dered man under a shed. They had dug into hira with a spear, to 
 find evidence of his being a witch. 
 
 August 19. — Mrs. Grenfell was called to the bed-side of an impor- 
 tant old chief, Gobojaeka, lately a hale old man, who, by undertaking 
 a trading expedition against all advice, is in articulo mortis. He is 
 not dead yet, but his son says that when sufficient "savehst," is got 
 for fitting obsequies, his breath will be stoj^ped by a hand on his 
 throat. He has the cheek to ask the loan of 600 ntakus (brass rods, 
 the currency here,) worth of "savehst" to be paid in ivory. A nephew 
 has two wives standing guard over the dying man, to let him know the 
 
 The Manioc Plant. 
 
80 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLET. 
 
 moment he dies, so that he may seize his share of the spoils. Ten 
 widows will be left tu mourn him. Three women ai'e selected as vic- 
 tims at the funeral. 
 
 Gobojacka, alias Goka, is dead at last ; possibly by some dutiful kins- 
 man sitting on his chest, says Glenny, who made a medical examination 
 the evening before. "We found his town all alive at dusk ; the street 
 filled with women going through their moiuming dances, eyes shut 
 and wet ; professional grief on their faces ; dancing slowly, or shuf- 
 fling rather, almost in the same tracks. 
 
 We.it to Gobojacka's funeral, or rather some three hours of it, for it 
 lasts many days. The town was full of people. Every one of the 
 palaver sheds was full, and every spot of shade. We watched the 
 dancers in the second street from the royal mansion. Three rings, 
 women together, girls, men, all prancing up and down, clapping their 
 hands on the hollows of the bare bent elbow in a rapid 4-4 rhythm, 
 then each in turn j^rancing into the middle and executing a higher 
 
 flying prance than the rest In a nook near the woods I saw a 
 
 party of grave and reverend seniors, one of them a "Nganga" (medi- 
 cine man, wizard), who were consecrating the coflS.n, but would not let 
 us see what they were doing 
 
 A friendly old man called on Mr. Grenfell this afternoon, and while 
 talking, a pot of malafu was brought and set before him. And the 
 bearer announced, "You are accused of witchcraft," and summoned to 
 drink the "inkassa" (ordeal poison). The old man gave the pot a 
 kick that broke it, and sent the palm wine flying, so answering the 
 summons with defiance. 
 
 August 20. — Soon after breakfast the Stanlei/ and T^ille de J^erviers 
 steamed up, and the Commissaire of Stanley' Pool District, and the 
 Commandant, and five other State officials, with Dr. Sims, landed at 
 the B. M. S. Station. They have settled the Mobimo j^alaver with 
 Bonkanya, and put a post there, and came to do the same here. 
 They dined with Mr. Grenfell, making sixteen at table. The dinner a 
 grand success, with plenty, and that excellently cooked and served. 
 But it was a dumb crowd, all foreigners, and missing their wine, no 
 doubt. The two great dignitaries, and Dr. Sims and Mr. Billington, 
 made a visit to some towns down the river a httle waj', going in the 
 natty httle VUle de Verviers. But the chiefs didn't come to the 
 friendly conference, summoned for ilie afternoon, only one or two of 
 them; so it is deferred. 
 
P.VLAVER. 81 
 
 Avf/tist 21. — CoramancTant and Commissaire dined with ns again. 
 Mr. Grenfell intimated to the Commissaire, that a post, with only a 
 ievk- men, especialh' "without a white officer, and the natives expected 
 to feed them, will only start a row, and the poor men will be murdered 
 sure. Besides the natives, once in conflict with the white power, will 
 hardly draw the line at "Bula Matadi." They will say Mr. Gren- 
 fell sent for "Bula Matadi," and will kill him. They have said, "We 
 killed one white man (the trader) at Chumbiri, and we can kill you all 
 when we like." So they spear a goat now and then, and steal tools 
 when they can. 
 
 It seems a shame that the State should get the mission station mixed 
 up in their "palavers." Things are in a mess. Mr. Grenfell is very 
 anxious, I see. 
 
 About 9:30, a few came at the summons of the Commissaire to 
 "palaver," in front of the house. But the other eight or nine chiefs, 
 in spite of the soldiers, who went to call them, refused to come. So 
 the Commandant, little pleased, gathered those present around him 
 and made them a short and sharp speech, through James Showers. 
 He said he would wait till noon for the rest, and then go, to come 
 again with two hundred men. Hardly had this conclave broken up 
 when a line of thirty odd armed men filed through the station from 
 the back. The advanced few and the rear few were aimed with knife 
 and spear, the body of them had rifles gaily ornamented with brass nails 
 in fancy figures. Just behind the guns were armed musicians, first 
 with a kind of flute ; second, a queer signal gong, consisting of two 
 bells of iron joined at their bases. The bells were shaped like a mono- 
 petalous flower, and made, when struck, a deep, rather sweet sound, 
 not loud, but heard very far. Next came a brass bugle. Then the 
 rear guard with spears. This company was followed by another and 
 another from both directions, most of them just like this one in 
 theii* make-up, until about three himdi'ed men (and a few women 
 among them) had assembled. Mats were produced, and the people 
 seated in a semi-circle twenty-five yards across. The chiefs of the 
 region, all except two, had come, and the ten present were called to a 
 l^lace on mats before the Commissaire, who occupied an arm chair in 
 the centre of the semi-circle. Dr. Sims sat by him to interpret the 
 Commissaire's French to James, who stood before the chief, and with 
 expressive gestin-es, but quiet voice and manner conveyed the message 
 to the chiefs. . Glenny shifted about from side to side with a black 
 box under his arm. The people had httle idea that he had photo- 
 ^aphed them from a half dozen points of view. After half an houi*'s 
 6 
 
82 LIFE AND LETTEKS OP S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 conference, the chiefs accepted each a State flag in token of amity (!), 
 and received a douceur of twenty brass rods each. Lingeuji, the chief 
 who murdered a man a few days ago, sat well in the front, and said, 
 as the flags were given, "Is that all you are going to give ? You ought 
 to give us five thousand rods to be divided among the ten of us." 
 
 It is not a poor picture, a company of these fellows, squatting on 
 the ground, each with his spearpoint in air, above the elaborately 
 dressed head and bare brown back, deepest solemnity on eveiy face, 
 especially the wrinkled, foxy, impenetrable countenances of the old 
 men. 
 
 BoLOBo, Au(just 19, 1891. 
 
 Dear Aunt Elsie : It seems very strange to be writing to jou 
 from " the heart of Africa," . . . but being here is quite a reality, 
 and I have got quite used to black faces, or rather bodies bare 
 down to the waist, and half way up the leg — faces not tattooed 
 exactly, but cut in strange and fantastic patterns; scarified in 
 such way as would scare-ify many folks at home. There is a 
 big pun for yon to give Jimse 
 
 It seems as if the words and lives of the missionaries were 
 having no efi'ect on these poor people. But I notice that they 
 come to the missionaries, especially to Mrs. Grenfell, with their 
 troubles, and many came to the services. This, at Bolobo, is a 
 splendidly equipped station . . . good, roomy, plain houses for 
 the mission force, with space for visitors, and quite a village on 
 either side the station, for the labor needed for the work. Mr. 
 Grenfell, besides being a thorough mechanic, is a scientist as 
 well. So he has one little house for his photographing and 
 another for his observatory 
 
 I remember all of you at Vine Hill, often mentioning each by 
 name at the mercy seat where we may meet, " though sundered 
 far." .... 
 
 [A few weeks later, and having returned to Leopoldville, he 
 wi'ites to this same aunt.] 
 
 I am among good friends, who have done and are doing fine 
 work. The Lord had opened their hearts to receive me as a 
 co-worker, and they help me greatly by their advice, and in more 
 substantial w'ays. 
 
 Sheppard is still away getting men for our trip of explora- 
 tion. He is a treasure. . . The little mission steamer, Poineer,. 
 
MUNDELE NDOM. 83 
 
 lies at the beach here nearing completion. My fellow-travel- 
 ler, Sully, and a very smart (bright, clever) Scotchman, Adam- 
 sou, are putting in the engines. 
 
 A Kiissian, who was captain of an English steamer, is sick in 
 a room at the other end of the court. As I sit in Dr. Sims' 
 office, I look across the fruit and palm trees right into his win- 
 dow. He is a gentlemanly fellow. An English Testament on 
 his table furnishes a handle I hope to use on him. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. McKittrick, of the Bolobo Mission, are here. 
 Mrs. McKittrick, who is quite bright, makes the evenings much 
 pleasanter than they might be, by games of drafts and "word- 
 making and work-taking." It wouldn't be gallant to say who is 
 
 ahead just now The Bateke think there is nobody hke 
 
 "Mundele Xdom," the black white man, as they call Sheppard. 
 I am very happy to think that you pray for him and me both. 
 You know my greatest sin is in not trusting my Saviour as fully 
 as I ought. Pray for me that I may. Five, ten, fifteen or twenty 
 years, however much time for service he may lend me, it will 
 not be long. "A little while and ve shall see me." How sweet 
 indeed when we are all together there. " Help us to live as we 
 shall wish we had lived when we come to die." You remember 
 that was Uncle's favorite petition. I am now in better health, 
 or feel so, than I was a year ago. 
 
 Your loving boy, Sam. 
 
 Many interesting details of the stay at Bolobo and at Chumbiri 
 and of the return trip to Leopoldville, including a description 
 of a short trip up the Kassai, have to be omitted. He got back 
 to Leopoldville on the 23d of September. On the 25th of Oc- 
 tober Sheppard returned with twenty-five carriers, who, !iOw- 
 ever, refused to go with them to Kinkimji. It being impossible 
 to move in that country without carriers, a trip back down the 
 caravan route to hunt up carriers was necessary. 
 
 The Diary, October 28, says : " I set out for Nkonko, southwest of 
 the Pool, with seven carriers, my boy, Nkuku and Makindu, an iater- 
 preter, who also takes charge of the cuisine. Picturesque sceneiy 
 to-day. Can'iers coming towards us through the shaded glades. 
 Reached Makoko very tired, but refreshed spiritually bv talking to a 
 Liberian and my carriers through Makindu about their souls." 
 
84 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAFSLEY. 
 
 A few days later be writes as follows to bis McCormick Seminary 
 class-mates : 
 
 Ngombe, or Lutete, or Wathen Station, 
 Cataract Region of the Congo Rm:R, 
 
 Novemler 3, 1890. 
 To my dear friends of "The Fowler Hall Clan'' : 
 
 My last mail broiigbt me a "feast of fat tilings" in the "clan" 
 letters, and I want to show my aj^preciation by answering at this 
 my first opportunity — not strictly so, for I haven't been busy 
 every moment since, but rest is quite an essential, you know — 
 in Africa, at any rate — and I have had enough work to require it. 
 
 I am preparing to make a trip East from Stanley Pool, to see 
 an unexplored country, "with a view to settlement," as the 
 churches saj^ to the seniors, when asking them to make a visit. 
 
 My colleague, Mr. Sheppard, a very capable colored minister 
 of our church, was away, getting men to carr}^ our beds, tenn 
 food, clothes, and barter goods, when your letter reached me 
 and I was packing the goods, so as to leave at once on his ai^ 
 rival. You mustn't think we carry all the food (or, as we say- 
 here, "chop") we expect to eat; only such things as tea, sugar, 
 a little Chicago beef, in case we can't buy chickens and eggs, 
 etc. The barter goods are great bales of cheap cloth and coils 
 of brass wire (to be cut into thirteen-inch rods, called ntaku), 
 with a few bells, beads, knives, etc. These constitute our pocket 
 book. So it isn't so big a thing as it sounds, when we say seven 
 men will carry our cash. The stuff to buy our men's chop must 
 also be carried. 
 
 Well, Sheppard came to time with the twenty-five men, but 
 they took a panic next morning and skipped. They had heard 
 reports like those that frightened the Israelites on the edge of 
 Canaan. So I packed up, and started down to this region, now 
 well under white man's influence, to get some more men. 
 
 The first day I kept the caravan roadj by which some sixty 
 thousand seventy-pound loads are carried yearh^ on the heads 
 of the natives of this region around the two hundred and thirty 
 miles of cataracts, for the support of the missions, trade com- 
 panies, and state posts on the upper Congo. Every ten min- 
 utes, I really believe, I met a little party of these carriers trot- 
 
LETTER TO "THE FOWLER HALL CLAN." 85 
 
 ting nimbly through the pretty avenues in tlie upland woods, a 
 line of shining black backs, surmounted hj boxes or bales, and 
 always in Indian file, though the State has had the various 
 chiefs clear a road twenty feet wide all the way. 
 
 Though very familiar now, it seems to me like a dream, that 
 this should be done in thirteen years after the discovery of the 
 Congo. 
 
 The traders certainly see reason to believe there is money in 
 it ; but what does God mean by it ? 
 
 In order to save the constant expense of tents for its agents, 
 the State has put up, about every four hours' march along the 
 road, a house for white men and a large shed for the carriers. 
 I slept at one of these posts the first night, and left the caravan 
 road early the next day to go to a king's place, who, I thought, 
 might furnish me the men I wanted. 
 
 At 8 o'clock I reached a market, and stopped there until the 
 people should come, that my men might buy "chop," and I 
 might get news about my king. 
 
 The people began to pour into the open place in the thin 
 woods about half past nine. Every road (and they were like 
 spokes of a wheel) contributed a Kne of men, and especially 
 women, the latter loaded with fowls, native bread (which is fine 
 fi'ied, called kwanga), mustard greens, green pepper, palm oil 
 (there is no butter or lard here), sugar-cane, pine-apples, ba- 
 nanas, plantains (a larger l)auana, not sweet, but good to cook), 
 tobacco, cloth made of grass, and gi'eat gourds of milk-colored 
 palm wine. Such a hubbub as they all made! I never get tired 
 of watching these markets. They had lots of things I haven't 
 mentioned. 
 
 I slept that night in a clean, titly house a little larger than 
 half a railway coach taken off its wheels, and much the same 
 shape, but made of grass, cane splits, and bamboo rods. It was 
 the king's house. But he had no men for me. So I have made 
 two days' march to this place, where I had the same experience 
 with Makito, the gi'eatest king on the lower Congo. But I may 
 succeed with him yet. 
 
 I am entertained by the English Baptist missionaries, who 
 have a magnificent station here, but have only a few converts. 
 
86 LIFE AXD LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLET. 
 
 .... I was much helped by the words of Christian cheer you 
 all sent me. I pray God's blessing on the great work you have 
 to do, each in his field. Your brother, S. N. Lapsley. 
 
 Manyanga, November 10, 1890. 
 
 Dear Mamma : I am going to-day from Manyanga South to 
 Manyanga North, and am now in mid-stream in a canoe ! The 
 canoe is part of an enormous tree trunk, nearly four feet through, 
 and though not very symmetrical, is a sound and steady craft. 
 I am sitting on a folding chair, placed on a mat facing down 
 stream (to the left side of the canoe therefore). Makindu, the 
 English-speaking mission boy, ^Aih my helmet, umbrella, and a 
 little tin tub full of cooking utensils and chop tins, is at my 
 right in the bow. M^vanga and my boy, Nkuku, are sitting to 
 the left, while the crew of three nimble boys from sixteen to 
 twenty years, are close togi'ther in the stern. They have each a 
 large red and white bandana handkerchief about their loins, and 
 a brass bracelet on left wrist. They make wild shouts and draw 
 in their breath, "psli psh," as they ply their very arduous task. 
 Such another river never was to be sure ! It looks narrow (until 
 you get well into it), but the terrific rush of the currents and 
 counter currents, and the swirling eddies which burst just under 
 lis amid stream (rare fun !) show that an inconceival)le volume 
 of water is forcing itself down this narrow trough, only a mile 
 •wide. I contrast with this the placid sweep and pretty dimples 
 seen coming down the Pool, where the Congo is a dozen times 
 wider. A vast crowd of carrier wait us as we land, and leave 
 the boat free. About one h' 1 loads of trade-cloth, great 
 
 iron-bound canvas bales, o »;hick and three or four feet 
 
 long, are at the landing. 
 
 Later. — I am now sitt' , on the bank awaitimr the canoe to 
 take me back. I have oeen to a great market, an hour's walk 
 away from the river among the hills, to see about men to cany 
 me to Kinkunji. I made an engagement with one old king to 
 come Wednesday, he promised five men, I may get more, I need 
 fifteen. Very fine people these, though less romantic-looking 
 ill an the Bangala, Balolo, or Babangi (or Bayansi, their neigh- 
 bors call thom). Back through the mid-day sun, not very hot 
 
'^, l^ 
 
MARKET DAY. 87 
 
 to-day as there is a breeze, and the ground is not damp or 
 steaming. Had fun buying things of the uatiye women. Bought 
 a pretty little pot and water-bottle of clay, mottled like castile 
 soap. Eight bananas for one brass rod (ntaku). I chopped all 
 eight in part j^i^Jinent of a debt to a creditor, who is yerj exor- 
 bitant and impudently insistent in this land — my appetite to wit. 
 The bananas are shorter than those at home, and ridiculously 
 fat ; yery toothsome withal. The salesladies were divided be- 
 tween fear and curiosity — they generally accepted iny overtures 
 toward good fellowship, and waited on me with as many smiles 
 as the one who put on my first pair of kid gloves (kid or dog- 
 skin?) in Cincinnati, years ago. I must say I think their faces 
 pleasant when they are content with a band of beads, or white 
 buttons, tied around the forehead. Sometimes, however, they 
 make frights of themselves by smearing a black pigment over 
 the face. Their remaining attire is constructed less on princi- 
 ples of modest}' than of measured economy; consisting, poor 
 things, of only two scanty aprons. They are nearly the worst 
 I have met in this regard. The canoe comes not. Thanks to 
 the bananas, I have a comfortable hour yet to talk to you. 
 
 Mauyanga is at the head of a stretch of barely navigable 
 water, of which Isanghila is the lower end. Between here and 
 there are several rapids, navigated with extreme difficulty and 
 no small danger, by several large boats belonging to the State, 
 and rented by the great Belgian Company here. It is thrilling 
 to hear how the native boatmen dive down and fasten the rope 
 to a rock in some places ; and then, those in the boat painfully 
 pull up hand-over-haud, and a new grip is taken, perhaps to 
 to the bank this time. The rope once snapped with Mr. Heyne, 
 my English host here, in the boat, and a day's hard work was 
 lost in fifteen minutes ; for they stopped only on a little island, 
 glad not to go on to the cataracts below. Just a little way above 
 Manyanga, I believe, is the rapid where Frank Pocock, Stan- 
 ley's last Avhite man, on the first trip, was drowned. I can see 
 the white caps of the waves — they dart wp like pale silver-flames, 
 at this distance. 
 
 Yesterday, Sunday, I took my man, Mwanga (a queer stick), 
 and my boys, Makiudu and Nkuka, and the ine\atable bath-tub 
 
88 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 loaded with mj kitchen things, and climbed up the table-land to 
 the nearest villages. In an hour I found a market, where one 
 hundred and tAventy-five women sat in a crescent with neat, 
 conical baskets, full of the kwanga, cabbage and mustard greens, 
 eggs and chickens they had raised, and a crowd Avas coming to 
 buy these, and the slaughtered pig and goat and the malafee, 
 which some of the men had for sale. Vanity Fair isn't the best 
 place to preach, so I walked on to the town of Yunda. It is a 
 large and old village, almost hidden in the plantations of bananas 
 that flourish on its rich plateau. There are two or three smaller 
 towns, sheltered on the hillside and adjacent valley, making in 
 all, to my estimate, one hundred inhabited houses. I found 
 many of them afraid that I was a State man, come to tie some- 
 body up ; but I managed to scatter the news that missionaries 
 had come to teach them about God and heaven, and Avould like 
 to visit them. So, my little census finished, I sat down under a 
 delightful shade tree, read Joe Vance's sermon in the Ohfierver, 
 on Repentance, took a brief nap on the leaves, and awoke to eat 
 fried quanga and part of a tin of salmon I was surprised to find 
 in my chop-bos, finishing with quanga, and jam, and tea. (Jam 
 costs about fifteen cents a tin, only!) Makindu cooks what he 
 knows how very well, so I revel in rich, crisp quanga. I came 
 back by the market, found everybody bustling about to get 
 away, women with baskets on their heads, men forming little 
 knots to go off and drink malafee under a bush. But I man- 
 aged to get a small and somewhat interested audience to listen 
 to a summary of gospel truth. They took more kindly to my 
 singing, "Sing them over again to me," and "Nothing but the 
 blood of Jesus." '■'■Menga ma Je&tis Kaka." 
 
 I thought when first I passed through this cataract region 
 there were no people. But this time I have travelled for almost 
 the whole way, off the caravan road, and find scores of villages 
 hiding under trees, on hill tops (contrary to the Scripture), and 
 some nestling in valleys. All of these people are accessible, cu- 
 rious, docile, anxious to work on wages, and are easily brought 
 under influence. But they are laden with superstition, and 
 worse, laden with sins, led away of divers lusts, willing to become 
 "rice-Christians," eager, some, to learn Englisli for the increase 
 
AT n'gombe. 89 
 
 of mouey-makiug power, but like us, and all sinners, at enmity 
 against God. I enjoyed speaking to them often. Biit speaking 
 through an interpreter, who has a glib tongue, but heart un- 
 touched, is far from satisfactory. It is a strange, sad feeling 
 that one has in speaking to people who show that the ideas 
 suggested are all new and almost unmeaning. I am getting 
 impatient to find my own flock, and have a longing, not un- 
 natural, to be face to face with my life work. Yet the longer 
 God protracts the preparation, the more my gain. I need it, 
 you can't imagine how much, and after all, I may be often on 
 the wing yet, like many another in this and other fields. 
 
 I am very happ}-. I enjoy something more of God's presence 
 than for some time past. The home letters last week helped 
 me up, and the J/is^ioiiarf/ did too. Tell Rob to be sure to 
 let the 2fissionary have something from me against the Monthly 
 Concert on Africa. 
 
 This is Mr. Patterson's gift pen and it is a great comfort. But 
 even it won't write icifhout ink, so I must give it up. 
 
 In constant remembrance of my dear mamma. 
 
 Your loving Sam. 
 
 P. S. The hymn you asked about, sung to "Jesus, the very 
 thought of thee," is called Bernard in church books, and Bel- 
 mont in Gospel Hymns. 
 
 Wathen Station, B. M. S., 
 (lutete or n'gombe, otherwise), 
 
 JSTovernher 26, 1890. 
 
 My Dear Mamma: I am writing in Mr. Davies' room, in "the 
 brick house " at N'Gonibe, a very pleasant room indeed, plenty 
 of rugs, furniture, curios from the far interior, artistically 
 arranged all about: two small elephant tusks, for instance, on 
 the writing table, which is pretty well littered, I regret to say, 
 with the letters I have been writing all the afternoon, Mr. 
 Davies, a tall, sober fellow, in pretty, light flannel suit of fancy 
 colors, and a little native skull-cap, has just come behind me to 
 invite me "to refresh myself" with a cup of tea and a slice of 
 rich cake ; I fancy, the production of Mr. Percy Comber's larder. 
 That gentleman is nice himself, and has everything nice when 
 he can. Poor feUow! he was married only last June, while I 
 
91) LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 was at Tundnwa — I signed the book. Now be is awaiting Dr. 
 Sims, who has been summoned post-haste from the Pool, to say 
 whether Mrs. Comber can safely undertake the trip to the coast 
 and to England. She has been sick over three weeks, and this 
 seems her one chance for life. He is not strong himself. Still 
 he is resting from packing and worry, affectionate fellow that he 
 is, by amusing the house children with shocks from a small elec- 
 tric battery. You will infer that there is little worth having 
 that can't be had at N'Gombe, except health ; for the sake of 
 which the missionaries, with the aid of friends at home, have 
 been gathering comforts about them here for several years. 
 Three large and well-built houses, plenty of smaller accommo- 
 dations, stores, boys' houses and pleasant grounds; and barring 
 the very sterile soil, the finest station in the country by far. I 
 have been on several sides of it hunting for carriers, and am 
 always struck with the view seen miles away of the three snowy 
 roofs on top of the hill, all the rest of the station hidden by the 
 grass and trees between. 
 
 I came here Wednesday (yesterday) with seven men and seven 
 boys, secured in Manyanga (north) district, and registered at 
 Lukunga Saturday. I enjoyed a good dinner at Mr. Bentley's 
 table (just in time), and after a rest walked over to Makito's 
 village, an hour away. Here I found his majesty Tfithin the 
 royal enclosure, a square hedged with the quick-growing fence 
 tree, and in his house entertaining some young men. A solitary 
 gourd of malafu showed that business, not pleasure, was on 
 hand 
 
 This morning I passed through a town where I was yesterday. 
 I had talked about buying a basket from a woman, and so I 
 hunted it up, and found she had gone. 
 
 " Who will sell this basket then?" (I expected she had made 
 arrangements.) A man stepped up. 
 
 " How many ntaku (brass rods)?" 
 
 " Twent}'," he answered. 
 
 "Whoopee! Tuba!" (/. e., "Say" again — a less price.) 
 
 'Ten, then!" he said, for a starter. 
 
 "I'll give you three." 
 
 Chorus from all around : " H-m-m-mm ! " 
 
 I repeated, " Tuba! " (i. e., say again.) 
 
I 
 
 THE SEASONS. 91 
 
 He said, " Kiimi ! " (10.) I said, " Ye ! " (no.) 
 
 He said, " Nana ! " (8.) I said, " Tami ! " (5.) 
 
 And then I said to my boy, "Twala mbele" (v. e., bring a 
 knife, wliicdi "vvas "svortli five ntaku."^ I take down the basket 
 from the Avail, handing him the knife, and start oflf. 
 
 He stopped me. "Ve! N'kentoka tendele ko* mbele." (No! 
 the woman wants not knife.) 
 
 I to my boy, then: "Twala ntaku tami." (Give five ntaku.) 
 The man said "seven." I hand him six and march off, knowing 
 he is satisfied, bnt will never own it. Indeed, he came nmning 
 after me with a better basket, for which he asked fifteen, as a 
 " feeler," and went away happy with eight. 
 
 You asked about the seasons. From May to last of October, 
 on the Lower Congo, and I think Kassai, it is dry, no rain at all, 
 heavy dews, cloudy a great deal, and often at night feels very 
 cold, like November, From last of October to Christmas is the 
 lesser rain ; needn't be surprised by rain any afternoon or night, 
 some good, hard ones, with lightning. January is the short, dry 
 season. February to May tremendous and sudden rains, filling 
 the torrent beds that cut up this whole region, so that at short 
 warning one ma}' be separated from his men, tent, chop, etc., 
 by an impassable river where he had crossed a dry ditch. . . . 
 I was caiight Thursday. At 3 p. m., a dark, lilue cloud lined the 
 horizon ; a deep fringe of white hung over this like a white cur- 
 tain for a great way around. Up to the meridian spread an 
 innocent-looking gray cloud, and the sun shone behind. My 
 men said, "Stop!" but the cloud didn't approach, and the wind 
 was blowing towards, not from it. I went on a little, and then 
 decided to take advice. "Twala nzo!" (/. e.. Bring the house — 
 tent.) "Malu! malu!" (/. d.. Feet! feet! — -quick.) The cords 
 were in tangled knots. Before the poles were in their sockets 
 the rain began. The fellows worked well ; some under the can- 
 vas, some at the poles. Up it went, and we were fastening the 
 guys in spite of the wind, w^hen a big gust blew all over. I had 
 on my Mackintosh, but they were shivering with the rain on 
 their bare bodies. Some two hundred weight of water collected 
 in the folds, while the capita, Zezela, and I tried to straighten 
 
 ' Ka-ko, negation, like ne-pas, in French. 
 
92 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 all out for another pull. The rest crouched under the tarpaulin 
 ground-sheet, meant as a water-proof flooring, I'm afraid I 
 shied a peg into the lot to make some of them come out and try 
 again. But by getting the guys ready, the tent stood when we 
 raised her this time, and there were plenty to drive the pegs 
 and draw the cords taut. The travelling bed "v^as in collapse. 
 We quickly made another of brush, spread over the blankets 
 (dry as a bone in the water-proof valise), and putting on a dry 
 change I was comfortable in a jiffy. Those bojs made a big fire 
 in spite of " the present rain and the cold" — they sabby how. I 
 had a cup of tea before I was dressed and took my quanga, tinned 
 bacon and beef tea at my ease, turned in at dark and slept till 
 cuisinier (they get this from the Frenchmen or Belgians), was 
 jingling the chain-kettle for tea at daybreak. . . . 
 
 Sunday, Novemher 29. — Have made four trips to Makito's, the 
 last before day this morning, to catch him before he started on 
 the case of gin presented by the philanthropists of the State. 
 He was on a terrible spree yesterday. He and his fellows drank 
 four large bottles of spirits before my face in a few minutes. It 
 makes me shiver almost to see the poor wretches wriggle with 
 delight as the fiery stuff burns their throats and stomachs. As 
 Dr. Sims said yesterday, "sin is a long way ahead in this coun- 
 try," referring to the evil lives of white men, especially the State 
 men. 
 
 I got nothing this morning by my trip but a good appetite 
 and some more experience. So I'm off again. 
 
 Mrs. Comber, attended by Mr. Bentley, Mr. Comber and Dr. 
 Sims, started for Lukunga yesterday. An hour after they left, 
 came on one of the hardest rains I ever saw. I think they were 
 prepared for it though. Mrs. Comber cried bitterl}^ as the ham- 
 mock men bore her away. Still she may get home to her mother 
 all safe, but it is hard to give up a life's plans in a day and all 
 the hopes of doing a useful, happy work with her husband liere.^ 
 
 I am much the better of this toilsome trip. I am not afraid 
 of the road, knowing how to take care. . . . But good-bye now. 
 "All joy and peace in believing," my wish for you, my darling 
 mamma. Your loving Sam. 
 
 ' Mrs. Comber died, and her husband followed her in a few mouths. 
 
fa a, 
 o 
 
CHAPTER y. 
 
 FKOM LEOPOLDVILLE UP THE CONGO, KASSAI, AND 
 DUMA-KWILU, IN CANOES, AND RETURN. 
 
 Decembek 11, 1890, TO Febeuaey 1, 1891. 
 
 Conclude to go by Watek to the Kwango. 
 
 RETURNING from Lukunga, LeopoldviUe was reached on the 3rd 
 of December. 
 
 December 4. — The Diary says: Captain Dhanis, Commissaire of 
 the new district of the Lunda and Kwango" region, tells me of the 
 dense population and hostile character of the natives in his district. . . 
 
 The Portuguese have abandoned their outpost, Kassange. ... So 
 I decide to use the men I have just brought from Manyanga in going 
 b}' water to the Kwango. . . . 
 
 December 11. — Isabel's birthday. Sang, "O God of Bethel" at 
 prayers. Soon afterwards we were off to select ten of my Manyangas 
 for the trip, and have the canoe lashed alongside the Reed. Shep- 
 pard in fine trim. His little monkey, " Tippoo Tib," from Stanley 
 Falls, is along. 
 
 We leave LeopoldviUe by the steamer Henry Reed, for Bwemba, 
 through Mr. Billington's kindness, again. Mr. Raine, another mis- 
 sionary of the A. B. M. U., is fellow-passenger with Sheppard and 
 myself. 
 
 December 15. — We camp above Kwa-mouth at the Misongo towns, 
 in the Bayansi country. 
 
 December 16. — We buy a fine canoe for 2,000 ntaku,' and two good 
 pieces of cloth. This gives us a fleet of two good canoes, having rented 
 one from the Bateke King, Nguba, at liinshassa. After reaching 
 Bwemba I am sick there several days, but Sheppard looks up more 
 men and collects paddles, kwanga, and mats, and other necessaries 
 for the trip. 
 
 ' About $10 worth. 
 93 
 
94 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LArSLEY. 
 
 [From Bwemba he sent back his Diary, from June to December 
 (175 pages), from which occasional quotations have been made in fore- 
 going pages, and he writes the following letter home.] 
 
 Written at Bwemba, or Cliumbiri, where two very kind Bap- 
 tists have entertained me tliree times, and twice taken tender 
 care of me in sickness, — Rev. C. B. Glenesk and Mr. A. Billing- 
 ton, — December 22 : 
 
 My Dear Mamma : Just a line in addition to what the ending 
 of my Diary, just sent to Bob, will give you. We are going, 
 God willing, nearly down to the Kassai to-morrow. We have a 
 good crew and a lovely boat, and with awning it will be cool 
 enough in the river breezes. 
 
 My boy, eleven or twelve years old, is here to make bed, and 
 keep my things. We have tent, beds, chop-box, and cooking 
 tools, of course. I found one of my men had learned to cook 
 pretty well while with the State. Another is equal to washing 
 even a blanket, getting out tliree- fourths of the dirt. Sheppard 
 is a most handy fellow, and is now a thorough river-man. I 
 don't feel quite green myself now. His temper is bright and 
 even — really a man of unusual graces and strong points of char- 
 acter. So I am thankful to God for Sliejapard. 
 
 Now that I am near the point I have been aiming at so long, 
 the junction of the Kwango with the Kassai, I am dissatisfied, 
 and wish we were able to strike further up the Kassai at once. 
 Though if other Protestants, or especially other Presbyterians, 
 could occupy the open fields (so j)romising !) higher up, I should 
 be glad to make the base for them, and let our own enlargement 
 be up the river system that joins the Kassai at Kwango mouth. 
 So you see I am in a strait betwixt two. God only can guide 
 me. I have none other to decide it for me. I have had some 
 good times of late and some progress in the knowledge of Christ 
 I trust, but many deadly chills, from which I seemed to rally 
 but slowly. Just as he rebuked my fever the other day, after 
 one night of it, so he has drawn me again to a closer seat by 
 Him. I often Avisli and hope that increasing spiritual life may 
 be the experience of you all at home, especially of the tliree 
 "littlest," whom I shall not see as little ones any more. I often 
 long for home, not regretting my work or call here at all, but 
 living in the dear scenes among you all, almost hearing your 
 
FROM BWEMBA. 95 
 
 voice sometimes. Every day, almost, something suggests a place 
 ■where I used often to be, or a familiar name. Then I take a little 
 trip there, and come back quite refreshed. I am never Jiome- 
 fit'ck, not even when a little unAvell. But I think now of two y 
 trips, one to you all in a few 3'ears, not more than four likely, 
 from my reaching here ; another to a lasting home, which I 
 hope to reach, after a good deal of the good Avovk I was sent j* 
 here for. I shall take a Christmas trip, perhaps, in a few min- 
 utes, if I don't sleep too soundly, to see the Anniston Christmas. 
 A merry, merry one may it be to the little folks, and the big 
 folks too, and the young ladies from school! "Merry Christ- 
 mas to all, and to all a good-night." , 
 From your own Sam. 
 
 JJecember 23. — Diary : Being all ready for the start, I went with 
 Shepjoard to the chiefs of the men he had engaged, and wc give 
 "Looks," that is, Httle written contracts to each of the three chiefs of 
 the five Bayansi boatmen he had hired, getting them at 190 rods ' 
 each, for a two-month's trip in the "river of the Babuma" (Kassai). 
 A fathom of narrow red-blanket cloth binds the bargain. This gives us, 
 with the ten Manyangas secured in the Cataract country, and Makwala, 
 employed as an interpreter, and my boy, Nkuku, seventeen men in 
 all, or nineteen souls in the two canoes. Sheppard divided the crew, 
 making a Yansi boatman named Nkala, a magnificent specimen of a 
 native and a beautiful waterman, captain of the smaller canoe, he 
 having another Yansi and five Bakongo as his crew. We had the 
 rest in the larger canoe. Both the canoes were loaded with great 
 skill by Nkala, the load being carefully stowed amidships, a row of 
 standards inserted on each side to keep all in. Paddlers were ranged 
 fore and aft the cargo, a pretty thick row of bare black backs, most 
 of them looking anj'thing but at home with the new implements, the 
 paddles ; only the Yausis in the bow and stern being perfect!}' trained 
 to the trade. We had three in the big canoe, two very strong fellows 
 right astern, with big broad j^addles, their blades painted blue by 
 Sheppai'd. Their business was to steer and propel both 
 
 About 3 p. M. we pushed off from Bwemba, or Chumbiri [it is known 
 by both names], with a cordial farewell from Messrs. Glenesk and 
 Raine, who watched us out into the swift water. Then down Ave 
 dropped fast. I soon had to knock away the little awning that Mr. 
 
 'About $3.80. 
 
96 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N, LAPSLEY. 
 
 Glenesk had made to shelter me. It made the boat rock so that it 
 was dangerous. At 4:45 we camped on a sheltered sandbank, had 
 the tent up, and supper prepared by Nsenga, a handsome Mauyanga 
 boy, who is a good cook. Then we had prayers, Congo hymns, and 
 good sleep, and I awoke quite recovered next morning. 
 
 December 24. — Off at 6 : 45 a. m. At 12 : 30 we stop to dine at INIi- 
 songo again. " Tippoo Tib," Sheppard's monke}', affords unbounded 
 amusement to the villagers, chasing and running from them by turns, 
 finding shelter on Sheppard's shoulder, where he devotes himself to 
 j)retending to hunt for game in his beard and even in his eyes, with 
 busy fingers and smacking lips. [Tij^poo is a Stanley Falls monkey 
 given to Sheppard by Mr. Vries, a fellow-passenger with us on the Afri- 
 kaan ] At 2 : 15 we are off again. 
 
 At 4 o'clock we are at Kwa-mouth, and find the steamer Stanley at 
 anchor, with several big canoes and steel boats alongside, and haAing 
 aboard plenty of Bangala, with the chicken comb dovni their fore- 
 heads, and other black soldiers and marines lounging about their can- 
 tonment, on the shore. The new Commissaire, Lenaire, is here en 
 route to Chumbiri (Bwemba), and thence w^ to his capital at Equator- 
 ville. The Stanley is to go as far up the Kwango towards Kinkunji, 
 as may be, and drop Mr. Hochstras, and let him qo on in canoe. 
 The Stanley is then to retui'n to Musye and ferry the "Expedition 
 Vankerckoven " across the Kassai. It is now en route by land from 
 Stanley Pool to Chumbiri, and is a little army of State troops sent to 
 overawe and pacif}^ the country. 
 
 We round the point into the Kassai, and camp in a lovely spot on 
 the right bank (our left), with grand trees meeting overhead and 
 covering a spacious open place made for cami^ing. We dine on 
 roasted ears of corn, kwauga, and chicken. Sheppard bought at 
 the town near by, three chickens, some "goobers," and seventeen rolls 
 of kwanga. 
 
 December 25. — Christmas day. At 6 : 40 we start and keep the right 
 bank. We passed many points with rushing water ; but between were 
 frequent back currents made by this very strong water outside, which 
 was a great help indeed. We each shot an eagle. We were often 
 under overhanging trees; and the small canoe having some trouble 
 under some low limbs, one fat Congo caught hold, and was left dang- 
 hng in the limbs as the canoe floated back down. He and his partners 
 then "struck" against their Yansi captain, Nkala. So at 11 o'clock we 
 had to await them, and settle and quiet the rioters. W^e improved the 
 time by stalking a guinea on a big tree in the wood near by, and scared 
 
CITRISTMAS, 1800 ■ ^7 
 
 off a lot of buffalo by the shot. We stopped there and ate, and then 
 crossed the river, and felt how strong the midcurrent is, being swept 
 far down. 
 
 You can imagine how it swirls around the corners (its course is 
 like one of our crooked rail fences), when you think of the Kassai, 
 Sankuru, Lulua, Loange, Kwilu, Kwango, and Mfini, all being rushed 
 through between banks only three hundred yards apart. Besides, the 
 banks are steep and lined with big boulders, and some of these have 
 tumbled into the water and make whirlpools like a full-blown rose, 
 fine to see,^ — at a safe distance. 
 
 But our canoes were made for the business (regular merchantmen), 
 and our Yansis, at bow and stern, probably got their first ideas of the 
 water when their mothers strapped them to their backs, and helped 
 to paddle the canoe up this same river to Babuma, as they call Musyd. 
 It is simply beautiful, the strength and grace and ease with which 
 they carve the water in a delicate piece of steering, or bury theii* pad- 
 dles in it to round a strong point. I can feel the boat spring forward 
 when Mpururu and the "Bishop"' strike the water. Sometimes it is 
 so bad that the three Yans-is with us, and even the other two ahead, 
 jiuup into the boiling water, and standing on rocks, I couldn't have 
 guessed were there, put the boat thi'ough between the stones and past 
 the bad water by main force. 
 
 But it will reassure you of the real safety of our canoe and goods, 
 and surprise you perhaps, as it did me, to know that of these five pro- 
 fessional boatmen, only one can swim at all. I say safety of our canoe 
 and belongings, because if 7" didn't remember my swimming lessons in 
 Big Mulberry Creek at home, I shouldn't be caught in such a place. 
 I can't forget in canoeing or in hunting hippos that my life is not mine 
 to risk needlessly. 
 
 Well, that exhilarating business has filled our Christmas day, 
 heightened by the pleasure of getting the big guinea fowl, 
 
 Pulling along the left bank we heard a deep, mellow horn far up, 
 and presently saw a fleet of six long Babuma canoes floating dowTi, 
 nobody paddling, only steering and floating ; but gliding so fast ! 
 They were loaded down wdth piles of yellow pottery (unglazed) for 
 Stanley Pool. We soon reached the village, a small Bamfunu town, 
 not \isible from the river. The people are like the Bateke. Fowls, 
 eggs, and buffalo meat very cheap. We camp at another village in 
 the edge of a plain, and had a fine Christmas dinner. 
 
 ' Sheppard. 
 
98 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 Here is our menu : — 
 
 1. Soup, Guinea. 
 
 2. Roast Guinea, Kwanga, and Worcestershire Sauce. 
 
 3. Roasting Ears of Corn. 
 
 4. Leg of Eagle and Buffalo Steak. 
 
 5. Papaws. 
 
 6. Roast Nguba^Mpinda=Goobers=Peanuts. 
 
 Then we bad prayers with the Bakongo; then sleep, and a storm 
 before day. 
 
 December 28.- — At 6 : 40 we are off. By 9 a. m. we had shot an eagle, 
 a duck, a wood-pigeon, and a hippo, who loould rise and snort in forty 
 yards of us. ShejDpard says it was my bullet hit it. The monster 
 sank, then an anxious minute, then big bubbles burst up. "He's 
 dead," Sheppard cried, "drowned"; and then explained how they often 
 take a panic, and drown when shot in the head. We spent some time 
 on the sand bank waiting, and shooting, and then a yell and a dance 
 struck up. The hippo had risen, and was floating down. We got 
 into a canoe in a jifi"}', but had a long, tough, patient pull before we 
 could tow the great lump to the sand island. Then all hands jumped 
 out and rolled the "nguvo" ' through the shallow water by the bank. 
 Presently the /Stanley came up to us, and we dined with Captain 
 Matson and Mr. Hochstras, and the clever little Dutch engineer, while 
 the steamer's Bangala helped our men cut up the "nguvo" and load 
 it in the IStanley's canoes. . . . Then our fleet was lashed alongside, 
 and we pushed up the big river, making as much distance in the 
 afternoon as we should have done all day, without the lift from the 
 steamer. I saw th§ little engineei''s sketch-book full of x^ictui'es of many 
 things interesting from every part of the Congo Valley. After sup- 
 per, the Stanley having tied up for the night, we paddled on by moon- 
 light to a place where we could cure our meat. A camping place was 
 hard to find at night. A big camp of Yansis that we came up on 
 bade us look further, there was no room for "Mundele" (white man)! 
 At last we found a fine harbor in a little creek, and landed about 
 10 p. M. It looked as if not a match would light, but at last a fij."e was 
 started, and the men rigged up frames of sticks, and covered them 
 with meat to smoke, while every available vessel was filled with boil- 
 ing meat. Sheppard and I took the tongue. We kept for our men 
 about two hundred and fifty pounds, and left for the steamer's men 
 near a ton. Our men kept us busy squaring palavers between them. 
 " Whose meat's this ? " "He's got my meat! " etc. 
 
 ' Hippopotamus. 
 
QUEEN NGANKABI. 99 
 
 December 27. — "We get oflf at 8 a. m., and see the Stanley just batlling' 
 with the strong current away up liver. We had had too much nguvo, 
 and hence lazy paddhng. We stopped to eat in a plain, where the hills 
 stop, and the river gets out of the narrow gorge, crooked like a rail 
 fence, into the open dat laud where it widens immensely. 
 
 We see the first round houses to-day. Tippoo Tib keeps getting out 
 of his basket, where he should sit with the chickens, and gets ducked 
 in trying to escape to the bushes. In the afternoon a big red monkey 
 was spied. Fom* shots were devoted to him. The last, a Martini- 
 Henri bullet, brought him down. We found a good shady sheltered 
 camping place for Sunday, and he was roasted for supper (lasted three 
 days). 
 
 December 28. — Sunday, but an unhappy da}' for me, because mis- 
 spent. Promised to fast ; ate myself sick ! Raining a little all day ; 
 the men glad of their mats, which they spread over hoops stuck in the 
 ground, a little like a gypsy wagon top. The Kassai is a mile wide 
 here. 
 
 [The coj)y of the diary sent home closes abruptly here, having by 
 by some accident lost five or six pages out of it ; but a letter wiitten a 
 few weeks later, and relating to this date, gives the following details 
 of the occurrences for the next few days.] 
 
 On Sunday I began to think about getting sick; on Monday quite 
 made up my mind, indeed I put on two coats and two or three blankets 
 to sweat the fever out. W^hen we went to sleep that night in a pretty 
 httle town half lost in plantain trees, children and chickens, it was 
 gone, but it was anything but pleasant while it lasted. 
 
 Somehow whenever I am in the oven stage of a fever, I think of the 
 di'eadful fire to which these poor people are exposed, and then of the 
 agony in which our Saviour said, " I thirst," and it does not seem much 
 to bear. Next morning the Yansi " Capita " (Nkala) made a gypsy 
 wagon arrangement out of mats, as a shelter above my bed in the 
 canoe, and in that way I joassed the towns that line the beach for 
 miles, just there all called Musyd (or Mooshie). They nestle among 
 the thick plantains planted in the rich low ground along the banks of 
 the Kassai, with a gently rising gi-een ridge behind. 
 
 In one of the largest of these we had the fortune to find her ma- 
 jesty. Queen Ngankabi, at home for callers. It is a nicely shaded 
 group of ordinary houses, a row of skulls adorning the comb of the 
 roof just in front. A group of people seemed undecided how to take 
 the unusual spectacle of a white man in a canoe, and still more unde- 
 cided what to do about ')ur request for a guide to show us the best 
 channel to the Kwango, and to introduce us there. 
 
100 LIFE AND LETTEIIS OF S. K. LAPSLEY. 
 
 " Is Ngankabi at home ? " 
 
 "Yes, that is Ngankabi," pointing. 
 
 " Good morning, Ngankabi," and I put out my hand, for I knew she 
 must know how white people greet each other. So she came at once 
 to where I lay, stepped into the canoe alongside, shook hands and then 
 stood on the beach. She is a woman of fau' height, not fat, nor very 
 slender, with the small features and thin lijis, characteristic of the 
 Babuma. She wore only an ample cloth of closely woven grass, dyed 
 black, much like camel's hair. She is quiet and dignified, and has the 
 good manners that many royal persons on the Congo can show. ' 
 
 "We asked her for the guide. She said, " Wait for my son, he is 
 coming, and will give you one, maybe." So we waited, but nothing came, 
 and we soon withdrew and paddled along the bank, passing forty or 
 fifty httle clumps of houses, all hidden in banana (or plantains), you 
 can't tell which, until you get near enough to distinguish the black 
 stem of the banana. 
 
 At one httle village we managed to get an entrance and stopped, 
 but the people there, hke all the rest, told us the next town above was 
 "much better, much better." So we decided to try that fine town, 
 make an early camp and buy kwanga, especially as I was still half in 
 bed. I heard a gi'eat racket, j)lenty of little banjos and di'ums, and 
 the air full of screams; but as it seemed to be only the women's ex- 
 
 ' Here is Mr. Stanley's description of Gankabi as given in his book Tlie Congo 
 and the Founding of the Free State, Vol. I, p. 424. 
 
 "About an hour after we left camp we were met bj- two well-mauned canoes, in 
 the foremost of which there was a female paddling vigorously for a few strokes, 
 and then in a peculiar stjde bringing her right arm akimbo to her waist. Aukoli 
 recognized her, and cried out, 'there is Gankabi I ' 
 
 ' ' Naturally to meet such a celebrity, the Queen of Musye, the friend of Gobila, 
 and the principal person on the river, we halted very quickly; and without the 
 slightest sign of timidity she steered her forty-five foot canoe alongside. This very 
 action on her part denoted a person of character. She brought her j^addle in- 
 board, and with her right arm to her waist, she examined iis keenly and attentively 
 for some minutes without speaking. 
 
 "She probably was listening to AnkoU, who, like all other natives, begin at the 
 beginning of a story and continue to the end. Her attentive survey of ' Bula 
 Matadi' was with interest reciprocated. Excepting her hair and color she had 
 othing negroid about her. Draw a figure ■with the Martha "Washington tyjie of 
 face, color it with rich bronze, put short frizzy hair of a negro above, and one has 
 a striking likeness of Queen Gankabi. If of full length, draw it to represent a 
 figure of five feet seven inches, of sturdy, square shoulder, substantial form, with 
 an ample grass cloth about her ; bare bust, bare feet and bare head, ^dth no orna- 
 ments about her excej)t a heavy copper wristlet, and you have a life-like picture of 
 Gankabi. " 
 
HIPPOS. 101 
 
 citement I didn't look out ; but I saw that we didu't stop, and learned 
 afterwards that they had offered to fight the best they knew how. The 
 men brandished their spears. Those who had guns pointed them, and 
 the women danced their Httle idols up and down, and chattered at us 
 with aU their might. Sheppard was a little amused and a great deal 
 provoked at their folly. I don't think there was much danger of their 
 shooting, unless we had actually tried to land. 
 
 The next big village was a little less wrought up, being calm enough 
 in fact to reason with us, that as we were devils they thought it quite 
 proper to keep us out. So we had to make for a strip of saud over a 
 mile away, across the waters, paddling up and across the mouth of the 
 ]\Iiini, in water dyed black as ink in the swamps far to the east ; then 
 into the yellow Kassai water, skillfully avoiding the sand banks, where 
 one can easily turn over if he tries. At last we landed, just at dark, 
 on the only dry spot to be seen in that waste of water and low damp 
 grass islands ; specially guided there, don't you think ? A big storm 
 came that night, but Sheppard was equal to it. He ran here and 
 there, always just in the nick of time, and saved the canoes from being 
 swept down to Banana, and carried the long ropes into the men's 
 shelters." Then he swung on to the guy rope just as its peg gave way 
 and the tent was getting ready to fly over land to Kintamo. 
 
 Next morning I was up just in time to join in a fight between two 
 of my boys. "Mundele is sick," they seemed to think; but the paddle 
 came down on them very loud just as they fell to the ground. The 
 very briefest fight I ever saw, I think. 
 
 "Kwanga out and in this hostile country, what shall we do ? " 
 
 "A hippo will bring them round." So we took four men. I forgot 
 all about being sick. And after awhile we found a bay just full of 
 hippos, fifty perhaps. A lively cannonading began. Quick as one let 
 his head come well in sight within a hundred yards a bullet went that 
 way. You ought to hear them roar, "vm-m," sometimes this side, 
 sometimes beyond, until Sheppard got one right in the centre of the 
 forehead and it was finished. Back to camp, on a large sand island^ 
 and a picked crew was detailed to go and watch for the hippo to rise. 
 They went over and camped all night on the sand bank near where the 
 dead hippo went down, and the other hippos made it hvely for them. 
 Think of a tremendous hog, tall as a man, too big to come in the front 
 door, and with an enormous horse-head to match, coming snuffing 
 and snorting in forty feet of you, and stajdng there for all you could 
 do to scare him away. Several of the men cried hke babies for sheer 
 fright. 
 
102 LIFE AND LETTERR OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 [We resume copying fi'om the Diary.'] 
 
 Neither camp-fire nor brandishing of torches nor shooting could 
 keep them from coming on land and snufl&ng and snorting like a 
 Mogul engine in forty feet of the distracted boys, Batula and Qui- 
 ninga, had hysterics and cried like babies. But at dawn, New Years, 
 ■we heard a shout, which I think some of our crew had kept awake to 
 hear, " Wiza Nlungu! " "Come (with the) canoe!" And the remain- 
 ing canoe was off in a jiff)' with all available hands. 
 
 But the game was not landed without difficulty. An old lady 
 nguvo, presumabh' relict of deceased, would interfere in spite of all. 
 At great risk of being spilled out of the canoe, or worse mishap, 
 Nkala and his gang drew- the big pile of meat to shallow water. Then 
 the fun began. Axes and knives were busy, and tongues for two or 
 three hours. We had our hands full keejDing the young gentlemen 
 from quarrelhng over pieces of meat, as they were tossed over to the 
 pile; though each man was pretty sure of getting half his w-eight in 
 meat. Soon the Babuma scented the prej', and came as the eagles do 
 to the carcass ; the best friends we ever had ! Some were allowed to 
 carve, and they improved the occasion to abstract goodly chunks in an 
 original way. Eveiy few minutes a Babuma would have to go to his 
 canoe. He walked very lame I noted, and presently another one, who 
 caught his wink, would walk innocently to the spot, where his partner 
 had stood by the canoe and to his great surprise, doubtless, discover a 
 piece of meat, which had in fact been dragged there by the carver 
 between his toes! 
 
 The Babuma had a lot given them, and they divided their spoils 
 with great impartiality, and then readjusted the partition by a free 
 fight, or game of grab. The prince, son of Ngankabi, looked on till 
 they had finished, then he coolly stepped in and helped himself to 
 the choicest share of what they had arranged so nicely. The rest of 
 the day was taken up in buying kwanga in Musyd with part of the 
 meat. 
 
 January 2. — Makwala, and Nkala, and crew are back this morn- 
 ing. We strike tent and ai-e off, but have to stop when we had only 
 turned the corner of the island; moor the canoes, cover the cargo A^ith 
 the tarpaulin tent floor, and pile in for two hours with the boys under 
 the mat-shelters they had pitched on hooped switches. We stayed in 
 them until the storm had ceased. We then went on without stopping 
 imtil dusk, on the strength of plantains that IMpurnru had roasted in 
 his mat-house. We went by the side creeks among islands, to avoid 
 the sti'ong water in the main channel. But "7iota quce sedes fue- 
 
HOMES OF Hirpos 103 
 
 rat,' not "palumbis" but nguvis;'' and all of them smelt the blood 
 of their dead kinsman, and the biggest bulls began to snort and move 
 towards us, nose and eai's out like enormous horses. But " they did 
 not come nigh us," as it is written. We passed a few fishing hamlets 
 on great sand islands, and at last came out into the main left, or 
 western branch of the Kassai, a half a mile wide and very swift. On 
 our left was an unknown expanse of sand, grass, water and mimosa, a 
 shi'ub growing from six to fifteen feet high, soft stem and prickles, 
 light green small leaves like touch-me-not, and large yellow butterfi.y 
 flower. [See Botany if correct.] Beyond this was another channel, 
 by the right bank ; and on a dim horizon a long, low, wooded ridge. 
 
 It seems that these rivers all make, in the first place, a tongue of 
 sand-bank in the middle, the deep water and the main channels being 
 at the banks. 
 
 The night found us paddHng uncertainly on, looking for high dry 
 ground with some dry wood, until we were obliged to go across to an un- 
 known village, in the edge of the grass plain, and take chances. Though 
 timid, the people let us land and sold wood. The tent was pitched 
 right in the opening be.fore the beach, but it was nine o'clock before 
 we got anything warm enough to eat. The wood was all soaked, and 
 then onl}^ fire enough was made for tea and warmed salmon, a stray 
 tin of which made its way with us through many vicissitudes and ex- 
 posures, but (we wei'e very thankful) it was still good. Mosquitoes that 
 night. Small breakfast next morning. 
 
 Janxmry 3. — The Yansis said they didn't want to go any fui'ther. 
 Were offered the privilege of stopping right there while we went on. 
 But they decided not to risk being caught and tied as soon as we were 
 gone, and so went to their work with a good will. The king offered us 
 a goat as a token of good will, but we had no room for him. We 
 passed slowly up under a sandy bank, averaging six feet high, topped 
 with tall grass, and here and there a marsh thick set with a reed used 
 for mats, a brilliant green. A light canoe propelled by a smiling 
 couple (the head man who had offered us the goat, and his wife), 
 skimmed past us as we toiled along. I should have said thi*ee rather 
 than a couple, for she had her baby strapped to her back, but steered 
 and helped paddle too with capital skill. 
 
 Their good report prepared a welcome for us at the town not far up, 
 where we breathed the men, and bought some chop, goobers, kwauga, 
 etc., and departed, leaving a crowd at the landing waving us goodbye. 
 
 ' * ' Here are the homes of the hippos. " (Free translation. ) 
 
104 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 Nguvo meat is free currency here. By the way, our partner of this 
 morning got some nguvo meat for his kind offices. 
 
 Some seven towns were passed on the beach, and ten or more others 
 are so buried in brilliant plantains that the houses can hardly be seen 
 at the back. 
 
 We stopped and chopped at a town with round houses like hay- 
 stacks, about lifteen feet in diameter at the base; and camped in 
 another town early. Very nice to do so, as it was Saturday afternoon. 
 
 There are a few houses here, a httle lagoon from the river furnish- 
 ing clean water, and a safe harbor for the canoes. These are water 
 folk, Babuma fishermen from Musyo, come to get fish, so their chief 
 may have a good lot, ready dried, to take and sell at Stanley Pool, 
 which is a hungry region, and a monied one, but a hundred and fifty 
 miles away by water. Yet the canoes ply unceasingly between this 
 region and that, forty to forty-five-foot canoes being used. We have 
 two of that kind, and find a similar one lying among the little fishing 
 smacks here. Nguvo still fetches plenty of chop, though getting mighty 
 of odor. The head I kept for the uncommonly fine teeth, Sheppard's 
 dash to me. Dogs, boys and women are contending for the pickings on it. 
 
 The children up to five years are naked except a harness of fancy 
 colored beads, like pony harness. We notice cowries (small shells made 
 in Birmingham) tied to the ends of babies' hair, some fifty on one 
 little head. Some have heavy brass anklets. 
 
 We can see across this branch, and two miles up an opening, leading 
 to the united Kassai, perhaps. 
 
 January 4. — Pleasant day. "Newness of hfe" in my lesson to-day. 
 Our breakfast was fried eggs, and kwanga cooked with fragments of 
 tinned bacon, and boiled sweet potatoes, and tea Avith brown sugar*. 
 
 Had palaver with Nkuka, who stole some potatoes, and wanted to 
 fight honest Baba, the deaf and dumb boy who pointed him out, and 
 then when committed to tent for trial, packed up his traps and made 
 off for a near village; the other boys followed, and bye and bye he 
 turned up in disgrace, for I had taken his book (contract) and with- 
 hold it and prospect of pay till he proves a better boy. 
 
 Have just finished Farrar's Life of St. Paul, Vol. I. Very stimu- 
 lating to mind and heart, though I can't agree with him always. Bead 
 also Daniel, Hosea and Joel to-day. The boys gathered to hear us 
 sing "My faith looks up to thee," to "God save the Queen " (America), 
 and some other hymns. 
 
 A Nganga, or medicine man, has been busy all day in a house fifteen 
 feet from our tent. Profane eyes are not granted a peep; but we 
 
A NGANGA. 105 
 
 heard a banjo going incessantly, and the sound of incantations. The 
 Ngauga -would jabber a few words, and the patient repeated them as 
 rapidly, then a shake of the rattle, then another sentence also repeated 
 by the patient, then a rattle, etc. After a long time the patient comes 
 out with mystic lines in red and yellow ochre drawn down his chest, 
 and around his shoulders, or a row of colored dots down his breast 
 and back. 
 
 These are migratory fishermen of means, Babuma from Musy6 ; 
 hence their shabby houses here, but they have plent}^ of stuff and chop, 
 such as kwanga, corn-meal made into httle black rolls of dough by 
 mixtui'e with bird seed, and it is good fried, and they have plenty of 
 potatoes and goobers. The Bamfunu live half a mile back, I think, in 
 the well-fixed, cosy towns among the plantains. 
 
 Service after early supper; " Flee from the wrath to come ; " Makwala 
 intei-jDreting. I asked them "Do you know how to keep from the 
 awful fire of wrath ? " Their " No," was sad to hear, and they felt it 
 so, I thought. And sad it is that we can hardly make it intelligible, 
 the whole idea of spiritual religion being so new to them. 
 
 Januai'H 5. — Brisk trade before starting. Coasted along sand-bank 
 on left bank, passing a wooding camp of Stanley's, with a good chop 
 town near, but back from the river. 
 
 What is that"? Makwala's canoe stopped, he talking Enghsh with a 
 gi'eat lean fellow on the bank, who says his name is "Isaac Abraham," 
 and is a man left by tlie steamer, and is pretty far gone with hunger 
 and mosquito bites, for the natives stripped him of course. We took 
 him in and gave him chop. 
 
 We got into a shallow channel, and had to back out; but found the 
 back road rather diflficult, not deep enough for big canoes, going over 
 a corn-field, as Sheppard puts it. But came out into the reunited 
 stream, and find on the same bank a veiy nice Babuma town back a 
 hundred yards from the bank, and having a deep pond full of grass 
 before it. A canal cut from the river turns this into a fine harbor. 
 We crossed this in our canoes. Stopped and dined and bought 
 chickens, and a punt-pole, made of a long palm-leaf midrib with a 
 spur sphced to the end, the better to push the canoe along in water 
 shallow enough. We also bought a fish-basket to serve as a coop for 
 chickens and "Tippoo Tib." 
 
 Saw a hopper filled with ashes of grass, whose soda-salts (instead 
 of the usual potash or lye, as in our best ashes,) were being leached 
 out, the liquor to be evaporated and then furnish the native salt. It 
 is a gray stuff, very queer to taste. 
 
106 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 Large, round bouses eighteen feet in diameter. Cordial welcome. 
 Crossing the river we entered Wissman Pool, an enlargement of the 
 Kassai, somewhat like Stanley Pool, on half scale. We thought it 
 wise to call a palaver with our men, and let them into our plans, that 
 they might be reassured, by knowing that we had a definite aim and 
 destination on this unknown river, and that we are not going to get 
 them into any scrape. Then we sent jVIakwala and Nkala ahead Avith 
 canoe and men, to fin*1. a camp for night. We caught them at dusk 
 pulling reluctantly out from a desii'able town. Young spokesman on 
 land wiU not look at dash of cloth, nor hear of om* camping there. 
 We were Ndoke (devils) as at Musyd, and if we slept in the town we 
 might carry off some of them by night. 
 
 In no very cheerful mind we put out into the dark water again, for 
 we were running the risk of catching on sand-banks and lieing caj)- 
 sized by the strong current. But we were guided safely to a white 
 streak visible for some hundred yards, and are comfortably housed 
 and fed again; camped on a large sand-bank high and dry, in the 
 Pool, off the town which repulsed us. 
 
 This town lies at the base of a long ridge which extends at right 
 angles back from the river, and is a conspicuous landmark for many 
 miles (both up and down), on account of a remarkable row of borassus, 
 straight, erect, and distinct, like a file of soldiers, and a quarter of a 
 mile long, I suppose. 
 
 The borassus is a palm, which grows to a good height, generally on 
 lonely, grassy ridges. Straight, smooth stem, with strange bulge 
 from half way up to the crest, like a bottle upside down. Crowned 
 by a cluster of fronds, each like a palmetto fan before it is fastened 
 together, and much like a modern windmill. 
 
 January G. — We didn't start on acecount of a threat of storm, 
 which was soon made good. A white line rose from the northern 
 horizon and soon ascended drawing a white cloud curtain after it, and 
 as this mounted higher it Avas followed by another, black-blue and 
 awful to see. A gray rain-cloud cHmbed up after these two. In five 
 minutes the three were mingled in a driving mass of luw storm-cloud, 
 and the wind rose and di'ove us into the tent, which was secured 
 against the worst. After the storm, too much wind held on for us to 
 try to go. So we hunted hippos. We were interrupted by "Sail ho," 
 and the Stanley came down. The captain took our foundling from 
 us, and showed us a map of his Kwango trip. Said he had passed a 
 little creek on the right going up, of which he had some doubts now, 
 was afraid it might be the real Kwango, the road for Ivinkunji. If 
 
HOUSE OF IDOLS. 107 
 
 SO, lie lias put Mr. Hoclistras duwn in the wrong river, for lie passed 
 this stream. But he has left him iu a land of fabulous plenty, on a 
 plain bv the river, the other branch. He and the little Dutch engi- 
 neer (the only Dutchman iu State employ) are very kind and hearty. 
 "Kassai,'" the native dog, was left as company for Mr. Hoehstras. 
 
 January 7. — Up a big river, with a line of small towns on each 
 bank, much more numerous on the north bank. A narrow line of sand 
 islands in the midst of the mile and a half of water. We threaded 
 our way among these and came out where the stream is one again for 
 a little while, and crossed the southern half to the south bank. A 
 troop of nguvos blustered mightily, had to get a bullet among them 
 to quiet the big bow-necked bull that led them towards us. 
 
 It was 3 p. M. before we found a good place for chop. That was in 
 a httle town of round houses. AVe bought some eggs, and chopped 
 quickly. Saw a little house full of wooden idols, with heads rudely 
 carved, dressed in bits of cloth painted red (handkerchiefs). They 
 couldn't be induced to sell them. We moved on a little and camped a 
 few hundred yards away at the upper end of the tow^ns, beginning 
 where we chopped. They w^ere very much pleased to have us, but I 
 noticed an axe in one town, which I knew no steamer sold, unless some 
 hands stole it and let the natives have it. 
 
 January 8. Start off early in a little channel along the left bank. 
 The country in from the bank is lower than the present level of the 
 river, and holes are cut through to let in the water, and fish too ; the 
 little channel had a i"ow of sticks almost across, and to these are tied 
 baskets for fish, fi'om which a fisherman in his canoe was taking up 
 the nightly catch, when we jjassed this morning. And yesterday even- 
 ing the women were splashing the water out of the little pools they 
 had made to keep the surplus fish, to get ready for supper, or sell to 
 lis, just as a farmer's wife would go to her coop for chickens, put 
 up for like purposes. 
 
 This is the beginning of the special region of the Kassai fish-trap, 
 of which I have read. We meet them at every nice piece of woods, and 
 at the river side, revealing the presence of people, even when their towns 
 are hid by the forest. A lot of stout sticks, from four to six feet long, 
 are stuck firmly in the bottom, where there are some three feet of 
 water at the bank. The}' form a square or cylinder with the door in 
 front. This is closed by a neat falling door of straight reeds or sticks 
 which is suspended, to drop by a trigger, which, the fish springs when 
 he takes the bait. We find some down early iu the morning, and the 
 fish inside waiting the rounds of the fisherman. 
 
108 LIFE AND LETTEKS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 There is another towu half a mile up at the mouth of a little channel^ 
 in the edge of a dense low-lying forest. A large canoe lay at the 
 beach loaded with pots of malafu, or massanga (sugar-cane cider), 
 almost ready to start for Kintamo, we heard. I can hardly believe it, 
 unless it was an expedition from Musye, of Babuma middlemen. 
 
 We came into a stretch of quite still water, not even a back current. 
 "What next? We pass some woods and reach a low plain which comes 
 to a point, where another stream, yellow with sand and very swift, 
 joins the Kassai, entering it through a maze of sand islands ; this 
 must be the Kwango. , 
 
 An hour and a half bi-ings us to a large village' (on a clay bank six 
 feet above high water perhaps), where a crowd of people gathered to 
 see us. They were a little timid, but not ill-disposed, afraid to invite 
 us ashore, yet not at all desirous that we should leave. So we landed 
 quietly and stood about, as unconcerned as could be. They crowded 
 around us in a few minutes, but if we happened to look straight at any 
 fellow, he would dodge behind somebody like a flash. Finally Shep- 
 pard, born trader, stai*ted buying wood and fish, and the ice was 
 broken. Women crowded around with enough wood to build a small 
 shanty, and fish for two meals, fresh, sweet and large, for a trifle. 
 
 The little black monkey, " Tippoo Tib," was the object of unbounded 
 amazement and delighted admiration. Every wise wink, and every 
 time he stuffed another goober into the little pocket in his jaw (for 
 storing chop when his little stomach is already stufied), called down 
 shouts and screams of laughter. 
 
 We chopped under a circle of small trees planted as an arbor. We 
 had sun-perch, corn-bread, bananas and tea. We called for our coats, 
 but the wall of people around us kept the wind ufl', so we didn't need 
 them. We prepared a dash for the king, but they persisted in deny- 
 ing that they had one, though Makwala asked in Iviteke several times, 
 and they quite understood. 
 
 We withdrew to an island opposite, camped, and went for hippo. 
 W^e soon found a drove, but though we wounded several, we got none, 
 though I got fever from wading too much. We returned to camp and 
 found plenty of people had come to see us. 
 
 January 9. — During the night the tent wanted to go away in a 
 storm, which woiild have been bad for me, as I was alread}' sick, but 
 it was kept safe by " Mundele Ndombe," as they call Sheppard (ndombe 
 means black, and mundele means "man with clothes," but it is the 
 usual word for white men, as none but white men wear clothes). Shep- 
 
 ' Boleke. 
 
BOLEKE. 109 
 
 pard during the storm was here, there and everywhere, fastening the 
 ropes and keeping things safe. 
 
 As we were finishing breakfast, two notable canoes crossed the swift 
 stream to us. One had in it eight men, one handsome young fellow 
 with a brass bound paddle in the prow. The other had a crew of 
 women, headed by one with a pleasant face, wearing a large waist 
 cloth of checked stuff, the only nice cloth in town perhaps. They 
 brought wood and kwanga. There was the usual chaffering (in signs 
 counting on fingers), during which we had occasion to bring out our 
 goods to sun ! Stretched the sixty -yard piece of save-list (coarse 
 flannel) to its full length, and sunned even the brass wire, to the great 
 admiration of our visitors, who seemed to think that it would stimu- 
 late trade to have us for neighbors. We gave a present to the notable 
 woman, whose name is Antinobe (Greek), of some cloth and salt, and 
 received a handful of kwanga in token of appreciation. 
 
 My fever coming on, I turned in between the blankets and ordered 
 tea. The fever went pretty high, but was down to normal before mid- 
 night, thank God ! 
 
 Sheppard went after the hippo we wounded yesterday, but came 
 back empty handed. A great crowd had come from the town oppo- 
 site. Antinobe's father, who seems to be king, turned up and accepted 
 his dash, coming into the tent where I was lying, to acknowledge it. 
 Sheppard says there were three or four hundred here, and such a 
 hubbub ! At sundown Sheppard could hardly get them away ; so our 
 prayer for their confidence is answei'ed. 
 
 Boleke is a town of three parts. Near the northwest angle of the 
 Ewango delta is the x'esidence of the queen. Next, south of this, is a 
 most comj)act town of round houses, two hundred yards long, and 
 some fifty deep, there being three rows of houses parallel with the left 
 arm of the Kwaugo. These houses are like great hay-ricks, large 
 enough for many people (packed Congo style), and are as close to- 
 gether as tents in a cantonment, with only room enough for comfort- 
 able passage between them, and enough plantains and other small 
 trees to make the place habitably cool ; and then there is another col- 
 lection of houses a little further up stream. 
 
 On the slope of the clay bank are drawn up at night a Hue of light 
 canoes, so numerous that they make a kind of gridiron, and it's a 
 pretty sight when they come back at evening, coming round the top 
 of the island, where we camped, and shooting across the stream in twos 
 and threes, like birds on the wing, hghting exactly ; all loaded with 
 fish from many a shallow and pool in the delta. For these people are, 
 
110 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 first and foremost, fishermen, and seem a pure and simj^le race, as 
 fisherfolk should be. Perhaps the Master will have his Peter and 
 James and John from them before long. 
 
 They have the pleasant small features of the Babuma, and like them 
 are part or connections of the great Bateke race. Makwala's Kiteke 
 carries us very well through. There ai'e plenty of children, and the 
 people seem healthy. [The awful rotten sores of the Bayansi are not 
 found: a people of good morals.] 
 
 January 10. — Departed after an exciting chase of chickens which 
 had been turned loose to graze. Our course up the Kwango is 
 nearly due south. Some ten canoe loads of people had come to 
 trade, or to look. Telling them we w'ere going up their river to 
 find a place to build a house and live, we left them on our island and 
 started. 
 
 One of the elders of the town waylaid us at an opening in the grass, 
 two hundred j-ards up, and begged us to return and accept a dash he 
 had for us, which is only one of many efforts to induce us to sta3^ We 
 jDromised to come back. Antinobe's father was at the third, the upper 
 town, and endeavoi'ed to persuade us to build on a place he w^ould 
 give. "No need to go up river," he said. 
 
 We hugged the bank on the right (our left as we went up stream), 
 going under overhanging limbs, to which the high water raised us un- 
 comfortably near. Under one great limb, the current swept us into 
 the lower branches, and out in strong water and nearly turned us 
 over. It only scraped off four or five boys, who took to the water or 
 to the tree, and we left the Absaloms to catch us by land. But on 
 their way to where we stopped for them, three or four natives de- 
 manded pay for passage, and whether for fun or experiment, they 
 grabbed Mampuya, who yelled for me. But he forgot my name, so 
 he called Mr. Clark's, " Misitu Colicky! Misitu Colicky ! " ; and that was 
 his nickname for a good while. A rescue party went ashore, and the 
 natives left quickly. 
 
 We camped in a town an hour and a half up. It is a large and 
 roomy rural town, its houses not jumbled together, but divided by 
 plantain clumjjs, and garden patches. There is one little arbor and 
 square, shaded by lime trees, and two iron-wood trees, where we have 
 pitched tent at dark this Saturday night, with groups of pacific 
 villagers around us. They show no peculiarities of dress or mark- 
 ing, and have the small, sometimes skimp}' get up of the Boleke 
 folk. 
 
 Sheppard struck up trade at the beach, and so we got in. The beach 
 
SUNDAY IN CAMP. Ill 
 
 is quite unique iu Laving some nine little pits in the bra'd clay, evi- 
 dently used as mortars for crushing tbe oil from the pulp of the palm- 
 nut, and the discarded kernels, inside the red brown pulp, have formed 
 an artificial beach. 
 
 January 11. — Sunday. 1 read Amos and Zephaniah, and worked 
 out a bst of kings and prophets with their eras, as best 1 could. The 
 people say there is another big town near, to whose kiug this belongs. 
 
 They say elephants come and ruin their madioca gardens, which are 
 a quarter of a mile away. At night we heard a man yelling to frighten 
 the "nyau"' away. If Mr. Nyau heard his caterwauling, 1 wonder if 
 he ever comes back. 
 
 The villagers developed sad hankermgs after our property. Yv^e 
 left sundry articles of clothing and knives with them as keepsakes. 
 Daring the evening they kept Ij'ing around and trying to slip the 
 boys' cloths off them from behind. Sheppard watched them to catch 
 one of them with the cloth in hand, but they were too sly for that. 
 They actuaUy puUed at his five-shooter as he lay snoring at the fire 
 (eyes open), but he didn't like to let that out of his grip. The name 
 of the people is " Bankiu Kima" (the local name of the clan). 
 
 January 12. — At noon we stopped at a town, where the few people 
 insisted on shrinking in, trying to hide behind their shrugged shoul- 
 ders and elbows (hands clasped behind neck). We asked, "Nsu?" 
 (meat). Response was, "We" (no). Asked again, "Bakaba?" (kwanga). 
 They answered like^vise, "We" (no). But we sat down quietly and 
 ordered chop, and by the time the boys had it ready, their confidence 
 had so grown that they brought quantities of plantains and plenty of 
 eggs and fowls. 
 
 There was also a great deal of nsafu, a fruit of the shape and size 
 of a small egQ, only slenderer, purplish in color. W^hen put in the 
 coals five minutes, or boiled, the pulp becomes soft hke butter, with a 
 savory flavor, rich and acid, as nice salad. A sack of seeds is left. 
 There was a beautiful, low-, branching tree called "pome," making a 
 dense, cool shade, and a fine place for palavers at midday. 
 
 Pulling out we paddled under an island strip near the same bank, 
 the left, which is hned with a deep fringe of wood. Thus sheltered 
 lies a town, or succession of them, our chopping place being one of 
 the furthest down stream. At the landing places under the ti'ees, 
 gi'oups of interested spectators watched us pull slowly by. [Stopjjed 
 here again January 21tli.] These are the same people here as at 
 Boleke, indeed it is not five miles away. 
 
 'Elephant, pronounced "Neyou. " 
 
112 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAFSLEY. 
 
 Our men got in a good humor and started a song, transcribed here 
 
 -J 
 
 Am: To he sung loith enthusiasm. 
 
 
 -1 
 
 M fu mu ma tu - za Ngn di n ga nga hm ! 
 
 1 
 
 M 
 
 n^"^ 
 
 -CT- 
 
 Barytone and Bass ( impressively.) 
 
 f— t^ 
 nm nil 
 
 
 lull lim 
 
 fu nm ma tu - za ngu di nga iiga lim. 
 
 
 
 9±.^£r 
 
 ^^fe 
 
 -^— 
 
 hmmm 
 
 hm 
 
 Before sundown we encountered another stream coming in on the 
 left bank, and camped on the first or westerly of the islands in the 
 mouth. The mouth forms a true delta, and has three arms, two of 
 them one Imndred and fifty yards wide, the other smaller. 
 
 It can hardly be twenty miles from the Kassai. The land lies low, 
 not a hill in sight, but fine forests bound the horizon, and the angle 
 between the two rivers that here meet is heavily wooded. This is the 
 home of the water fowl, big and little, and there were some fifty 
 hippos lying on a sand-bank in mid-channel. Before night closed 
 with rain, I got a wild duck ; a long shot for me and my sixteen bore. 
 There is a small town on either side below the junction. 
 
 Four men came from the nearest town, with a goat to sell, an old 
 "Daddie" being the principal salesman, with three other assistants. 
 "" 1 '- Vnives," Shepj^ard offered. "No! ten" (counted on fingers). 
 " Tai. ^'u, we usually give thirty" (that is, Sheppard pointed down 
 
 the river, pointed at the goat and shook his fists three times). " Sixty " 
 (six shakes of "Daddie's" doubled-fists). Sheppard takes a bit of 
 flannel, four 3'ards, measures it by the length of his outstretched arms 
 twice. "That is, two fathoms, and see bow regally it wears;" wrap- 
 j^^ing it about his own waist. Daddie's partner points at the cloth, 
 and then at the bundle of brass rods and shows ten fingers, that is, 
 "ten ntaku to boot." Sheppard recommends that the old gentleman 
 convey his live stock back across the river, and wait for a more unso- 
 phisticated customer. He puts his finger to one eye and gives that 
 feature a pull more cxpressi-ve than pretty, and waves to the other 
 
ASCEND THE DUMA, 113 
 
 side; but clou't let them go for all that. So, after awhile, we got the 
 goat at about one-third Kintamo price, as they wouldn't drop to one- 
 fourth. But not so fast. Daddie's second says, "You said a knife, 
 too." Sheppard assumes lofty disdain and indignation, saying to one 
 of our boys, "Moyanene, tie this goat tight! gentlemen, let me show 
 you to your canoe"; and all part in high good humor. 
 
 January 18. — And they see us oif most kindly this morning. We 
 cross the mouths of the Duma. Eunning the gauntlet of the fifty 
 hippos aforesaid, we were very nearly swept down by the current on 
 one that wanted to fight. We were kept safe though, and caught the 
 pass at the very point of the island and didn't have to shoot. But 
 you can imagine my valorous attitude, standing guard in the big 
 canoe as it glided j^ast the point, with my Cape rifle cocked, and Shep- 
 pard with his pistol. 
 
 We enter the Duma, or Kwilu. Clear black water, loth to mix with 
 the yellow Kwango, as cream and strawberry juice hold apart, with a 
 wavy Line of division. Another song, and the canoe sped into the 
 deep bay the Duma forms just above its mouth on the western side. 
 We went through one of the channels between the four little islands 
 in the mouth, into the main channel, three hundred yards wide, which 
 we crossed to a good town on the right bank. It sits among the trees a 
 bundled and fifty yards back, a swampy piece of high grass in front. 
 Through this the people have cut a canal, so the canoes can pass up to 
 the town. Our big canoe couldn't go up the canal, the bends being 
 too short. Some men at the beach, on a dry point below, pointed a 
 gun at us to induce us to seek chop higher up. 
 
 So we pushed off, and are away again between banks everywhere 
 low and swampy. With difficulty we found a dry sj)ot hidden in 
 bushes, under which we thrust the canoes and chopped. [How good 
 our chop did taste those days.] There is a row of villages behind the 
 strip of forest on the river, the land being quite high enough, a quar- 
 ter of a mile back. 
 
 On our way up we are attacked by Mi'S. Nguvo, whose calf was 
 doubtless hidden near our bank somewhere. Sixty yards off she 
 popped up, snorted and was gone ; but we could see a faint ripple 
 moving toward us, and she parted it at fifty yards. Snorted, and did 
 the same at forty, thirty yards, and the same instant, crack ! a bullet 
 struck a httle short and bounced to her head. She rose again pretty 
 soon, but two hundred yards off". 
 
 There was a lovely plain between the woods on the south bank, like 
 a field of ripe grain. We are going east — east — whereas the Kw'ango 
 
 8 
 
114 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAFSLEY, 
 
 comes fi'om the southwest. We find room for the tent in a dense 
 wood on the hill-sfde. An elephant-path to the water showed it to us. 
 Close quarters! An elephant came round and blew his horn, which 
 the frightened ^Nlaujangas answered with interest, and he went his 
 way. Big rain. A small Congo rolled through the tent, and moist- 
 ened things somewhat. 
 
 January 14. — Dense forest on each side. Apparently flooded 
 throughout. There is a grassy plain behind it higher up. I am 
 already tired of being shut in between walls of green ; the river is so 
 much narrower than the Congo or Kassai that the trees make a 
 greater difference, quite shut out the view. But the dark green is 
 often relieved by the rich clothing of vines of a lighter shade, which 
 climb thirty or forty feet from the water, and sometimes break into 
 hanging columns. 
 
 We ran into a little bay where lay a new canoe, the fresh chips all 
 around. The people presently found us out, and came timidly at fii"st, 
 but finally crowded around us with a fair amount of chop. But 
 kwanga is running low. 
 
 This is the first village which is actually on the bank of the Duma. 
 We pass noble forests of great trees of varied colors, bark and style of 
 growth, with lofty and wide-spreading branches, and but httle under- 
 growth to spoil the open view beneath. It is a "veritable j^arc 
 Anglais," ' as the Belgians would say. 
 
 Little canals every few minutes are piercing the forest, and probably 
 affording passage for canoes at high water. Some are left open, some 
 are closed with fish-proof fence of sticks, with only space enough left 
 for the insertion of traps. Sometimes there is a little shelf by this 
 aperture, which I don't understand. 
 
 These Kassai fish-traps would indicate that there are people here 
 that are kin to those on the middle Kassai. Saw a new style of fish- 
 basket at the town we passed at noon. It is a cone with the base 
 drawn up inside, but there ai'e no angles except at the apex, and all is 
 gracefully curved. 
 
 The current of this river was slight yesterday, but it seems stronger 
 the further we go, and rushes under low hanging limbs so hard that 
 it is dangerous to heavy ladeu canoes ; — necessary to keep the head 
 out until the stern has cleared the tree. The small canoe neglected to 
 do this to-day (indeed Nkala always turns in out of the strong water as 
 soon as the head has passed the limb), so the current got the canoe 
 broadside and turned it square, at right angles to its course, the pad- 
 dlers lost control of it, and into the bushes it swept. They tipped her, 
 
 ' A real Euc;lisli pari;. 
 
MORE FOUNDLINGS. 115 
 
 and quantities of water poured in. The boys took to the ti'ee, and so 
 hghteucd her. Nkala and his fellow Yansi held her steady and baled 
 for dear life, and pi-esently they followed us up again. 
 
 "We find a camping place in the edge of the forest on the left bank, 
 where elephants had broken down the trees for us, somewhat. There 
 was a fresh print of a tusk in the bark of a tree eight feet up, and 
 mud which he rubbed off against the trunk. Loud horns, answering 
 each other from left bank to the right, at sundown, probably giving 
 warning that a white man (rare visitor) was on the river. 
 
 January 15. — Hardly any progress, and nearly out of chop. We 
 waited long on promises of kwanga which didn't materialize. As we 
 toiled along I called to Nzezela to start a song. "How can we sing 
 when kwanga is iinished ? " They have plantains, but are lost with 
 any bread but kwanga. 
 
 In the aftei'noon we ran into an inlet on the left bank, landed and 
 opened negotiations with a handful of natives. "Bikaba! Bikaba!" 
 (kwanga) we pleaded, and showed cloth, knives and brass rods. You 
 could see their eyes sparkle at the sight of the spear-pointed case 
 knives. So I made signs to the effect that only kwanga would fetch 
 knives. So we got some kwanga and corn. Nkala, the Yansi captain, 
 and ]Makwala, who had an eye for trade, were gladdened by the sight of a 
 fine tusk of ivory, two and a half feet long and thirty pounds weight. 
 
 Before chop was ready two strangers came up. Evidently they were 
 Bakongo ! And this slim one Makwala says is his " brother," actually 
 his "brother," his blood first cousin, and is from Ngombe Makito, on 
 the caravan road from Lukunga to Stanley Pool. [This boy is with 
 us to-day, April 13th.] They had come up on the Peace, and seven- 
 teen of them had deserted on the Kassai somewhere. " Plenty chicot 
 (cat o' nine tails) and small chop," was their excuse for deserting. All 
 but these were lost trying to find their road to Kintamo. They saw 
 some of them speared by native tribes on the way. 
 
 " Where's the rest ? " 
 
 "Don't know." 
 
 "AH right, go get your stuff, if you have any, don't tell anybody, 
 but when we start jump in and come along with us." 
 
 These natives are lean and ill-favored, too grasping and treacherous 
 to trade, and besides, they have little to sell. They name one price 
 for their ivory, and they claim another when that is brought out to 
 them. Their game seemed to be, to chaffer until plenty of goods were 
 brought out on exhibition, then raise a row and make a general grab 
 amid the confusion. Sheppard had seen this game played before, and 
 got our men and goods safely into the canoe, keeping the villagers 
 
116 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 quiet by a little firmness. There was one gun among them, the rest 
 had bows and arrows. The gent with the gun promptly retired at the 
 start, and left his partners to help themselves through the difficulty. 
 The two Congos got aboard and came with us, in spite of howl and 
 claim of five pieces of cloth. 
 
 The villagers had seen our rifle, revolver and double-barrel. 
 
 AVe went and camped on the grassy bank opposite, and diA^ded the 
 goat bought a few days ago. The two capitas, Nkala and Nzezela, 
 were commissioned to prepare it. Parted it between the three messes, 
 aggregating nineteen men, in solemn conclave. The head and shin, 
 and most of the intestines, were included in the distribution. 
 
 I saw a new type to-day, a man of large size, with marked Indian 
 profile, with his hair rolled into a thick queue, nine inches long. 
 
 January 16. — Set out in low spirits, kwanga finished and four men 
 sick. But our Provider had prepared two towns for us, where, after 
 the people had time to decide that we were not dangerous, we got 
 plenty of kwanga and corn for the present need. The men brought 
 bows and arrows, no spears nor guns, but sold bows for three ntaku 
 (brass rods), six cents. Very strong bows, I could hardly bend them; 
 hard redwood that glistens like mahogany. The arrows, light, twenty 
 inches to two feet six inches long. Some had sharpened wooden heads 
 (poisoned '?), some iron, beaten rather thin. Six inches from the point 
 is a joint in the shaft. The part with the head fits into a socket in 
 the other part, and is secured in it by a string wrapped around. The 
 obvious design is that the head may remain in the wound when the 
 shaft is pulled out. Don't see any j^oison on the heads. 
 
 The other town very friendly and eager for trade. They begged us 
 to stop all night, but hadn't any chop to sell. 
 
 At 3: 30 p. M., we passed a deserted camp of booths, perhaps left by 
 a big Yausi trading expedition we met at the junction of the Kwango 
 and Duma (a long way for them to come! ). 
 
 We had passed, when Sheppard thought he heard somebody in it, 
 and so went back and called. A wretched object, almost a skeleton, 
 crawled out of one booth, too far gone to care whether saved or not. 
 He was another souvenir of the Peace fugitives. "We prevailed on him 
 to get aboard, and gave him some chop, in Avhich he took more interest, 
 poor feUow. Friday, to-day, so that shall be his name, by Sheppard's 
 suggestion. He had a scrap of raw elephant hide, not quite sucked 
 dry, in his piece of basket. Deformed by a crooked hand, a stammerer, 
 and hardly strong in his wits. We were very happy in having picked 
 him up, barely in time tdo. Camp late, in thick bush, but dry. Dark 
 
NYAU. 117 
 
 before all straight. Last bit of candle went to-night, except a morsel 
 saved against accident. 
 
 January 17. — Fine day's progress. Some exceedingly strong water, 
 but Sheppard, who is pilot now (we are tired of the Yansis putting us 
 into the bushes'), skillfully used the curi-ent so as to make it throw us 
 across more quickly. Passed two gents who were peeping at us from 
 the forks of trees. Chopped in a lofty, open forest, "veritable pai'c 
 Anglais " again. 
 
 Nkala brought us a new fruit, size, shape and skin of a muscadine, 
 but red, and has a stone. Tastes sweet, but leaves a flavor of turpen- 
 tine in the mouth. From cut bark exudes a gum much like pine resin, 
 but less pungent and more aromatic. The Bayansi call it ntsumbele 
 (the correct spelling of the name of their town, which we call Chum- 
 biri). 
 
 Begin to pass a chain of wooded islands. Camp in wood, on north 
 bank, opposite island No. 4. A loud noise startled us, and I heard 
 cook exclaim "Nyau ! " (elephant : au is sounded like ou in out). Shep- 
 pard went to see about him, and presently we heard the crack of his 
 rifle, and I hurried through the tangle of brush and broken trees to 
 share the hunt. Heard Sheppard say in a queer voice (meant for me 
 to hear and not the elephant), "Don't come; they are right here!" 
 Lo, and behold, he and Nkala were safe up a tree ! an example which 
 I followed quite promptly. He had had a close shot, and had put the 
 Martini-Henri bullet into the elephant's ear. But when the brute 
 seemed unconcerned about it, he did not try another until he had made 
 sure his retreat. And the elephants went a little way o£f for awhile. 
 
 The natives came after the shot, to see who and what it could be. 
 Brought their bows, but had no mischievous designs; rather good- 
 looking fellows as they came through the woods with their bows in 
 their hands. We soon made friends, and they went away and came 
 back with some choj). They say " There is a good white man up the 
 river not far, who buys plenty chickens, and has made a big house." 
 We heard the n;rau before day, breaking down a tree in the woods not 
 far from the tent. The woods here look as if a cyclone has been throw- 
 ing the trees about, big trees six or eight inches through. 
 
 January 18. — Sunday, a mixed day for us. Sheppard had to buy 
 chop, for the men were out, there being a steady stream of natives 
 with kwauga, goobers, etc. I had a good time apart in the forenoon, 
 but spoilt the afternoon by eating too big a dinner, as I have done in 
 other places besides Congo. 
 
 I chatted with Makwala, Nkuka, Nshimi and Ntino about the soul 
 and spirits and sorcery. They believe that the spirit (moyo) leaves 
 
118 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAFSLEY. 
 
 the body at death and Hves in the woods ; Nkuya they call it then, or 
 if a bad or mischievous one, Ndoki (devil). They say the Nganga, or 
 medicine man, usually comes from a distant town. His principal 
 function is healing the sick. Bats are his familiars. He claims to 
 have a special posse of ten bats, which nobody but himself can see. 
 These he puts in the sick man's house, after putting green peppei'S on 
 all objects in the room except the joatient. "Bats," he says, "don't 
 like pepper," and they light on the sick man, and leave a scratch on 
 his arm, which shows that they have exercised their healing powers 
 on him, and then they go to the ceiling. The Nganga then goes out- 
 side and joins the men who are drinking palm wine (malafu) to the 
 patient's health, an essential part in the curative process. Then he 
 addresses the bats, and the men all hear the bats answer the Nganga ; 
 it sounds as if many men and women were answering from the roof of 
 the sick man's house. Makwala and the other boys say they have 
 heard this sound. And they have seen the Nganga work another 
 wonder. "Put boxes, cloth and anything you want to, inside a house. 
 Let all the men go out except the Nganga. Presently all the goods 
 will be found in the Nganga's quarters, another house, though you 
 watch between the houses and can see nobody pass from one to an- 
 other. When you pay the Nganga a ransom, you can get the goods back." 
 
 In the evening I spoke about the fall, and the devil's history and 
 present ways. " You think the Ndoki (devil) busies himself mainly 
 to make you sick, hurt your trade, etc. He is wiser than that. He 
 goes about to make you do wrong, sure that if he can do that, he will 
 have you altogether in his hands after awhile." 
 
 January 19. — At 10 : 35 a. m. we reach a plain on the right bank, 
 where Mr. Hochstras, whom we met on the titanley, was standing by 
 the water-side to meet us. It was pleasant to see the blue flag, with 
 the lone gold star, waving over a goodly little station, the first on 
 this fine big river. There is a fair-sized house of hewn sticks, Availed 
 and thatched with grass, and quite a cantonment of booths, all in an 
 open square, cleared out of the grassy plain ; and the whole done in 
 about fourteen days. He has about thirty good soldiei's to do the 
 work, and I see the preparations for another house for Captain Dhanis, 
 when he comes. 
 
 But think of it! He has sent Cameron, his sergeant, a capable 
 Lagos man, in a canoe with six men and plenty of ammunition and 
 chop, to go up this river to Kingunji, for canoes. Cameron has been 
 gone seven days. I try to show him that this is not the Kwango, but 
 the Duma. He stands to it that this is the Kwango, because it is the 
 larger one of the two branches. I reply that, though wide, the 
 
MR. HOCHSTRAS. 119 
 
 KwaBgo has plenty of sand-bank, which it would be hard for the 
 Peace even to pass ; whereas the Duma is deep all the way, and could 
 float any steamer on the Upper Congo. Also this point, where we are 
 now, is nearly E. S. E. of the junction, by my compass. 
 
 He says he misses the hills about Kingunji, and well he may. This 
 country is as flat as a pancake, and the black water is good proof that 
 there is plenty of flat, swampy country up stream from here. By the 
 way, this must be a long river, too, for the same reason. I tell him 
 this would be Captain Dhanis' best road to Nuala Yamvos. 
 
 I had a cup of tea in his pleasant Uving-room, which ho has made 
 quite homelike, and has nice table, side-board, desk and shelf, rough 
 enough, but neatly covered with cheerful cloth. Fancy hats, photos, 
 a row of pine- apples, etc., on the wall, make it look quite natty. 
 
 The station is in the edge of a three-hundred-acre grass plain, and sur- 
 rounded by a numerous and friendly population, who bring the greatest 
 abundance of country produce for sale, and at ridiculously low prices. 
 
 In the afternoon Mr. Hochstras and I went out for guineas, only to 
 come back poorer by four cartridges. These are a smaller kind than 
 the gray ones that grow tame at home They are wild everywhere 
 here. [This is "Lower Guinea."] They are, perhaps, properly called 
 partridges, and are much like prairie chickens out AVest. They ai'e 
 brown, with bright red feet and gills The gray are called " nkilele," 
 the brown, "ngumbi." 
 
 "We had a hvely discussion after chop, on the Kwango question. I 
 had misplaced, that is, put my maps in the wrong box, and left them 
 at Kintamo; so I could only cite the natives at the town below the 
 junction. They said, "You'll come to two rivers, one on the right 
 hand, Nyali Mbe (red); the other, on the left, NyaH Mpiri (black); 
 which I found, and these same names Mr. Grenfell learnt from the 
 natives five years ago. 
 
 Mr. Hochstras replied, " I asked Matson to let me go up that water 
 and look if he live Kwango, and he say no, this live Kwango; that 
 another pool like "Wissmann Pool." 
 
 We had a big storm at night Grand cannonading ten miles off at 
 first, then we heard the artillery train rolling quickly towards us, 
 finally halted and roared at three hundred yai'ds distance. 
 
 January 20. — Reveille on the Duma! Faraji, the Zanzibari table 
 boy, sounds it very well. 
 
 Yard full of chickens and goats, like a farm-yard ! 
 
 The soldiers have been making a fence of tall sticks all round. The 
 people raised a row when the Zanzibari soldiers ejected an intruder 
 from the enclosure. 
 
120 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAFSLEY. 
 
 Many styles in dress of head and person, and varied types of fea- 
 tures, in the immense crowd who come to sell chop, bows and arrows, 
 blankets, goats, and fowls. 
 
 We bought two goats for eleven handkerchiefs (twelve handkerchiefs 
 cost in England, in one piece, Is. 5|d = 35c., and are worth twenty 
 ntaku at native 2:)rices at Manyanga). Sheppard was seated on a mat 
 in the centre of a ring of these traders, chaffering, bantering, joking 
 them, and working them down in their shding scale of pi'ices. He 
 soon had a pile of good things around him, especially some neat cala- 
 bashes and some strips of buffalo hide. 
 
 By the way, 3'esterday we found a rare curiosity, a box or basket of 
 small sticks, with a stick running through three pairs of loops, the 
 under one of each pair being put through the upper, and the stick 
 passing through the under one haspwise. I have been trying to make 
 a picture of it for you, but I can't do it. 
 
 Shepjoard is taken with violent nausea from an overdose of quinine, 
 a bad habit he has of taking two weeks supply at once, to save troiable. 
 In the afternoon, fever rose to 104, but went down at night and didn't 
 come back. 
 
 After lunch I went with Fuani, the Zanzibari head-man, Nkala, 
 Makwala and Nkuka, to see the nearest town up the river. Two men 
 of the towns were waiting to serve as guides and to introduce us. We 
 found that the towns lie parallel with the river, behind the trees that 
 line the bank, and that a main j)ath runs back of all the towns, with 
 little paths leading off to each town as we came opposite it, just as at 
 Chumbiri and Bolobo. The guides belonged to the farthest towns, so 
 we took the trunk line through to their home. Their town has five 
 clumps of houses, each framed of midrib of the borassus palm, roofed 
 with leaves of same, which also, neatly woven in on the bias, close 
 out the weather on the sides and back. The front, under wide eaves, 
 is made of something like cane splits, the yellow alternating with the 
 others, burnt brown or black, or else a yellow, a red, and a black. 
 
 We cross a pond, or full branch, of dark water, colored like tea, 
 from a swamp through which it makes its W'ay. That's where the 
 Duma gets clear black water, like Dismal Swamp water! We returned 
 through the row of villages near the river, and found five neat little 
 clumps of houses, built like the first lot, but sprucer and in fresher 
 colors. They look ver^'- cosy amid their gardens. 
 
 Among the trees that shaded them were a good many dark green 
 orange trees, and under one of these was a group of native men 
 carousing on their native wine (sugar-cane, I think). " Every prospect 
 
RETURN. 121 
 
 pleases, auci onl}' man is vile." I estimate there were forty-eight 
 houses here, and from two hundred to two hundred and fifty souls. 
 
 In one house I found a fully equipped loom for weaving grass cloth, 
 that is, from the inner bark of the mpusu palm, I understand. Three 
 stout sticks form a frame, one is fastened to the roof, and one is sup- 
 ported midway between the top one and the third, which rests on the 
 groimd. Simple but complete, with the cojnb-hke arrangement and 
 shuttles. I don't know enough of it to be more precise. 
 
 Found Sheppard still hot, and put him to bed. I slew a ngumbi 
 (guinea), very red giUs and feet, brown back, and grey breast spotted 
 with red. Delicious chop. 
 
 January 21. — We conclude to turn back. Wish we could go on, 
 but a State canoe has already' gone farther than I could hope to go, 
 and I can see Cameron at Kintamo. My men are discouraged, and 
 one is sick, and not much time is left on their contracts, so they need 
 no i^ersuading to get ready for the down trip. They cordially agree 
 to decorate each canoe with a flag of bandanas. Three Uttle goats, 
 bought at one-fourth of Kintamo prices, made figure-heads for our 
 httle flotilla. 
 
 Good-bye to our friends at the river-side, leaving a fine blue flag with 
 Mr. Hochstras as a keepsake. He is the same young man we saw 
 near Ngombe, on oui' first trip from Lukunga to Stanley Pool. A very 
 pleasant and bright fellow. 
 
 Down stream like a steamer ! Men singing all the songs they know. 
 Mpururu, whose doings made us christen him St. Nick, used to 
 w^histle the following, as they sang — 
 
 
 H 
 
 Heavy slur notes 
 slidina: into one 
 another. 
 
 The drift of the words is somewhat obscure, but sung slowly by 
 several mournful voices it has quite a weird effect. 
 
 A fine chance for compass and map ! We camp at a grass bank, 
 where we chopped the goat, of which occurrence our crews retain Hvely 
 recollections, and seem to think it a happy precedent, as shown by 
 their reviving one of their early songs. " Sumba nkombo na saba- 
 
122 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAFSLEY. 
 
 langa" (buy us goat for paddliug). Opposite is the tough town where 
 we picked up the two stray Congo men. 
 
 "NYe passed Camp Friday this afternoon. "Fulliday," as the boys 
 call hiiu, is another sort of fellow now. Very grateful, and usually 
 busy at drudgery the others like to dodge. 
 
 January 22. — Leisui-ely start. We stop at a town to make certain 
 that Makwala is correct in saying that the whole river, as we've seen it, 
 speaks Kiteke. I think it must be nearly true. 
 
 At 12 : 30 we land on the eastermost of the islands in the junction of 
 the Kwango and Duma, being attracted by a shoal of hippos towards 
 the upper end. A snow-drift of white birds sat near and nearly scared 
 aAvay our game, by flying with a roar of wings as we drew near. But 
 the hippos stayed near, and one or two arose every minute. Sheppard 
 popped one as quick as a flash before he could hide again under water, 
 a lovely shot. The men had him on the beach in half an hour after we 
 landed, and cut a few beefsteaks out of him to eat over night. 
 
 January 23. — I should have had a good day's work, but failed to 
 " Seek him early," and so idled away most of the day. 
 
 Sheppard bossed the carving, and gave each gang a part to jerk (dry) 
 over a slow fire. 
 
 I got some doves, which made a fine "mwamba (palm-oil) chop." 
 
 Moyarene had a row with Mpurui'u ; the latter trying to hold Mo^-a- 
 rene from behind, got cut in the forehead with a knife, and swore he 
 would spear the boy. We told him that we Avouid tie him up for Bula' 
 Matadi, if he repeated or attempted to carry out the threat; and 
 ordered Nzezela, the boy's capita, to whip him, which was done; and 
 then we had peace. 
 
 To-day walked out with three cartridges, and came back with three 
 doves, one duck, and one cartridge. 
 
 Sheppard and I crossed the right arm of the Kwango delta at its 
 head, and visited the town in the angle of the rivers. We found a 
 long but sparse string of rather neglected looking huts named "Mbe." 
 
 The people, back from the right bank of the Duma, here are called 
 Balilaxa (x equals the German ch). 
 
 January 24. — Most of the meat is pretty well dried, and so we load 
 up and are off at 8 o'clock. The canoes have all the load they want to 
 cany, the gunwales being within six inches or less of the water. We 
 stop at the upper end of the town, where we chopped on the 8th of 
 January. The town is a mile long, in groups, of course. We went 
 ashore, near the top or upper end, and walked through six groups, 
 each averaging eight large houses, winch are round and generally 
 
A ZANDU. 123 
 
 built iu circles ^Yitll a yard enclosed and kept clean as a j^in. Orange 
 and nsafu trees make a delightful shade, and there are plenty of 
 chickens and goats, and, iu one town, a good many new-made pots 
 drying in the sun, preparatory to baking. The people are pleasant 
 and well-behaved. 
 
 In the woods, between this and the next group, we came upon a cir- 
 cular space under a great tree, which the boys recognized with glee as 
 a Zandu, or market-place ; indeed, there were lots of fresh pine-apple 
 rinds lateh' emptied on the spot. That is why we could get but little 
 chop, as every one had bought and sold all that they had or wanted 
 that morning. The mai'kets are held once in four days, just as on the 
 Lower Congo. Above and below the houses which we visited we saw 
 four other similar groups, making altogether a population of four or 
 five hundi'ed. Makwala says that there are one hundred fighting men. 
 
 "We see plenty of pine-apples in the bush by our path, between the 
 groups. Several pretty streams fall into the river above and below 
 the villages. They say their name is " Mbe," and that they have no 
 king; which means that they are afraid that we have, or may have 
 later, some bad palaver for him. A large Babuma trade-canoe lies on 
 the inner side of the island, and near by is a camp of booths with a 
 red flag over it. 
 
 Our whole crew^ is eager to get on to Boleke, where there is plenty 
 of fish and kwanga, and everything is so cheap and the people are so 
 friendly. We hear rumors here of troubles below, whether near Bo- 
 leke or Musye I can't learn. We dropped down to Boleke by 2 o'clock, 
 the men all singing and flags waving, and laud on the island where we 
 camped before. Nobody comes to see us, though there are plenty of 
 them on the beach looking aci'oss at us, and shouting when I killed a 
 duck. We arranged the camp for a stay of several days, using the 
 great rope left by the SUoileij in the bushes on the Duma, as a chain 
 fence, hanging it on our fancy paddles driven down as posts ; thus mak- 
 ing a very nice looking fence around our camp ; the Congos' mat-house 
 being on one side of the yard, and the Yansis' on the other, and the 
 tent in between. The yard was swept clean, and there were bunches 
 of bananas hanging from a paddle stuck up in the yard. After awhile, 
 a canoe with one man and one woman stopped by to say that there had 
 been a tight between the town on the north bank, just opposite the 
 Kwango mouth, and some State people in a small steamer, and that 
 two white men (another report says one) Avere left there dead, and 
 the steamer was gone away for help ; and tlie quarrel was because the 
 steaiuor took ihe people's wood without buying it. 
 
124 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAFSLEY. 
 
 Could it be Captain Dlaanis going to relieve Mr. Hochstras and take 
 him to Kingunji? 
 
 We assiu'ed them that we were not Bula Matadi, ' that we would not 
 hurt them, and that we had uguvo to sell, and we made the ambassa- 
 dors a small present of the meat. 
 
 I can see the pillars of smoke now going up from the burning town 
 in question. 
 
 Now the canoes begin to stream across and a great crowd surround 
 our camp, showing much fondness for Sheppard, but rather afraid 
 of the other " mundele." Before the crowd came there were a great 
 many of them swimming in the deep swift stream. 
 
 January 25. — Sunday. There was a crowd here from midday on. 
 They brought things to sell, though we told them yesterday that we 
 wouldn't buy to-day. The Yausis needed watching, as they were trying 
 to sell the nguvo entrusted to them. A crowd collected, especially 
 near the hippo drjdng frames. They would come to me or to Shep- 
 pard with hands on the middle part of their persons, which was made 
 to appear very much emaciated, and they would say, "mfumu ! mfumu! 
 nzala ! mfumu ! nzala ! " with great patience ; so we had some meat 
 sliced up and divided among them. 
 
 At the afternoon service there were a hundred and three people 
 altogether, and they watched and listened with fear, curiosity and 
 pleasure, all mixed in varying proportions. Our friend Antinobe, with 
 her quiet face, her little boy and her same check cloth, is always on 
 hand, and is made happy by various small presents, which she returns 
 in some measure with kwanga. We asked her to get her father, whtv 
 had offered to give us land before, to come to-morrow, Monday, to see 
 us, and then we would go with him and see the town. "All right." 
 
 January 26. — A good many are on hand this morning, though more 
 have gone up the river, four or six women in each canoe, on their way 
 to market, I suppose, from the baskets of salables they all have. 
 
 The men with fish-baskets and other appliances in light canoes 
 skimmed away to their fishing grounds at sun-up. 
 
 About 9 o'clock we went over to see the old gentleman about the 
 land. He had been here early, but didn't talk business, only admired 
 my double-barrel and the duck it had brought us (my sixth), but soon 
 went away to his fish-traps, Antinobe said. It was she received us 
 in town, and when we said we were starting to the upper town where 
 he lived, she hastil}' stopped us and went herself to fetch him. A roll 
 of matting was shown us and we sat down to wait. Another mat was 
 
 ' Not State officers or soldiers. 
 
BOLOKE REFUSES US. 125 
 
 spread in front of us, likewise in open air. An old man wlioin we see 
 about very often came and sat on it. He is a crafty-looking old fellow, 
 and reminds me of Mfumu Matuba at Mauyanga. He made IMak- 
 wala sit by liim and we waited. Crowds of villagers thronged about 
 lis. We managed to get a little fellow once in a while to come and 
 shake hands. There are plenty of little ones here, and they look very well 
 and fairly happy. But the crowd thinned down to a score of children and 
 a few men, and still we waited After an hour there w^as a stir among 
 them and the people began to gather. Antinobe came up with a drip- 
 ping paddle in her hand, and then b}' another way, and with some 
 dignity, her father apj)eared. He is a man of good presence and 
 would naturally command respect. Seated by his colleague he waited 
 in silence for us to begin the conference. 
 
 We told Makwala to say that we had come back according to his 
 invitation, to see the land they had offered us, that we wanted to pay 
 for it if we found it good, and would go back to Kintamo, get our 
 stuif, and come and live here. 
 
 He replied, " We should be glad for you to settle, and if you build, 
 all right, but we can't sell you the land. We are not the kings, and we 
 can't help you, if the king should be angry." 
 
 I replied, "Then tell them, Makwala, another town up the river 
 Bampwono) wants us to stay with them, but we like this place, if you 
 can be as good as those people." 
 
 " All right, go to them " (Makwala answered for the two elders). 
 
 Or if you want to stay here ask the king of this country." 
 
 "Where is he?" 
 
 " He is at his town." 
 
 "What is his town"?" 
 
 "Kimbuta. [I think this town apochr^^^hal.] It is far away. Don't 
 ask lis for laud." 
 
 The old man got up and walked away, ending the palaver abruptly, 
 much to the satisfaction of the old women, who had stood behind him 
 and grunted at him their distrust of each proposition as soon as we 
 made it. 
 
 A flat disappointment to us. 
 
 We came back floored, and had some difficulty in grasping the pro- 
 mise of guidance, but w'e did that. In the afternoon, we decided that 
 we would select a site on the right bank, in sight of the town, and hold 
 it temporarily, tiU the people thought better of us ; come and sit down 
 before the town, so to speak, and wait for their timidity to wear off, 
 and then build nearer. 
 
126 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. X. LAPSLEY. 
 
 As we were startiug, a youug man whom we liked, the OBe who came 
 to see us ou the former visit, came to Makwala and hinted that the 
 people feared trouble from oui* men. I took this chance to explain 
 that our business was not to trade, but to teach the will of their King 
 and ours, the God who made us both ; that we teach that God forbids 
 men to kill, steal, and commit adultery; and that our teaching is the 
 best pledge that we will be good neighbors; that we should have 
 some men to feed and so furnish trade for them. 
 
 He asked if Kiutamo, our country, had plenty of women. Makwala 
 answered that there were plenty. He said, then, that we should bring 
 wives for oui' men, as they didn't want their families disturbed. He 
 then suggested that we go to see their queen, Ngabile, who is " Mama- 
 nene," the great mother. 
 
 While they were speaking a canoe landed near us, and we learned 
 that it was the daughter of Ngabile coming to see us. She approached 
 our fence rather shyly, cariying her little boy on her left arm. She 
 was dignified and quieter in manner than the other women. She was 
 shy, but had none of that boisterous timidity that nins and screams 
 whenever we turn around. She had a great brass ring about her 
 neck, a single cloth from her waist to her knees. The boy wears not 
 a thread but that upon which his bead-necklace is strung. Sheppard 
 bought the peanuts she brought. We gave the young prince a fathom 
 of our best cloth, and to his mother a knife. She promised to come 
 back to-morrow with her mother. 
 
 The crowd of young men stayed late talking with Makwala. They 
 managed to understand his "Kiteke," as spoken at Kintamo, very well. 
 
 "If Mundele comes back," they said, "let him bring people that 
 speak your language, not those men's," with significant gesture toward 
 the Baj'ansi, who were always in a row, and often with the natives. 
 
 "Who are these Mundele," they go on, "do they come out of the 
 water?" They count us odd fish, no doubt, but better that than ndoki, 
 devils who spirit away sleeping people at night. 
 
 We go to bed thankful and hopeful. 
 
 January 27. — W^e are all day waiting. Not many people came, and 
 the two we Avanted didn't come. We went over to see the land oppo- 
 site the town for a temporary site. 
 
 January 28. — Made the final survey of the temj)orary site, and at 
 last, about 10 a. m., we broke up camp, our men nothing loth to go. 
 The people kept awa}', and don't seem sorry that we are gone. This 
 is not surprising though, as there was a fight between the white men 
 and their neighbors so lately. 
 
PASS MUSY^. 127 
 
 We di-opped sadly down stream, and stopped to eat at our old sand- 
 bank in Wissman Pool, after which we kept on till dark ; and camped 
 on a ntuTow strip of high grass bank, very near our camp of January 
 2nd. We had very primitive arrangements for supper, as it was dark 
 before it was made. Hippos and buffalos disturbed some of us all 
 night, assisted by the natives, who came up stealthily in their canoes, 
 smelling an)und, to find who we Avere and what was our business. 
 The whole river-side is astir. Somethmg awful seems to have occurred 
 between the natives and Bula Matadi. We heard from some who 
 hailed us as we passed, that Ngankabi's sou has been seized and car- 
 ried to Kintamo. 
 
 January 29. — We are up and off at 3: 40 a. m., by moonlight. We 
 passed Musye at 6 : 30. We see plenty of j)eople with canoes camping 
 on sand-banks above, as if refugeeing from Musye. We see nothing 
 wrong, however, at Musye, but pass on down in mid-stream. We go 
 slowly through the flats below Musye. We were caught a quarter of 
 a mile from shore in naughty wind and water, and the light had a 
 weird yellow look, but we reached good shelter below in time to miss 
 the storm. We got into the narrow swift part before evening, and it 
 was i:)leasant to watch the banks shpping by, but hard to find a sleep- 
 ing place, the banks w^ere so steep down to the waiter's edge, with 
 great boulders sometimes jutting out into the river. At last we 
 rounded a point, and spied a little nook, whei'e we camped, and slept 
 on a fine sand beach. 
 
 January 30. — Off before day, but delayed somewhat by the wind 
 and waves. We were at Ivwa-mouth by 10 : 30, where we had a cup 
 of coffee with the good brothers of the Catholic Mission of "Bei'g Ste. 
 Marie." We get here the news of the trouble between the " Van 
 Kerckoven expedition " and the people of Musye district. They have 
 burnt the town opposite Musye, and brought down a great lot of 
 canoes which are here at Kwa-mouth now. Chumbiri is burnt, and 
 the whole country profoundly excited. 
 
 One of the fathers says, "We haven't any more meat and can't get 
 good fish." And I notice that he does not take any of the meat, 
 though it is good. 
 
 One of them remarked, "If we had a steamer we would go up to 
 Luluaburg at once. We found the natives at Ngete very much at- 
 tached to you (Mr. Clark is probably referred to), and so our Father 
 Superior at once decided not to locate there." Perhaps they would 
 like for us to let the Kassai alone, but they did not say so, and indeed 
 made us very much at home. 
 
128 LIFE AND LETTEES OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 It was pleasant to meet civilization and hospitality again, not to 
 mention sugar. Didn't we pelt them with questions about the little 
 world we had left five short weeks ago ! " Where is the Heed, the 
 Peace, the Pioneer, and what steamers are expected down?" 
 
 "While we rested at the mission, Makwala had bought us kwanga, 
 and by 1 : 30 all was ready, and we are off, crossing just ahead of a 
 wind storm ; and by the time we had reached the French, or right bank 
 of the Congo, the current had swept us away down below the mouth 
 of the Kwa, or Kassai. 
 
 The Ville de Bruxelles comes in sight. She is a magnificent steamer, 
 with two decks, swift and strong. She belongs to Bula Matadi. I 
 crossed and went aboard to tell them of Mr. Hochstras' being in the 
 wrong river, but found they already knew it. Slept aboard till the 
 moon rose, first reading the latest dailies from Brussels, telling of 
 Parnell's fall and Baring Brothers' failure, and the other doings in 
 the great outside world. 
 
 Recrossed at 1 o'clock and got a cup of tea and some kwanga, and 
 finished my sleep in my own tent. 
 
 January 30. — We passed the strong water off Gauchu's Point in 
 high feather, our flags flying, men singing, and an old ivory trader 
 from Chumbiri to guide us down. The old fellow had on his big cap 
 of wildcat skin, having his little daughter to bear him company. The 
 poor little girl's mother is dead. We picked him up yesterday and 
 find that he is head-man of Yela Gela's town, and is the man who 
 struck the head off the corpse I saw floating down from Chumbiri in 
 August. 
 
 We rested on the great sand-banks below the towns at Gauchu's. 
 
 "Sail ho!" 
 
 "What steamer?" 
 
 " Hand the glass ! " 
 
 " The Henry Reed! " 
 
 We are soon aboard, and spend Sunday at Kimpoko, and on Monday 
 morning we are at Kintamo. 
 
 February 1. — I am back at the Pool in the best of health, thanks to 
 our Father's care, and am fatter in flesh by a good deal, but by no 
 means fairer, "for that the sun hath looked upon me." 
 
CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 LETTERS. 
 
 Februakt and Maech, 1891 
 
 To LUKUXGA AND BaCK. 
 
 THE purpose of the next trip, tliat by steamer up the Congo, 
 Kassai and Luhia to Luebo, and the ^^reparations for it, can be 
 seen from the following interesting extracts from letters written in 
 the interval, February 6th to March 17th, between the journeys. 
 
 Neaely to Mfume (six hours out), West op Kentamo,* 
 En Eoute to Luku:n"GA, February 8, 1891. 
 
 My Dear Mamma : My supper is almost ready, but I will delay 
 it (let it cool), while I sketch ni}' company and surroundings. I 
 know you would like to see the boys, ten in all, Avho have brought 
 my tent and traps thus far from the Pool. 
 
 The tent is ready, bed up, and mosquito net spread, to pro- 
 vide against the "nyum-i-nyums," as my Congo boys call that 
 pest. The table is very neat, with a clean Turkish towel for 
 cloth, and snowy rice, crisp-fried kwanga, and fish and tea, de- 
 fended by a line of pickles, pulverized ginger and marmalade. I 
 can forget that the table is only my wooden clothes-box, made 
 at Kintamo, if I minded it at all. 
 
 The boys are standing or sitting or moving leisurely about a 
 fire, on either side of me. Half of them are bare to the waist 
 and not bad looking to my accustomed eye, with rich brown 
 skins, kept clean and smooth by baths at almost every river 
 crossed. The rest have shirts of their own making or nice cloths, 
 and are not bad either. Nzezela I see is mending a rent in his 
 waist cloth. He is my head boy, made such because he secured 
 the rest for me, and helps manage them. 
 
 * Leopoldville. 
 129 
 
130 LIFE AND LETTEllS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 The light is fading on the hills that encircle this one on which 
 we are camping. On most of them are little plantain-shaded 
 villages, with rich madioca gardens on hill-sides near, making 
 this the principal source of food-supply of the big settlement at 
 this end of the Pool. 
 
 Supper and prayers finished, I taught them a new hymn, a 
 very free translation of " Saviour, hke a shepherd lead us," made 
 by Mr. Banks, in his old days when he was in the Bakongo's 
 country. It embodies a great deal of useful and saving truth in 
 a pleasing hymn ; it took. Afterwards I described, half in words, 
 half in signs, the separation of the sheep and the goats, and 
 asked them where I should see them that day. It was encour- 
 aging to see them silent, and thoughtful I hoped. They usually 
 say very promptly that they expect to go to heaven. I then 
 offered a short prayer in Kikongo. I began in Englisli, then 
 a Kikongo petition, which they might share, came up, and then 
 another, until I covered most of our needs to-night. It wasn't 
 correct Kikongo, but my lingo, which they understand perfectly. 
 
 Papa asked how I went about studying the language. I 
 haven't sat down to this language many times. I read some of 
 a little grammar, enough to learn how their words agree at the 
 front end, instead of the latter end, as Indo-European tongues 
 do. For instance, "Bantu bambodi" means good men, from 
 muntu, man, and mboti, good. " Kinkuti kiame," my coat ; " bin- 
 kuti biame," my coats. The rest has been picked up by asking 
 questions : " What do you call this ? " (" nkia beno tuba yaya ? "). 
 The hymns and the talk of white men were instructive, because 
 nearer my reach than the colloquialisms of my boys in their 
 common talk. But when my boys address me they usually 
 emj)loy familiar words, so the one or two new ones are noticed, 
 hunted down and added to my stock, the increasing dimensions 
 of which is a matter of increasing amusement to them. They 
 have just called from the camp to ask me a question, and on my 
 replying in good grammar, they patted me on the back very 
 patronizingly. 
 
 I intend to write a full letter on the Congo for some Northern 
 periodical. I desire to draw the attention of Northern Metho- 
 dists — the church, not an irregular skirmishing society like 
 
TO HIS MOTHER. 131 
 
 Bishop Taylor's, and especially the Presbyterians, Dutcli Re- 
 formed and United Presbyterians; will write also directly to 
 the boards of the latter bodies, that we may by all means secure 
 some adequate reinforcements on the untouched Kassai. 
 
 I am going down now to make a contract with Mr. Todd, by 
 which 'we may divide the expenses of transport />/'o rata wdth the 
 Congo Bolobo Mission, and have them guarantee to forward 
 loads to Kiushassa for a fixed period. Then I have arranged 
 with Major Parminter, director of the great "Societe Anonyme 
 Beige," for storage and transportation to the Kassai. 
 
 Sheppard and I shall probably leave then, to see the whole 
 upper Kassai. We shall stop up there, sending a final report 
 back, and orders for needed goods to accompany the reinforce- 
 ments, and fix us up finally. 
 
 I wrote by last mail recommending Boleke at the mouth of 
 the Kwango, on the condition that further exploration does not 
 show something better. A choice, I wrote, between a good and 
 a better. Kingunji I have given up as a base long ago. It 
 might be as accessible as Stanley Pool, as soon as the caravan 
 road is finished thither, but the railway and the river are facts 
 that demand that the country be evangelized along the rivers, as 
 they are being opened for commercial and political purposes. 
 
 Sheppard and I shall go by the Stanley in sixteen days, if I 
 am back in time, and the charge is not too high ; otherwise by 
 the Florida, named in honor of General Sanford, who founded 
 the Sanford Trade Company, from which the " Societe Anonyme 
 Beige" has sprung. 
 
 The road is the pleasantest of all occupations out here to me. 
 Plenty of air, exercise, appetite ! Leisure, care-free, to think of 
 business — knots often untangle themselves — and to walk with 
 my distant fi'iends. Often the thought of my mamma rises to 
 the surface, as if in the midst of a conversation with you, the 
 other part being under the surface of consciousness, as so often 
 it seems in dreams. I can't tell you what I think of then; it 
 don't seem right to put it on paper ; besides, I can't. Oh, I forgot 
 to say that the pick of my boys, Senza, the pleasantest and most 
 satisfactory servant I have found, seems to be trying to find out 
 the meaning of this strange story I have been telling him for 
 
132 LIFE AND LETTEliS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 three months. He isn't conscious of the desire, but ho comes 
 now and sits with me and waits for me to talk about God and 
 the w^ay to him through his Son. Senza's is the finest face I 
 have seen here, in appearance a combination of two young Cau- 
 casians I know of ; can you believe that of a Congo boy ? 
 
 Leopoldville, Congo Independent State, 
 
 Ilarch 10, 1891. 
 
 Deae Papa : Mail time (the mid-month mail) is only a w^eek 
 off to-day ; so I want to make sure of a word to you this time. 
 Important and lengthy letters to Dr. Houston ana Messrs. 
 Whyte, Kidsdale <fe Co., shut out the wind-up even of the home 
 letters, already begun for last mail. You may imagine how dili- 
 gently I studied the catalogues and consulted Dr. Sims and Mr. 
 Glenesk (who is here awaiting Mrs. Glenesk's arrival), when you 
 know that I had a $400 order to get off, besides a string of hints 
 in regard to the expected reinforcements, the outfits and other 
 arrangements of these gentlemen. 
 
 Well, I know much more about business than I did to-day 
 twelve months back, when we took the London and Northwestern 
 from Liverj)ool to London. "Hitherto hath the Lord helped 
 us," I am very sure, and it gives me good liope that he means 
 for lis to do good out here. I am awaiting only the steamer 
 which shall take us up the great river, which we have come to 
 regard quite as our home, though we go like Abraham, " Not 
 knowing whither we go," but possessed with a desire for a full 
 occupation of the whole valley, and trusting to Him to show the 
 strategic point for us to begin the attack. We found that seeing 
 wdth our eyes the very spot has a magical effect in clearing away 
 the haze that embarrasses all calculations based on the best de- 
 scriptions by another. 
 
 I have been over to Brazzaville and arranged with Mr. A. 
 Greshoff, of the Dutch house, a £-15 bill of cloth bought for the 
 other Kassai trip. The bill was X60, on which I get 25 per 
 cent, reduction, and that leaves them an enormous profit, I be- 
 lieve. My boys paddled me back to Kinshassa, wdiere I slept at 
 the mission (B. M. S.), and in the morning went up to the Bel- 
 gian house, a twenty-minute walk up the south bank, passed 
 
TO HIS FATHER. 133 
 
 the abandoned Dntcli honse, now hold b}^ the " Societe Auti- 
 eschivagiste," the new State post, and the deserted town of King 
 Nchuhi, where the new Leopoldville is to be ere long. 
 
 At the Belgian house I found Major Parminter, about to start 
 for the French side of the river for lunch. He tarried to say, in 
 answer to my inquiries, that he would store loads for us at Kins- 
 hassa and forward to any point on the Kassai, main branch, or 
 Sankurn, at 10 francs to Kwa-mouth or short of there, 15 to 
 the KAvango or between Kwa-mouth and there, 20 to Sankuru 
 or intermediate points, 20 to Luebo (or Lusambo) or intermedi- 
 ate points. White passengers to Kwa-mouth 120 francs, to the 
 Kwango 180 francs, Sankuru 300 francs, Luebo 350 francs. 
 
 It seems to have been ordered by Providence that we should 
 come at the very instant the Kassai is being opened. The 
 " Societe Anonyme Beige " have completed and equipped their 
 line of stations up the Congo to the Falls, and intend this year, 
 within six months, to open four new stations on the Kassai, be- 
 sides the one they have at Luebo. To their two 500-load 
 steamers, they are adding tAvo 1,000-load steamers and two more 
 small ones. One of the big boats is coming up now ; the rest 
 are almost finished at Kinshassa to-day. 
 
 Major Parminter, who is director of the S. A. B. in this 
 country, amenable to the administration in Brussels, will not 
 promise to carry any of my loads to the exclusion of his own 
 loads, yet he showed me that since rubber is the staple of the 
 Kassai trade, and is cheaper to the bulk than cloth, there will, 
 of necessity, be less cargo on iip-trips than down ; so I need not 
 doubt the feasibility of carrying on our limited transport through 
 the S. A. B. ; there is always passenger room, and down-trips 
 are half rates. 
 
 The Major is the most delightfully cultivated man I have met 
 here, or anywhere perhaps ; an English gentleman and soldier 
 who has moved in courts on the Continent. Slender, small 
 hands and feet, delicately dressed in tasteful light flannels, with 
 snowy linen (a rarity) ; a very pleasant face, regular features, 
 clear open grey eyes, thin mustache and beard. It is interest- 
 ing to see his autocracy display itself when the attaches come 
 in from time to time with a question, and it kept me wide awake 
 
134 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAFSLEY. 
 
 even to tell him mj experiences and observations up tlie Kwango 
 and Duma ; mucli more in talking business. I found it conve- 
 nient to be in a hurry to get back to the mission after the 
 preliminary interview the afternoon before, so as to take my 
 bearings before the final agreement. When I left him finally-, I 
 wrote him a formal note embodying what I wanted to know, 
 and got from him a written statement covering the whole ground.* 
 
 I have been to Lukunga and arranged that Mr. Todd, of the 
 Congo Balobo Mission, shall do all our transport at about £i a 
 load ; and I got back here in seventeen days, in time to close up 
 letters for the mail. I lost some of my Mamangas ; home-ties 
 too strong when they actually saw their town. But going by, I 
 got two, Nzezela and Nlandu, and have now as many men as we 
 can afford to keep up country, engaged for a year. At Man- 
 yanga, I didn't find my good friend Mr. Heyn ; gone home very 
 ill, though convalescent now. 
 
 This will give you some idea of my business arrangements ; 
 very strange it would have seemed if I had dreamed it fifteen 
 months ago. I think wj3_shall_aiififer from delays, etc., until we 
 do our own transport with a Presbyterian Mission steamer. 
 
 We have a fair lot of choj), another sort , better off than when 
 we went up before ; and then we lived like dukes and coimts in 
 the new, fresh country, though rather hungry for sugar in some 
 form, which we provide this time. AVe take sufficient ammuni- 
 tion and plenty of guns, a fairly ample set of tools for a begin- 
 ning, and plent}' coming some day. Bedding and clothing in all 
 abundance, am thankful to say. Not at all " flush " in barter goods, 
 but shall get on, I am confident. We made calculations without 
 allowing for the cheaper rates up the river, among the still un- 
 sophisticated bushmen, an advantage which we are sure to 
 have, and of which the arch-trader, Sheppard, will not be slow 
 to avail himself (I let him do most of the buying). 
 
 Oh, I meant to tell you of a good providence that came to me 
 in meeting Major Parmiuter again at his station at Manyanga. 
 I had made a big account there the other time. A pile of cloth 
 and trinkets had been consumed in alluring the Manyangas to 
 enlist for Kingunji, amounting to something over <£4: per invoice 
 
 * See the wistlom aud value of this at beginuiug of uext chapter. 
 
TO R. A. L. 135 
 
 price. Well, Mr. Heyn bad no authority to accept a check, so I 
 promised to pay iu cloth wheu it came. It came while I was 
 at Lnkiinga, but as I was aboiit to pay, the Major appeared and 
 said a check would do. So the account was made as per invoice, 
 doubled to cover expenses, and I drew a check for £8 8s., with 
 a glad heart at not having to pay ,£11. 
 
 Leopoldville, March 15, 1891. 
 My Deak Rob : 
 
 We are now on the eve of the most momentous departure we 
 have yet taken. On Tuesday morning, day after to-morrow, we 
 are to start for the Kassai. We take passage in the Florida to 
 Luebo, with a pretty clean-cut outfit, not even taking our famous 
 canoe. There we intend to buy the needed craft to float back, 
 down to the point which we shall have chosen on the way up, 
 presumably near and below the junction of the Sankui'u and the 
 Kassai, in the nearest edge of the great Bakuba race. I am dis- 
 posed to think that the large town in the fork of the Loange and 
 the Kassai wall meet our requirements. Why go so far? Why 
 not stop at the jnouth of the Kwaugo for instance? The only 
 reason is that, from all we can see, the finest and the future domi- 
 nant Kassai tribes are the allied Bakuba, Bashilange and Ba- 
 lubas, li^ang in and near the ellipse, and enclosed by the Kassai, 
 Sankuru, Lubi, and Zambezi divide, 
 
 I am in excellent strength and spirits, thank God ! And I 
 trust I know more of Him than before, and that the things of His 
 kingdom are much more real and present to me than they were 
 at home. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 DiAEY FROM March 14 to April 21, 1891. 
 
 To LUEBO ON THE StEAMER FLORIDA, 
 
 THE Stcmley, in which we had engaged to go, did not come ; why, 
 nobod}^ knew. I was spending my waiting time on my first 
 "balance-sheet," a sad tangle, which cost many days and nights to 
 untangle, when Sheppard came suddenly back from a Kinshassa ^^sit, 
 to say that the Florida, our only other resource, would leave Monday 
 morning at six o'clock. And that was Friday evening. 
 
 Saturday Morning, March 14. — I went to Kinshassa, to the "S. 
 A. B." Station, where the Florida lay. Mr. Clotens, the manager, 
 sent for the captain of the Florida, and we proposed that they should 
 take for us forty loads, with our canoe towed along-side. 
 
 " Impossible," said the captain to Mr. Clotens, " we would never get 
 up the Kassai with the poor pressure our lame boiler can make, and 
 you won't let me stop for adequate repairs." 
 
 So they had it up and down! Mr. Clotens insisting that Major 
 Parminter's promise must be redeemed, and the captain saying that 
 with even twenty loads, besides the four hundred (fourteen tons), 
 already aboard, he would not risk the prospect of ever reaching 
 Luebo. But Mr. Clotens, inspired by the Major's letter, which I hap- 
 pened to lay ojDen before him, promised to take Sheppard and me and 
 eight boys and twenty loads, each load being seventy pounds. 
 
 " Small allowance," said I, when I went back to talk it over with 
 Sheppard. "And no canoe," said Sheppard; "but this is the only 
 chance peiiiaps before Avigust, unless we canoe it again." So we 
 concluded that we would make a grave mistake in not accepting. 
 Accordingly, I went back to the "S. A. B." and tied the bargain, and 
 learned that we might have another day. 
 
 Monday, 3farch 16. — I was up at 1 a. m., trying in vain to get my 
 correspondence o&. No headway. Too tired. Early in the morning 
 was at work, opening, selecting and repacking our provision boxes, 
 packing three good assorted cases for the trip, and packing the rest to 
 follow us. While Sheppard, with the little boys, finished the job, I 
 
 136 
 
THE STAKT. 137 
 
 took the large ones to tlie State office to be registered as workmen for 
 one year. 
 
 "But yon haven't license to employ them, and Tcan't give it ; it must 
 come from Boma," objected the Commissaire. So I went back to Dr. 
 Sims, who pulled us thi'ough as usual. He persuaded his patient, the 
 obliging young acting Commissaire, Caiton, to let him employ the men, 
 which he did, and gave them to me. So I got my five big boys bound 
 for one year, for twenty -five francs ($5.00). 
 
 Sheppard got things ready to go by three. I stayed to close up the 
 business, while he canoed our stuff to the Florida, and got back by 
 7 p. M. Then there was the final bustle and confusion and the dis- 
 coveiy of t-repeated, "Thei-e is another thing left out, and none in these 
 trunks." 
 
 But Mr. Ellcry undertook to put things up for us, and send them 
 according to instructions, as his mission is employed to transport for 
 us anyway. But his main reason was sympathy and goodness. 
 
 9 p. M. — Moon not far from down. " Where is Nzezela? " " Sleep- 
 ing at 'Bula Matadi's.'" (The quarters occupied by State employees.) 
 
 We had to leave him, and tramp through the dew and uncertain 
 light of the setting moon, six or eight miles to the steamer, and were 
 asleep by 1 o'clock. 
 
 March 17. — 1 was up by 5 : 30 a. m., because 1 fancied we were on 
 the point of starting, being roused by the augrj' voice of the captain 
 at my door, scolding the engineer for not rousing his fireman in time 
 to be off at six. 
 
 We had coffee in a little bamboo hexagonal j^agoda, its roof hung 
 with cheerful red cloth, Shepj^ard on Mr. Clotens' left, I on his right, 
 and the ranks filled with engineers, clerks, etc., around the big table. 
 After which, we were off at last; 1 carrying Mr. Clotens' receipt for a 
 £G0 check for our passage to Luebo, with men and loads included; the 
 most momentous departure since that froni New York, Wednesday, 
 Febniary 26, last year. 
 
 I found mj'self singing the last four lines of a hymn 1 heard in Eng- 
 land — 
 
 " Wherever He may guide me, no -want shall turn me back; 
 My Shei^herd is beside me, and nothing can I lack. 
 His wisdom ever waketh, His eyes are never dim; 
 He knows the way He taketh, and I will walk with Him. " 
 
 We start with a fair day, and are installed in the 7x9 dining-room 
 of the Florida, and are not sorn', after the fatigues of last night, to 
 have leisure to enjoy our beds, which are spread on the benches on 
 either side of the weather-beaten mahogany table. 
 
138 LIFE AND LETTEKS OF S. X. LAPSLEY. 
 
 At Kimpoko we stopped to take on a State officer, going to Lulua- 
 bui-g with twenty soldiei-s. Sheppard and I liad time to go up and 
 sa}' good-bye to the friends at Bishop Taylor's mission, who bade us, 
 I thought, a most affectionate God-speed. They seemed to feel badly 
 that we came out only last year, and are already off for the very dis- 
 trict they came for four years ago. But I can't accept the ci'edit, 
 until we have stayed and settled up yonder. 
 
 The State officer is a well-disposed young fellow, who has picked up 
 some " small Engleesh," as he calls it, from his black men, and is will- 
 ing to be pleased and to please. The Captain is a Belgian too, of 
 uncommonly simple and pleasing politeness, and is very desirous that 
 we should be comfortable and satisfied, and we are. 
 
 The dinner included delicious soup, chicken fried with balls of rice, 
 savory gravy and macaroni. Not bad, was if? Yesterday's exj)loits 
 had left us ravenously hungiy. 
 
 The engineer rooms next back of us, with his door opening to the 
 engine. He is an interesting man, with large, strong frame, large regu- 
 lar features to match, dark eyes, hair and mustache getting pretty grey. 
 He was sick to-day, and took two tabloids from my medicine chest, to 
 his great improvement. He contrasts strongly with the two Belgians. 
 They are small, pale and light. The Captain's eyes are tyi^ical Teu- 
 tonic blue, a full-blooded Fleming no doubt, though his French is 
 good, I am sure. 
 
 The Florida travelled well, stopping at dusk. Then the crew, the 
 soldiers, and my boys were marshalled on the sand imder the wooded 
 hill, and were given tools and orders, and left to bring in a full tale of 
 firewood. We supped and chatted awhile, Shei:)pard and I solacing 
 ourselves with tea, and the others with spirits, taking but a small 
 amount, however, of necessity, for their superiors give them small 
 allowance, and they economize with all care, as running short would 
 be a calamity to men who have used strong drink, as we use tea and 
 coffee, since they were babies. 
 
 An early bed and good sleep. 
 
 March 18. — We stopped at 2 : 15 at Lisa, the first State post out of 
 the Pool. The young officer, whose name is Simar, wanted provisions 
 for his men, having started without warning, on an order sent from 
 the Commissaire at Leopoldville, by this same vessel. " And we need 
 eggs and chickens and goat too, non-getable at Stanley Pool." 
 
 There are here at Lisa three houses and a shed for soldiers, and 
 good wood behind, and a large town a quarter of an hour down the 
 river by canoe ; that is, it used to be there. But the great Vanker- 
 
MR. SIMAR. 139 
 
 ■ckoven expedition has been there, and Sbeppai'd, who went down in a 
 canoe, didn't find anybody at the old place, if he found the place 
 at all. He did find very rough water on the way, with a wind dri\'ing 
 the canoe back, and waves dashing right over it, almost pitching them 
 all out. And such a rain! I don't remember seeing any like it, in 
 Africa yet, so hard and long, equal to Alabama rains. Everybody on 
 the steamer except we, who had good rooms, was di'enched. Sheppard 
 came in after we had finished dinner, wet and cold, but he didn't 
 suffer from it. Only we lost half a day, about. 
 
 March 10. — We were stuck hard aground by yesterday's wind and 
 waves, the paddle spinning round and round, and the whole available 
 force was put in the water to push her off. but it was long before she 
 cleared. 
 
 The young Belgian shows a nil if curiosity about our ways of 
 worship. He stayed a long time after breakfast to see prayers. I 
 postponed and postponed so that he shouldn't think we forced it on 
 him, and guessing that he would wait for it. He did wait, but of 
 course knows only a few words of English, and less about rehgion as a 
 real thing, though familiar with the most elaborate of its forms. 
 
 About 10 o'clock, noticing that he was "poorly," I felt his hand and 
 "fed" him the thermometer under the tongue, and found that his 
 temperature was 101. I tucked him in in a jiffy, and rigged up a 
 temporary room ior him, and he was better by night, with the fever 
 all gone. 
 
 March 20. — Getting along very slowly, reaching Kwa-mouth after 
 dinner at 2 p. m., instead of 10 a. m. "V\'e have only a small amount of 
 wood, and can't venture into a strong river like the Kassai, which is so 
 bad for wood too, and so we must stop and wood at the mouth. We 
 turned that way, and saw a black cloud behind the hilly bank. Light- 
 nings hcked out red tongues, like a mad snake, up and down the black 
 sheet, but we got over, and around the rocky point too. The winds 
 and current were then too strong for us ; keeping us ten minutes in one 
 spot waiting. Then the waves began to pitch the boat from side to 
 side and up and down, and I fully exj^ected her to go down, and to 
 have to swim out. But after a fearful passage we were dashed against 
 the sandy beach, a httle way above a long line of rocks, and got back 
 to oiu- wooding place after all, about three-quarters of an hour before 
 dark. 
 
 Just then we saw a steamer coming out of the Kassai, and it crossed 
 and ran in, stopping a mile aud a half above us. I ran up with my 
 new boy, Mpiata. I found that the steamer was the S anleu, and 
 
140 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 that she had barricades put up all round, six-foot high, made oat of 
 big sticks and planks. Captain Matson and the little Dutchman, the 
 engineer, were very cordial, and merry to have gotten out of the 
 Kwango without bullet holes in them. They had a big palaver just 
 above the junction of the Duma (or Kwilu) and Kwango. They were 
 attacked furiously and persistently for days on the way. The natives 
 were well-armed, and their bullets went through thick plank, and the 
 captain and engineer each had narrow escajies from flying bullets I 
 also learned that Mr. Hochstras, whom I left up on the Duma two 
 months ago, was killed by a hij)po in an hour of Kingunji, and after 
 all danger seemed passed ! 
 
 I returned to the Florida in the same canoe from which the hippo 
 threw Mr. Hochstras. "A thousand shall fall at thy side and ten 
 thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee." All 
 these perils might have been ours if we had been directed in a slightly 
 different course. 
 
 I was late getting up, and was hurried out by the news of the 
 arrival of one of the Belgian Catholic missionaries with a canoe, to be 
 towed up to Musye for provisions. 
 
 The fire-bars or grate of the boiler need repair already", and hence 
 we are delayed till 7 o'clock. Then we try the Kassai again, only to 
 be swung around and swept down three times. Then up a little way, 
 around another point, and then another, with same experiences. At 
 noon we are not around the first big bend ! We simply can't steam 
 up the middle, not having enough steam and having too much load. 
 With five hours steaming we have made only a half-hour's progress, 
 constantly struggling with a desperate mill-tail affair, that shoots 
 doW'U between a wall of boulders and a reef of sand and big black 
 angular rocks. Just think of it, the whole Kassai pressed into a cur- 
 rent about 150 yards across ! Sheppard was at the wheel and just 
 edging through the last of the bad part — pop ! and a noise of a drag- 
 ging chain, the rudder chain had broken and there Avere the rocks 
 awaiting us. I ran for a piece of wire I knew about ; and Shej)pard 
 ran back and took charge of the rod connecting and controlling the 
 rudders themselves, and put her into the sand-bank ten yards below 
 the rocks. 
 
 " And the fire-bars are no good," came up fi'om the engineer, Mr. 
 Sircx. 
 
 "What's to be done?" says the captain. 
 
 "We'll never make it, let's go back to Kinshassa." But the captain 
 would not agree to cfo back. 
 
STRUGGLING WITH THE CURRENT. 1-11 
 
 These two -well-disposed men can't understand each other ; the least 
 cause of this being that Mr. Sircx, the engineer, a Dane, speaks no 
 French, but tolerably fair English, and the captain speaks only French. 
 So as interpreter I had a chance to mediate between them, with the 
 key to the position in my hands. No matter what was said, nothing 
 offensive got from one to the other, except when the ca2:)tain tried Eng- 
 hsh. or misunderstood the engineer and anticipated me. 
 
 '' Let the engine cool, and I will repair it the best I can ; then I'll say 
 what we can do." The captain agreed to this, but at dinner announced 
 that he would go till he broke down, then send to Kiushassa by canoe. 
 A difficult piece of interpi-eting was when the captain wanted to say 
 that the doctor at Kinshassa had forbidden Mr. Su*cx cognac, for 
 they had had a I'ow about Mr. Sires taking too much gin and cognac, 
 and getting sick. Coming through me the captain's views on this 
 subject reached their destination in quite a dilute form, a tincture of 
 the original, as one might say. "We didn't get away that day, or all 
 the next, which was Sunday. 
 
 JIarch 22. — Sunday; not a prayerful day. Found some profit in 
 J^aco7i's £Jssa>/s, a mine of shrewd knowledge of men and things. 
 Many capital suggestions of ways one should treat "superiors, inferiors 
 and equals." Remarkable how highly he prizes a policy which devel- 
 ops the wealth and spirit of a nation, the policy which has made the 
 English people! 
 
 Le Pere at last gave up the steamer, and started with his canoe to 
 Musyo, Sunday morning about nine, after his prayers from the little 
 black book with a cross on the boards. At meals he offers his own 
 grace, and he makes curious little motions with his finger on his breast 
 and forehead ; and we offer ours — as unsatisfactory in his eyes, doubt- 
 less. 
 
 JIarch 23. — We are off at last, with the boiler in shape, the engi- 
 neer and his "West Coast men having been hard at work all Sunday 
 with bellows, hammers, anvil and drill, straightening and staring the 
 wrought-iron bars and replacing the spoilt cast-iron ones, which will 
 not bear the straightening. So we got past that bad place and some 
 others, and reached by 12 o'clock a fenced to\vn, where Sheppard and 
 I had gotten plenty of prorisions when we were here before. But the 
 "portcullis" was closed, and we soon saw the women and children 
 with their stuff on their heads hurrying down the bank and away, 
 preparing for the attack they thought Ave had come for. So we left 
 them, but were presently stopped by a threatening cloud, and we tied 
 up. Found plenty of good wood and lots of buffalo tracks, but no 
 
142 1.IFE AND LETTERS OF 8. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 buffalo, though Shepparcl hunted them diligenth'. Kwanga only for 
 supper. Mv Sircx sighed. Mr. Simar remarked on it; the captain 
 took it as possibly a reflection on him. 
 
 March 24. — Sheppard is off early after game in a canoe. The cap- 
 tain got tired waiting at the hippo sand-island, and whistled; so 
 Sheppard came off with only four ducks, just as he was about to get 
 plenty ; two of the four were given as a present by a man to whom 
 Sheppard had given some hippo meat when we were here before. 
 " Found after many days." So everybody in the cabin is happy with 
 a good dinner, and good progress the rest of the day, until we eased 
 into the place where we had stopped with the /Stanley, December 26th. 
 The big anchor went ashore, borne on the bare shoulders of four Ban- 
 gala, lithe, muscular fellows, as almost all of them are. Sheppard 
 goes to a village near by, but got no kwanga, and saw plenty of guns. 
 I have been giving medicine to the sick wife of one of the Bangalas. 
 
 March 25. — A fruitful day. "Giving all diligence." We had a big 
 rain, which continued up to 11 o'clock. We saw another big drove of 
 hippos in a shallow channel between the sand-islands, some of them 
 switching their dumpy little tails, just to make Sheppard mad. We 
 stopped directly after noon for wood, and the Captain, Sheppard and 
 I went with a good crew to get a hippo. Too many " mimdele " how- 
 ever. Several were struck, but none happened to get a fatal woimd. 
 We paddled about among the sand-islands rather aimlessly all the 
 afternoon, though the captain got four brown ducks with two car- 
 tridges. So we went back without the meat for the men, though 
 there was plenty for us. Such a pitiable lot of fellows: not a squai'e 
 meal for a week almost, and hardly a crumb for two days, and plenty 
 of hard work all the while. 
 
 All three of our fellow-travellers are in a row about chop. "No jam, 
 no biscuit, no sugar," on one side. On the other, "That Bula Matadi 
 man (Simar) he chop all jam, all small bisque. One box jam one da}' ! " 
 
 To Mr. Sircx, who don't understand French, the young Bula Matadi 
 replies, " Compagnie Beige mehr riche as I'etat. Compagnie get mingi, 
 mingi (Kikongo for much). L'etat no get, Bula Matadi give good chop, 
 compagnie no give." ' 
 
 March 26. — Storm at 3 a. m. There was a lively pitching of the 
 
 ' Mr. Simar gives lis in this one sentence a sample of the prevalent mixture of 
 tongues. Here are French, German, Kikongo, Kru-boy, and English, all together. 
 He means to say that while Mr. Sircx's employers, the "S. A. B.," are richer than 
 the State and get " much, much " chop, they give poorly to their employees. 
 "While, on the other hand, the State, which has but little, provides liberally. 
 
HUNGRY MEN. 143 
 
 steamer at lacr moorings. Poor ]Mr. Simar had to take i-efuge in our 
 cabin. The wind was followed by rain, but we steamed well past 
 ^Nlusyc in spite of the hungry men aboard, who cried out, " Mvmdele 
 tahx!" (white man look). "Dwata diampwina" (a village big). "Ma- 
 vata miamingi!" (villages plenty). "Lumba madia!" (buy chop). 
 But tlie captain remembered the death of a predecessor on the Florida, 
 and kept out of a town which had just had a big palaver with white 
 men. He seemed too cautious for us. For at this very moment there 
 is a white man in Musj-e, the priest from Kwa-mouth, who has won 
 Queen Gankabe by procuring from Vankerckoven the release of her 
 two sons, taken by the expedition in January. The old lady went 
 down herself with twenty or twenty-five canoes and came back a happy 
 woman, and the sworn friend of the Belgian missionaries. 
 
 But we didn't stop. We passed a whole string of other towns too, 
 some seven or eight of them on the grassy bank, with the fine cluster 
 of plantain-shaded villages named Bosaji, fifteen minutes from the 
 river-side. At the last or next one to it, where there ai-)2:)eared small 
 prospect of buying anything to eat, the captain did halt, being now 
 pretty sui"e that his wood would last to a wooding place above. 
 
 The men were so hungry they couldn't be got away, whistle as he 
 might, and they had to send back a canoe for five missing men, after 
 we were under way again. We passed the town where we spent Sun- 
 day, Januai'y -ith, and stopped at the very spot where on January 5th, 
 we picked up a man from the Stanley. Great palaver to get exhausted 
 men to go thi-ough the waist-deep water for wood half a mile away. 
 
 March 26. — I am awakened by the chicot, administered under the 
 auspices of the captain and Mundele Bula Matadi to a soldier who 
 wouldn't cut wood. Chicot is a strij) of hippo hide sht, and the ends 
 twisted for thongs, leaving a handle. It is thick, stiff and hard, and 
 the thongs are hke a flexible half-inch augur. It makes a terrible 
 mark where it strikes, at fii'st a white streak, then a long welt. The 
 culprit, if he happens to deserve the name, seldom shrieks, but writhes 
 and gasps piteously after the tenth or fifteenth blow. Neither of these 
 white men is so cruel as careless, and don't learn enough English to 
 half understand an interpreter, and go off before they know why, 
 thinking that chicot is the only means of controlling the African; but 
 with these desperately himgry fellows it don't do any good. 
 
 March 27. — We are here aU day, getting wood, the fellows manag- 
 ing to shirk cutting it. Two soldiers stole off to the village, and the 
 people caught and tied them, but the Wangata (from Mr. Banks' town 
 at Equator), went to the rescue, and they were released at once. 
 
144 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. L.U'SLEY. 
 
 Slaeppard takes a notion to have a small dysenteiy, and by tlie morn- 
 ing of the 28th, he had a very high fever on top of it, which gave him 
 much nansea, and cut off his rations. 
 
 March 28. — We are off again, stoiDping at the very place applied 
 for first as our station. Sheppard has a high fever, headache and 
 nausea. 
 
 The captain is in extremities for something to eat for his men, and 
 for "wood. " I shall go mad, I shall get sick," he says, as he paces up 
 and down the bridge or little porch in front of his cabin aloft. We 
 tiu'ned into one village where the people seemed quiet, and just as the 
 parley for chop seemed ready to begin, bump ! we struck a rock and 
 the sounding-man called out "One fathom, Matadi," and the captain 
 jDulled for the j)lace I showed him, and got a little chop and wood. 
 
 March 29. — It is Sunday, but we travel all the same. We pass 
 Kwango-mouth in the morning. Across a waste of sand and water, 
 two miles away, a great waving cottonwood tree, with a forest a little 
 behind, marks our old favorite town, Boleke. Several streams bring 
 the Kwango water into the Kassai, which here is more narrow and 
 deep than usual, with two wooded islands opposite the Kwango delta, 
 and villages behind these islands. The water of the Kassai is very 
 red, as if just washed off of a hill of red or pink soapstone clay. 
 
 This immediate section is very much excited against "Bula Matadi." 
 
 We enter a noble avenue three-eighths of a mile wide, between two 
 walls of solid green. There soon begins a series of islands lying along 
 the mid-stream, their luxuriance of verdure showing fineh'^ the brown 
 of the river, which widens to more stately proiwrtions in their honor, 
 not a gorgeous but a serious beauty, much to my taste. 
 
 By noon we reached some villages, and the captain waved handker- 
 chiefs of long bandana from the bridge, and thus invited them to come 
 and bring chop in exchange for the handkerchiefs. He points to a 
 place up stream where Ave halt for the rest of the day. Before long, 
 j^lenty of wood was found, and a brisk trade in chickens and eggs and 
 kwanga and nguvo opened up; bandanas, beads, little bells and brass 
 rods being given in exchange. Sheppard began to eat again to-day, 
 but is still rather feeble. Here was my treatment for him. Ipecac to 
 begin with, then Dover's powders, quinine and a calomel-jalap tabloid 
 every few hom's, and they produced visible results, under God's favor, 
 and on a fresh constitution. 
 
 Yesterday was it ? Lately anyhow, I had a long discussion with Mr. 
 Simar, who develops more sense, gTeat courtesy and considerable culti- 
 vation. The day we passed Musyc without stopping to feed our 
 
SWINBUKNE R.VriDS. 145 
 
 bunp^Tv men, I opouecl our box iu the hold and took out two tins of 
 beef, meant for Sheppard and myself, and gave them something to eat. 
 Mr. Simar looked on, and said politely that God would reward me, 
 "S'ily un a" (if there be one). Well, that afternoon, I found him 
 pensive, full of presentiments of bad news from his people, of whom he 
 is very fond. I said I often had the same, but it was a help to know 
 that they and I ai"e in safe hands, God's. " S'il y un a," he said again. 
 I looked at him. "Est ce que vous I'avez vu" (have you seen him), he 
 said, in response to my look. I soon saw that he knew the famihar 
 arguments against religion very weU, and I guessed he knew the oppo- 
 site ones. 
 
 So I said, that if he couldn't convince himself, I couldn't con-s-ince 
 him. K he wanted an argument he couldn't get it with me. If he 
 had difficulties in holding to his mother's faith, I might help him, for 
 I had the same ; but the most probable solution of the problems he 
 raised was that of Christianity, that I had in my own experience con- 
 vincing proof of the truth of Scripture, and moreover I saw no reason 
 to reject historical facts attested by proper documents. 
 
 He asked for the original draft of the returns of taxes, taken at the 
 time of our Lord's birth, signed and counter-signed by proper officials ; 
 he wanted to see the "documents." I repUed that the original docu- 
 ments for Scriptiu'e could be found in public libraries and museums 
 to-day, the four chief ones being at London, Paris, St. Petersburg and 
 Eome. He was much interested in this aspect of the question, in the 
 recent discovery of the Codex Aleph in the Convent of Mt. Sinai, etc. 
 But dinner broke us off for the time. 
 
 Mtirch SO. — We left an eager crowd of villagers on the beach, with 
 half their wares unbought, and got off at 5 : 25 a. m. Five or ten 
 minutes brought us to the famous pass called " Swinburne rapids," 
 after the first captain of the Florida, a fine young Englishman (he 
 died near Lukunga), who stuck on a rock here ; and many another cap- 
 tain has "seen mpasi" (difficulty) hei'e, for there seems to be only one 
 safe passage, and that is only three feet above the stony bottom at low 
 water, and it is very swift. 
 
 Thus nearly are the upper Kassai people to being cut off from Chris- 
 tianity and civilization, for nobody knows how long ! 
 
 I went up to the bridge to see the captain make the pass. There 
 ai'e three small wooded islands abreast, four channels therefore, all 
 fuU of rocks. Macaulay, a Sierra Leone man, was the pilot at the 
 wheel. He and the captain had a bet of one hundred ntaku as to 
 whether the sounding-pole would find bottom. 
 10 
 
14:6 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 The man with the sounding-pole calls out "No Sunday" (no sound- 
 ing), and again and again repeated " No Sunday, No Sunday ; " but 
 presently he called out '"Two fallom (fathom), two fallom, Matadi!" 
 really only six or eight feet, and seven times in twenty minutes the 
 sounding-pole showed reefs of rock uncomfortably near the surface ; 
 but at last the passage is safely made. 
 
 Now the green wall of trees and vines is broken by lauding places 
 cleared under the tall shade, with canoes drawn upon the- beach, or start- 
 ing out to the steamer, with something to sell. Plenty of people crowd 
 into the openings and call and beckon us to stop. Behind them are 
 their houses among the plantains, a picture not at all bad, which we 
 enjoyed all the forenoon. Plenty of villages, especially on the left 
 bank. 
 
 On the right bank, about a mile above the rapids, is a fine open 
 square under tall trees well-known as a great market. No market-day 
 to-day, however. 
 
 The people here must be the same kind that we saw on the lower 
 Kwango, but better kept, larger and fatter, thoiigh without the fine 
 features one could find at Musyc or Boleke. Their hair is arranged 
 in a fashion new and only met once or twice on the Kwango. There 
 is a tiny cone of hair at the very apex of the cranium, then radiating 
 from that are little plaits sticking down all around the head, hangs 
 with a vengeance ! The men carry a handful of spears. On the heads 
 of some of the spears were small blades ; other heads were only a point 
 of iron. These spears are for hunting big game. The men are large, 
 muscular fellows, as fine an average as it is usual to see anwhere. 
 
 Toward the afternoon the country changes altogether, the lofty 
 forest is behind us, and we are in an open, rolhng prairie counti,*y. 
 There are boundless grassy slopes dotted with little mounds of green, 
 and crossed by belts of wood coming down to the rivei'-side, where 
 they join a strip of bush like an old fence row, which lines both banks 
 a Uttle way. The river is still about half a mile wide. There are no 
 islands, not even a sand-bank or rock, at this high water. Still I think 
 this fair open prospect would hardly tire me as soon as those sombre 
 walls of green. But the villages are small, few and far between, and look 
 a little lonesome in the edge of the grass, with only plantains for shade. 
 The wood is damp and hard to find for strangers, and most steamers 
 are comparative strangers here, as no one steamer usually has business 
 here more than once a year. Just as our poor captain \Yas getting in a 
 fidget, he spied a patch of trees with a lot of good dry ones in the 
 edge, and so we camped there, anchoring by a clay bank seven feet 
 
TROUBLE WITH WIND AND WAVES. 147 
 
 above the water, thickset with stiff grass. Below us was a small 
 village, whither our men went and got some kwauga, but no eggs. 
 They found the peoj)le busy carving up a big crocadile that they 
 killed to-day. 
 
 March 31. — The wood proved not the best. The steamer moved 
 slowly and the captain fumed and fussed. 
 
 A black cloud that we had seen for fifteen minutes, began to give 
 strong wind, and the water was very strong too ; and a httle above and 
 out from the line of rocks the two became too much for the big boat 
 and slow engine, and drove us broadside right into the bushes, a fear- 
 ful crash of breaking branches, rushing water and smashing wood- 
 work. The anchors held just then, and we waited for a calm, with 
 only a battered cabin to grieve for; the captain's eyrie having gone 
 into a big tree, to its cost. We cut loose from it, and our wood being 
 low and seeing some a little way up, we went towards it; but missed 
 the mark, and came in broadside again. 
 
 "Ces gouvernailles ! " (those rudders), said the captain, "who can 
 steer without a rudder?" 
 
 "I can't see whether the rudders are wrong or not until you take 
 out the cargo from the after-hold, and let the stern up," said Mr. 
 Sircx. So it was done, and Mr. Sircx pronounced the rudders in good 
 condition; but having got the cargo forward, he stuck to keep it there, 
 and succeeded. The stern was lightened, and the paddles, instead of 
 having to lift several hundred-weight of water as each one strikes in 
 turn, only dip in far enough to make the stroke and lightly rise from 
 the water without waste of steam-power. 
 
 April 1. — "We made a fine start to-day. The wheel spins round and 
 the boat goes better at fifty pounds of steam than at seventy pounds 
 before, making thirty-two revolutions a minute, against twenty-four 
 before. We come to sand-islands again this mornmg, and a pleasant 
 strip of wood along the right bank. Somewhere behind those woods 
 are the fine jieople that Kund and Tappenbeck found between the Kas- 
 sai and Lukonye. I would like to see them ! The country presents a 
 verv' different aspect from that of the Lower Kassai, or of the section 
 just this side of the Kwango. We camp by a small forest, but wer& 
 disappointed in oiu* expectation of finding dry wood, as there was none 
 except an immense tree of very hard wood, a task to cut, even if the 
 axes were good, and hard to spht too. The men chopped awhile, and 
 then stopped. 
 
 At 1 : 30 A. M. there was a big storm. I heard the wind and waves 
 slapping the sides of the boat. The captain began to call to his men 
 
148 LIFE AND LETTEKS OF S. X. LAPSLEY. 
 
 to come from the beach and save the steamex*. Then Mr. Siraar was 
 driven up to take refuge with us; and then bv flashes of hghtning I 
 could see that the stern was slowly slipping in shore and pitching up 
 and down with the waves. Mr. Simar ci'ied out, "Nous partirans, 
 I'encre ne tient pas ! " (We are moving away. The anchor doesn't 
 hold.) The stern-anchor was really dragging. The captain kept 
 shouting, and finally, going out, I found that he had three Wangatta, 
 and they were preparing to cut the limbs towards which we had 
 slijDped. Mr. Sircx came too with caution, and presently the limbs 
 were out of the way. The wind soon made way for the rain ; a better 
 altei-native by far. 
 
 We had peach pie to-day. It beats hard-tack. 
 
 April 2. — I was wakened by the crack of Sheppard's rifle and a 
 shout, but he didn't get the nguvo. Then a worse racket began. The 
 head-man of the soldiers was getting fifty "chicot," i. e., fifty blows 
 with that instrument. Then Mr. Simar and the captain came, without 
 a word from me, and began to defend their action. It seems that the 
 men had all stopped work; and eight Wangatta, on the captain's ap- 
 proach, had taken to the bush; so the head-man gets the "chicot." 
 We wait here all day while the captain goes up and down in a canoe 
 for wood. Mr. Simar is sick, and I put him in my bed. Fever ! 
 
 When Sheppard was sick, I was breaking an egg for him, when my 
 boy, Mpiata, saw something in it which made him stop me, saying, in 
 his Kru-boy English, " Small boj' for this egg." He followed the 
 analogy of his language, which has a single word, "mwana," to indi- 
 cate a small boy or a smaU chicken. 
 
 This afternoon three canoes from some neighboring village came 
 with things to sell. They are good looking and of fair size, seeming 
 to have plenty to eat at home. The women's short hair was worked 
 into little twists or rolls from the point of the head to the forehead. 
 They had mostly Httle rolls of kwanga, eight inches long and not quite 
 as large as your wrist, wrapped in leaves and tied with grass, which 
 they were selling four for one ntaku, i. e., two for a cent. It appears 
 that bread gets or remains dear as we go inward, while meat gets very 
 cheap. We can get a good chicken for two or three ntaku, while they 
 cost twenty at Stanley Pool. The small boys run their canoes along-side 
 the steamer, and those whose arms are long enough trade across the 
 gunwale, and there is a lively waving of hands and reaching of them 
 across with ntaku, or cowries, or beads, or handkerchiefs ; the vendors 
 as eagerly shouting and handing out the kwanga, or chickens, or what- 
 ever they have to sell. 
 
MOUNT POGGE. 149 
 
 I noticed to-dav that the sj^ears have larger blades and longer 
 handles than I aiu used to. 
 
 April 3. — There are a good many people here this morning, but the 
 villages are hidden by bushes or islands. The river to-da}' widens 
 again, there appearing one main ( I ) channel, a quarter of a mile wide, 
 and others lost amid the maze of sand and grass islands in a bed two 
 miles across. Now the grassy slope gives away for occasional forests, 
 and then, pleasing change, there are steep little grass-covered I'idges 
 near the water hiding the eountiy behind, and ending in a twenty- 
 foot bluff overhanging the rushing, rocky stream. 
 
 At 9 o'clock I went to the bridge and took a look at Movmt Pogge, 
 a distant blue knoll, visible between nearer ridges of pale green. 
 Then near noon we came to a still wider reach. There were islands 
 of some size and clothed with forest trees, instead of the tiresome 
 mimosa scrub. There were feathery elais palms near the water and 
 the great wind-mill borassus on the grassy ridges. 
 
 These ai'e the Basongo Mino, the "Saw-tooth cannibals " so called, 
 but seem as decently disposed folk as you would care to see. We 
 came to a village, and were landing for chop and wood, when the 
 people watching us, waved us by (not dowfi as they would at one of 
 our flag stations at home). So the captain obediently tui'ned around, 
 and spent two hours hunting for a landing below, only to retui'n to 
 fifty yards below the village, whose citizens erst so fearful, now came 
 eagerly to trade. At the same time a big canoe with seventeen men 
 and women pushed bravely between the Florida and the beach, and 
 opened a brisk trade. They had for sale kwanga and handsome little 
 gourds, figured with pointed knife and the top cut out in notches so 
 as to fit tightly on again. There was one handsome horn, or tusk, 
 hke mother of pearl, and there were little aprons woven of the inner 
 bark of the palm, ornamented with httle balls, like those on a baby's cro- 
 cheted sacque. Two of these, each ten inches by eight, constitute a 
 lady's attire here. I also saw a purse of antelope skin, with two 
 pockets to carry any small object, except money, of which jou know 
 there is none here. One gent was desirous to sell his dog (to be eaten 
 of course). The cmTency we paid them was brass rods, cowries, beads 
 and handkerchiefs. The cowries are httle shells made in Bu-mingham, 
 England, and are like those we children in Selma used to play with, 
 caUing them pigs, only these are smaller. 
 
 I saw several women who had lumps under each temple. I observed 
 that the old grey-headed man, who was probably a chief, had two of 
 these lumps on his foreliead. I observed that their arrows had on 
 
150 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 them heads of iron, jointed near the head, so that when the wounded 
 man tries to jmn the arrow out, the head stays in the wound. I see a 
 new kind of hair dressing. The men's liair is put in two or more 
 large rows from back to front and extending over the forehead a little. 
 
 I see Mr. Simar to-day dressing the wounds of his men, even the 
 one who received them under chicot by his orders ; a transaction he 
 regrets very much. 
 
 April 4. — When I awoke this morning we were exactly opposite 
 IMount Pogge, which is about three hundred and fifty feet high. Two 
 long slopes on opposite sides lead, not abruptly, up to a grassy cone. 
 There is a peaked ridge parallel with the river. The side towards the 
 river is the steeper, and is alone clothed with forest trees. 
 
 We camp on the left bank, at the point where Lieut. Kund crossed 
 the Kassai. A big "K" cut with an axe in the baobab tree here at 
 the landing marks the i:)oiut of crossing. We had a nguvo hunt in 
 the httle lagoon, and find her ladyship and the little lord nguvo in the 
 grass forty-five yards from the canoe passage, but we couldn't induce 
 her to come out into sight, unless we had shot into her dining-room, 
 and then she might have come out in too big a hurry, and being little 
 I might have got "trompled on," as our old African at home "Uncle 
 Josh " used to say ; so we don't provoke her. The captain says there 
 is plent}"^ of wood, which the people have cut and bundled for us, and 
 we help ourselves, and the people don't raise a row, but sell us provi- 
 sions as usual. Three of us go to bed sick, for lack of exercise prob- 
 ably, and want of some variety' in our food. 
 
 April 5. — Sunday. The captain doesn't start until he has chicoted 
 Bome five of his Wangata. They yell like everything, and so I hope 
 they aren't hurt so badly, only receiving some fifteen cuts each. 
 
 Four canoes pursue us with chop; they are little slender black 
 canoes, looking like fancy horse troughs, twelve to twenty-five feet 
 long, with two to five i:)addlers, and the paddles larger than usual, and 
 shaped like spades on cards. They do " scoot," keeping up with the 
 *'dikumbi" (steamer) very easily. Finall}' poor dikumbi "hit the 
 grit" literally, and stopped jjerforce. Then the captain, making a 
 virtue of necessity, gave his men leave to buy chop, and they pro- 
 ceeded to take it, jumping into the water, spilling the owners out of 
 their canoes, grabbing chickens and the like. The people got away 
 as quick as they could, 3'et were not so much frightened as to prevent 
 their selling what chop they had left. At 3 p. m. we camped at 
 Mpendi; so Mr. White, B. M. S., names the town. 
 
 It was a rare picture. I Avas reading and looked up to see, just be- 
 
MrENDI. 151 
 
 yond a bank clothed with soft and varied foliage, a neat comfortable 
 cottage on a little shelf of clear ground, with a cluster of banana trees 
 on each side and branches of forest trees meeting overhead. On land- 
 ing we found there were ten houses, for the shelf extends a Httle way 
 in between the high bank or hill mentioned and a little yellow creek. 
 "Peculiar houses," says Mr. 'NVliite, "first of the kind ?<?<3 have seen. 
 Doorway some four feet above the groimd, and is a hole eighteen 
 inches square reached by a trestle of sticks." The houses are higher 
 than any I have seen on the Congo, and more in the proportions of our 
 own houses. Mr. White says they have a "s(|uarish look," which re- 
 sults from their not being so squatty, like aU other Congo houses are. 
 These are nine or ten feet to the comb of the roof ; the house is about 
 eight feet by ten, and the roof is of borassus palm leaf. The sides are 
 weatherboarded with reed or bamboo or palm midrib, but very close 
 and compact.. On the whole they are most like our notions of house- 
 building I have seen, though for some time I have noticed the same 
 in Kassai houses. 
 
 Canoes came over in spite of a big rain. The men wore the best 
 native cloth I have yet seen. It is thick as jeans, and with patterns 
 Hke percale, though not so closely woven probabh'. It is made of 
 mpusu, the inner bark of one kind of palm. Around one man's waist 
 I saw a cord for all the world like that which we wear on di'essing- 
 gowns, tassel and all. One woman has only a curtain of grass before 
 and behind, fastened on a waist-string of grass rope ; this is the only 
 such dress I have seen. The usual attire just here for the ladies is 
 the little apron with balls in front and a cloth like a small fringed 
 towel behind, secui'ed by a girdle. 
 
 Where did these people, whose utter simplicity shows that they 
 have seen very few white men, leai'n designs in work and weaAdng 
 which I had thought pecuHar to us? The velvet cloth of the Bakuba, 
 the little balls on the women's aprons and a lunch-basket with a hasp, 
 bought on the Kwilu, all show more skill than we credited them with. 
 
 There is another town back fi-om the river. Sheppard was there 
 diiring a rain and stoj^ped under the eaves of a house. The peojile 
 sold us plent}' of fowls, one goat and a good deal of wood. I noticed 
 one high bank to-day, flecked here and there with a pretty carpet of a 
 wide-leafed fern or other similar herb. The f oHage is very prettily varied. 
 It is often Hghter than on the Congo, and besides curtains of vines 
 with festoons and streamers, there will be in every hundred-yard-piece 
 of forest canvas, one or two trees, furnishing a variety of another color, 
 such as pink springtime leaves, or red September ones, or a sprink- 
 
152 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 liug of red berries, or as j^esterday a tree liaving leaves of green with 
 crimson fringes ; so it seemed at any rate, and the look of it is the main 
 thing to our tired eyes. 
 
 AVe are wandering thi'ough a maze of low islands, some of them 
 wooded, and some only sand and grass. Some of them are about two 
 and a half feet under water, and their existence is only ascertained by 
 hearing the cry " Two falloms," and then ting! ting ! ting! ting! (these 
 four bells tell the engineer to slow up), then we hear the cry "Four 
 feet " followed hj one ting ! which means stop, but that we have already 
 done w'ith a bump-crau-aunch ! — we are on a sand-banh, ting I ting I 
 ting! " Quenda mai!" (go into the water) the captain cries to his 
 "Waugata. Splash, splash. All overboard. Then five miiautes of 
 grunting and pushing, many of them concentrating all their energies 
 on the former, and we are off again. 
 
 Mr. Simar is very ill to-day, and seems to have hrematuric fever. 
 Kind Mr. Sircx is greatly exercised ; will come to the window and 
 talk to me as I sit on the opposite couch from the patient, and express 
 his anxiety, and exhort Mr. Simar to sweat and let it all come out; 
 and so I have to carry him off. By and by the fever goes down, and 
 Mr. Simar is at supper. 
 
 We stop at a place where there is much wet grass and myriads of 
 mosquitoes, even before dark, and the men can hardly work. There 
 was a tornado in the night. 
 
 April 6. — No wood to start with, and the usual talk about chicot 
 and other unpleasant palaver, which melts into better feeling as we 
 get well away at 9 o'clock, and have a good morning, steaming without 
 touching a bank anywhere — first day we can claim that in a long 
 while. The river is narrowing, with a forest on both sides and the 
 land rising. We stop at a town with the same kind of people as at 
 Mpende (if this is not the real Mj^ende), and the houses are not so 
 high as the other Mpende ; with roofs and walls of leaves, one edge 
 in and one out, a shaggy coated house. 
 
 The women have the tribe mark. Hardly any of the men have it. 
 Many of them are of Hghter complexion than usual, the hair is worn 
 bushy, but without the elaborate dressing T met a little below. They 
 have copper rings on wrists and neck, which are usually heavy, and 
 not quite meeting about the wrist, and made of native copper. I saw 
 a lovely shopping-bag of cloth, decorated all over with tufts of colored 
 thread ; and I also see more of that thick "percale " cloth, noticed a day 
 or two ago. We buy chickens and eggs (the latter all bad). We get 
 also a goat and a good deal of Indian corn meal in leaf packets a foot 
 
LOVELY DRAPERY. 
 
 153 
 
 high aud four inches in diameter. The}' are verj' welcome to us who 
 liaveu't seen any bread but hard-tack for ever so long. The village is 
 iu three parts, each of which lies along the bank, and is ornamented 
 with plantains, and sheltered behind by a forest which is on rising 
 ground. Indeed, the scanty place for these forty houses has been 
 lately cut out of the virgin forest, taking only space enough for two 
 rows with a twent^'-foot street between. I bought a bugle here, not 
 very large or line, for four ntaku. 
 
 April 7. — The left bank to-day shows a decided hill all the way, 
 
 fifty to a hundi-ed feet high, and is 
 clothed in dense forest to the water's 
 edge, where it ends in lovely draper^' 
 of thick ^dues iu varied aud fantas- 
 tic shapes and patterns. Here and 
 there are patches on the hill-side of 
 gi'ass or gardens, and here and there 
 a village, with the elais palm plumes, 
 notable as we scan the slanting floor 
 of tree tops from mid-stream. The 
 Kassai seems half a mile wide on an 
 average to-day — a lovely stretch of 
 sceneiy, 
 
 Mr. Simar shows very bad symp- 
 toms again. Though not very ill, 
 the hfematuria symptoms are quite 
 marked. We made a long run to- 
 day, without many sand-bank inci- 
 dents. We saw lots of hippos as 
 usual, but not very near. Sheppard 
 and I each struck one, but we did'nt 
 get them. The sun was going down 
 and the forest near which wc 
 steamed was all swampy near the 
 river, with no camping place in sight ; 
 but, tm-ning a corner, we saw one of the prettiest of sights: a bend in 
 the stream with a high hill for bank, and clothed on this side in richest 
 forest verdm'e to the summit, a hundred and fifty feet sheer above, the 
 fohage soft and pleasantly diversified with all shades of green, and 
 here and there a spark of scarlet. On the other side of the angle is a 
 red clay cliif, and it is equally adorned with patches of green and 
 crested with tail trees. 
 
 The JIalafu Gatheeeb. 
 
154 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LArSLEY. 
 
 Cui'ious enough, on one of the tallest of these trees, a j)alm, apart 
 and set off against the sky, hung a malafu gatherer, thirty feet from 
 the gi'ound, and on the edge of the clifif, like a spider or monkey for 
 all the world. He was supj)orted by a stout bark hoop around his 
 waist and around the tree, with his feet pressed against the tree, and 
 his back against the hoop. He was arranging the gourds inserted in 
 the base of a frond to insure a good catch to-night of the juice of 
 which the malafu or palm wine is made. The steamer ran into a little 
 black ci'eek under the cliff, which is here wooded again ; but I can see 
 through the oj)ening in the leaves a group of natives with torches, on 
 the top of the cliff 
 
 I put Mr. Simar in my bed to-night, and arranged a good place with 
 my mosquito bar and blankets on his camp-bed outside. There was 
 a storm during the night, and I had to re-adjust more than once to get 
 right under the waterproof spread to help the poor old roof. 
 
 April 8. — Climbed to the top of the cliff, and found a nice town 
 on a level j^lateau ; two compact rows of houses with an eighty-foot 
 space between them, this s^Dace partly occupied by a royal divula [en- 
 closure], which is a house and Httle jsu'd not much finer than the 
 others, which are plain, fair, leaf-roofed and bark-lined, with walls 
 made of |)alm midribs. There are twenty houses in each row. The 
 people are pleasant looking ; Sheppard thinks they are like the Bayansi, 
 only not so well fixed up. A little hair braiding, but not much atten- 
 tion to this; all of them wear a single waist cloth of native "percale"; 
 their bodies are profusely ornamented in fancy figures. As usual in 
 this part of the country, many wear rows of small bracelets on the 
 same wrist. I saw the king with his sceptre of buffalo tail. I found 
 him very affable, and he sold me a very nice little tusk for one bell. 
 There was a brisk trade in red- wood, not ground off or made into rolls. 
 There was a good deal of other ivory which they would not sell. 
 They are said to resemble the Bakete people. 
 
 AVe pulled out of our creek at full speed astern, and had a close shave, 
 as we were about to run the stern into the bank and break the wheel; 
 but the captain gave the signal and Mr. Sircx reversed at full speed 
 and so saved us. The captain is nervous about snags now, having 
 struck on one last night and hung up awhile. We spent two hours 
 wandering among the shallows, touching sand-banks, drawing off and 
 coming at them again like a quarrelsome ram. We passed two nice 
 leaf-roofed towns, with twenty houses in each, set gable to gable so 
 close as to touch. From one of them on the mainland, canoes with 
 goats, fowls and ivory came among the sand-banks to us ; but they were 
 
A TROOP OF Hirros. 155 
 
 so sill}' they woiild not come close enough to sell, but stopped six feet 
 off, so we left them. But one was spuiTed by this to paddle hard and 
 catch up and hand his ivory, a tusk two feet long, into the steamer, 
 receiving for it two strings of beads. 
 
 On the left bank the water is a very red yellow, from the Loang^ 
 river, which is not very far up now. We are approaching the region 
 where it may be our privilege to work. 
 
 ^Yhile at dinner, Macaiilay, the pilot, called us to see a troop of hipppos 
 on an island near. We went for them in a canoe, and got in thirty 
 j-ards before they ran. We gave a big whitish one several bullets, 
 but he went after the big black one and the middle-sized one, and the 
 wee small black one, hke a tornado to the water, all of them switching 
 their tails and snorting and splashing the water far and wide. We 
 had some more shots at them as they lay out from the beach with their 
 heads up, looking to see what had scared them so. But we had to 
 leave them there, as we had no more cartridges with us. We camped 
 by a wooded slope, in order to get "nkuui" [firewood]. Since three 
 o'clock we have been near the left bank, in water distinctly pink ; one 
 would think that it had blood or at least paint in it. It comes 
 from the Loange or Timbwe or Tenda river, which enters not 
 many miles above here, coming in from the south. The rudder is 
 out of fix. 
 
 April 9. — I awoke late and found we had not gone yet. Mr. Sircx 
 examines the rudder and pronounces the left rudder in a bad state, 
 and we had to wait to repair it, but were off about ten o'clock. But we 
 have bad wood, rotten and wet, and hence poor steam all day, and 
 plenty of contention in consequence as to who killed " cock robin." 
 Still he died, i. e., we made only two hours all day. 
 
 We went by the south or left bank, which rises from the water's 
 edge a hundred feet, clothed in lovely woods of tall trees. Here and there 
 is a clearing and a little village nestling in its nook on the hillside. The 
 houses are Swiss looking, and a good many on this bank; almost a 
 heav}' population on the other. We came at sundown to the soiu'ce of 
 this red water, the Loange itself, entering by a single mouth sixty to 
 a hundred yards wide, swift, and blood red almost. The brown Kassai 
 water shrinks from minghng, while clouds of red seem slowly to pene- 
 trate and force itself among the brown. The Kassai just here is very 
 narrow, not two hundred yards wide, and a high wooded point faces 
 the mouth of the Loang^. All the banks ai'e densely forested. 
 
 Up the Loange, on the left bank among the trees, is a small town. 
 Up the Kassai, on the right bank, is a fair Bakuba town, the first of 
 
156 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAFSLEY. 
 
 them as far as I can be sure ; but the mark is the same, beside the eye 
 or cheek bone. They are pleasant spoken and looking, and brought 
 us a pile of dry wood. In a few minutes, in every opening between the 
 jumbled houses, streamed meu and women bearing sticks to the 
 captain. There were some fifty houses, without any order, having only, 
 by chance as it were, a space in the centre for trade or palaver. The 
 houses face any way and every way, and are new in style. The roofs 
 are of oil-palm leaves, looking like a head of straight haii' combed 
 right down. The sides are boarded or battened outside with ribs of 
 same ; but the corner posts and the end rafters are prolonged and stick 
 up a great way as in an Indian wigwam ; and either a grass wall-court 
 or a covered entry is in front of each. There seem to be some hundi*ed 
 grown people here, all busy carrying on a lively seUing of kwanga 
 cider. 
 
 At this Bakuba town there was a great row about some hungry 
 steamer men stealing goats from the town's people. I ran out and found 
 everybody stirred up, and the captain coming in with a drove of can- 
 didates for the chicot. As my men had been given some of the stolen 
 property to hold, I went into the matter too, and helped as interpreter 
 to see that the prisoners got a hearing, but they were convicted and 
 flogged. I was wakened the next morning by hearing a louder racket, 
 and went out just as some of Mr. Simar's men were led up amid great 
 hubbub to get chicot for stealing or losing a number of axes. Mr. 
 Simar had taken chloral at my hand last night and was still asleep. 
 The captain lashed one fellow right and left and ordered him to lie 
 down for a good dose, when I stepped up saying . 
 
 " S'il vous plait, cet homme ci est a M. Simar, et il dors." [If you 
 please, this is Mr. Simar's man, and he is asleep.] 
 
 He, in towering rage ; " Pom-quoi m'arretez vous f ' [^Vhy do you stop' 
 me?] 
 
 I replied, " Et ils font leur defense que vous n'avez pas encore en- 
 tendu." [They are making their defence which you have not yet heard.] 
 He rushed in to arouse Mr. Simar, but failed to awake him. But the 
 whipping was suspended, and all axes turned up at once but one, as 
 soon as looked for. Meanwhile, Mr. Simar awoke, full of smiles and 
 acknowledgments for the good sleep; "but had dreamed about pala- 
 vers and chicots." I reported what I had done in his name and in 
 his behalf ; and the captain coming up while I was speaking, I fool- 
 ishly thought myself bound to repeat what I had said to Mr. Simar. 
 The captain having lost all control of his temper, asked me to consider 
 myself as only a passenger on the steamer. Then Mr. Simar pitched 
 
CHICOT. 157 
 
 in, and a painful scene followed.' I think, however, the captain will 
 see and think better of it before the trip ends. There is a necessity 
 of jjunishing the goat thieves promptly and severely, othei'wise we 
 would be in danger of rows with the natives. 
 
 We passed in good view of Ngung ( ? ), the largest single village on 
 the Kassai : a compact village of two or three thousand inhabitants 
 on the hillside, south bank, one mile above the Loange mouth. The 
 houses are so packed together that the whole space occupied does not 
 seem to be more than thirty acres, perhaps less. There are other 
 clearings on the wooded hillside for gardens, and I thought I saw one 
 good " new groimd " with fine corn on it. The plantations seem to 
 be all up stream from the towns, so that the loaded canoes may have 
 the advantage of down stream in bringing home the harvest. 
 
 The same morning a few hours up from Ngung we reached other 
 "twin cities," almost facing each other across the river. That on the 
 south or left bank is Basili, a large village ; Mr. White says it belongs 
 to the Bazolele, but they seem to me to be Bakuba. The towTi has 
 some hundred and fifty or two hundred houses, low and old, and 
 huddled together. The people are good looking and well behaved. 
 (But give them a chance and they are arrant thieves !) Immediately 
 on the landing of the steamer they began to run up, men and women, 
 ■with arms full of big sticks of wood, and chafifer with the captain for 
 a good price. This being quickly settled, the wood came pouring in 
 faster than the captain could hand out the big blue cylinder beads. 
 They had it piled up ready for instant use on the steamers arrival. 
 
 Meanwhile, we spied some rare beauties in the way of cloth. On a 
 strong ground are worked, in a raised velvety nap like plush, symmet- 
 rical and tasteful patterns, colored black and straw color; and I got 
 a mat, six feet long and ioui' feet wide, worked in red and yellow half 
 diamonds and lozenges. These are specialties of the Upper Kassai 
 people. 
 
 We went on past a number of pretty nestling towns, and Sheppard 
 and I selected a pretty ridge and point, at the bend between Basili 
 and these towns, as our possible station. 
 
 In the afternoon I heard a shout, " There is a soldier ! " and sure 
 
 ' Writing to the "Motlier Confessor," to wliom lie generally confides things, 
 he thus reflects on himself for this affair : 
 
 "And I have not been diligent and vigilant enough to keep the peace, and 
 have even got into the row myself, though I haven't done any "railing," I am glad 
 to say. But it was a very lazy, self-indulgent pastor that could'nt keep his flock 
 pro tern, from getting into such a mess. " 
 
158 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 enouyli, iu blue blouse and red cap, a state soldier paddled out to us 
 from a little riverside town. We took the canoe alongside to where 
 we camped, and sent him back with a dash for his " father and mother" 
 in the town, and a message that if they would bring him up and the 
 other six, his fellow-captives, we would give a good dash. It seems 
 the people saw the seven runaways from the "Ville de Verviers," in 
 Januar}--, and took them in, fed and cared for them in a sort of honorable 
 confinement ; each man being adopted into a family. Our messenger 
 showed where his " mother" had just trimmed his hair neatly. Before 
 he got out of sight, his "father" and another native caught up, 
 received the message from us and promised to return that night. In 
 the morning early, we got them, all seven, and their hosts departed 
 pi'oudly with a gorgeous dash, viz., seven handkerchiefs, seven utaku, 
 seven big blue beads, sixty or eighty cents, say a dollar's worth, for 
 two months f(jr seven men. If we could keep ours at twice that rate 
 it would be cheap living. 
 
 We passed Sankuru mouth from nine to eleven A. M. There is a 
 wide delta full of long islands, some sand and grass, some low bush 
 and some forest. I could see the ridges between which the Sankuru 
 flows. It is estimated that the Sankuru runs 15,000 cubic feet per 
 second, the Kassai above 45,000. The Sankui'u is clear deep water, 
 the Kassai a brownish j^ellow. The Kassai is to-day a compact, narrow 
 sti'eam with a swift current. It is about eight hundred and twenty 
 yards wide, twenty -two feet deep, and the current is about four feet 
 per second, and the height above the sea about thirteen hundred feet. 
 The Sankuru is about five hundred yards wide, fifteen feet deep, with 
 a current three feet per second. 
 
 There is plenty of wood aboard to-day; so things are pleasauter. 
 There are no villages in sight this morning, only big woods, but a few 
 canoes are plying every now and then. At 10:15 we passed a village on 
 the east or right bank. There are high wooded slopes rising right 
 from the water's edge, with red clay banks cropping out here and 
 there. The men are getting hungry and chop running low. 
 
 April 14. — My twenty-fifth birth-day. "How wonderfully God 
 has led me through the past twelve months." 
 
 We passed several villages without stopping; at which I expended 
 much needless indignation. At dinner time we stopped for wood 
 by a flat wood with plenty of dead trees and a new town on the beach, 
 a quai'ter of a mile down. There are larger towns inland. The 
 captain, Mr. Simar and Sheppard went in a canoe for chop. Are 
 these people Bakuba? There is no velvet cloth, but plenty of looms 
 
HIS LAST BIRTHDAY. 159 
 
 for plain cloth, and an abundance of everj'tliing. A "hearty town" 
 as Sheppard describes it. The captain got a fine carved cup — a 
 figure of a man with the cup within. Sheppard got a funnel and 
 a large cup elegantly carved in black wood. They got a fair amount 
 of chop, no kwanga, but plenty of corn meal and plantains, and espe- 
 cially of fish. There are many people here, but as they live behind 
 the riverside wall of thick buSh, the steamers and explorers failed 
 to see them. 
 
 Aioril 15. — More wood. We push ahead. The river not very 
 wide. Here and there a cluster of green islets and a big bush island 
 with clay banks peeping oiit. The wooded hillsides have a I'ich 
 variety of fohage, from an etherially brilliant light green to bronze 
 green. At 11:30 we passed the mouth of the river Langalla, and also 
 this morning passed a small one called Lakedi, both on the right or 
 east bank. I think that the headquarters of a groat king are inland, 
 up the Langalla. We made a good, long day's progress, but late 
 in the afternoon came ver}' near being wrecked in a very simple piece 
 of water. There is a strong point whei'e two down cvu'rents meet 
 from above and rush around it with tremendous force. This forms 
 great swirls in the line of the current below, and a strong back current 
 on either side of the united cuiTent below the point. We came up 
 near the bank and steered across the strong water. When the bow 
 got into the down current the stern was still in the up cmTent, and 
 of course the steamer got a sharp turn-around ; and this performance 
 was repeated several times, and the boat was wheeled around 
 Hke a floating stick and went full speed toward the bank. By a 
 special providence the steamer was turned in time, so that, though 
 much frightened, no damage resulted. 
 
 A2vil 16. — We were delayed by the hanging of the anchor. Shep- 
 pard joined the divers, who ascertained that it was fast in a limb 
 fifteen feet down. He went down the chain, not hand over hand, but 
 hand under hand. He and Macaulay afterwards hauled it out with 
 a ^\dndlass, the steamer puUing a little also. At noon we stopped 
 again for wood, and lost about two hours by a repetition of the morn- 
 ing's frolic vidth the anchor. We stopped for night at a little islet 
 which harbors a dozen canoes and has two little fisherman sheds 
 on the bank. We went up a steep hill by a well-worn path, getting 
 wider as the land becomes moi*e practicable, until we found the road, a 
 fine rustic avenue with the bushes lately cut away some three yards 
 on each side; though if it had been twenty yards the natives would 
 have still walked in the single file path in the middle. Presently we 
 
160 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 are on a grassy plateau, and soon the sound of brisk trading is heard. 
 Here we are in sight of town, and find it walled! The wall is a 
 rectangle, and is made of the same material as the walls of the houses; 
 it is several hundred yards each way, though I couldn't get a chance 
 to measure it. Groups of men and women came from the town up 
 to where we were. 
 
 They wanted to sell us chop, and greatly desired my little muTors, 
 saying by signs, " Come in, and I can please you, I am sure," like 
 a good merchant. I crawled in through a small hole at the ground, 
 which was the only gate. Sheppard followed me, but could hardly 
 make it. Inside all were busy trading, for every soul had left the 
 steamer except the captain, engineer, Mr. Simar, and two or three 
 boys. My merchant hurried me from the yard in which I iii'st found 
 myself by a good wide gate into a large rectangular plaza, with a few 
 trees in it, and a grand shed fifty feet by thirty in the middle. 
 
 Sheppard and I are agreed that we woidd like much to preach under 
 that shed. 
 
 There "were larger crowds grouped around various parties from the 
 steamer, buying chop in quantities for their respective messes. Nice 
 looking people. Cleanly, head shaved, except a chignon at the apex, 
 and this topped by a natty little cap, fastened on with ivory or fancy 
 brass hairpins, lady fashion. Picturesque effect, erect, graceful, easy 
 carriage, clean, dark body, yellow cloth hanging from the waist, and 
 the topknot dressed fancifully, or covered with a little grass cap. 
 
 I was led into another yard, for all open on this plaza, and found 
 some of my own boys buying there. My guide took me into another 
 small door yard, his home. His wife and her little boy (who was 
 dressed Hke Adam) sat in this gate. A crowd of girls and women 
 began to enjoy the lookingglass ; and so I asked for cloth in exchange 
 for it, and a fine one was finally produced. The women have specially 
 fine features, small noses, very thin lips, and are very light colored. 
 They are frank, given to laughing, and have pleasant, soft voices. My 
 friend's wife was a pretty little woman. Another partner now insisted 
 he could beat the proposed bargain, and seized my arm and con- 
 ducted me in ti'iumph into and across the public square, through a 
 yard, across an alley — all fenced off some way — into a second yard, 
 and finally into one inside of that. He turned me round, and behold 
 under a shed by his house sat the chief, Makima, a pleasant fellow, 
 with his chignon and ample red waist-cloth. A group of women and 
 children were near him, and one, his wife (or favorite one), sat by him 
 under the shed. There were the same pleasant smiling faces, and 
 
LUEBO. 161 
 
 intensely interested voices, eager to tell me something, but not quite 
 intelligible to me, you may be sure. But I took the seat offered me, 
 dashed the king and his wife (her first), and then asked for the cloth, 
 which not coming, I Avent away to make the best of the fading light 
 elsewhere. Sheppard got two exceedingly fine pipes, the stems large 
 and two feet long, the mouth-piece the drum-stick of a big rooster, I 
 think; the bowls and stems are finely cai-ved. The bowl of one is a 
 fine head, the ears, eyes, mouth, and hair very finely done. 
 
 ]Mr. Sii'cx's messenger got my piece of cloth. I am a poor trader ! 
 
 April 17. — We enter the Lulua about ten this morning, leaving the 
 Kassai on our right, flowing between a row of green islands and issu- 
 ing from between two far blue ridges. 
 
 Maybe we will know those hills some day! 
 
 We see again the invariable reluctant mingling of 'waters: the deep 
 clear brown and the muddy yellow. The muddy, hill country water 
 is from the west, as always in the Kassai, fi'om Kwa-mouth here. The 
 Lulua seems very small, but deep and swift. More signs of natives, 
 canoes, and new bits of villages on the bank; for these people are not 
 river traders, and are only now moving to the bank, to meet the steam- 
 ers, I think. I see fishing huts on the bank and fish-traps, especially 
 a little fence of sticks in the shallow water or little creeks, to profit 
 by the falling water, now that the high water is beginning to abate. 
 There are many islands in the Lulua, and most of the way we are 
 steaming in a narrow channel, fifty yards wide. There is beautiful 
 fohage on both sides, and it is wooded all the way as far as we have 
 gone. We stop at ten o'clock for wood, and camp early for the same 
 reason. 
 
 Ajyrll IS. — The men are all glad and dressed in their best. At nine 
 o'clock we passed a ferry, where a great trade road crosses the Lulua, 
 and I can see the open road under the high trees, and three stout 
 canoes on one side. The Florida once camj^ed here, so Macaulay 
 Bays. 
 
 Mr. Simar is again sick. 
 
 At noon we rounded Luebo jDoint, and came in sight of a group of 
 plantains, and, shaded by these, a double row of small houses of mud 
 with thatched roofs. Then we saw the ample thatches of five or six 
 large adobe houses, tastefully disj)osed on a fail* table-land in the 
 right angle made by our little Lulua, and a large creek on our right, 
 the Luebo. 
 
 The grounds ai'e well kept and are graced with rows of palms, still 
 mall, Hke gi-eat ferns, with fronds eight feet long. A heavy pahsades 
 11 
 
162 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 of sharpened posts ten feet high completes the square begun by 
 the two streams. 
 
 All of us are on the bridge but Mr. Sircx, who must stand by 
 the engine. There are two sharj) whistles, and the station is astir. 
 Soldiers and workmen and a crowd of other humbler blacks are rush- 
 ing about. Finally all gather at the point between the rivers. Our 
 boatmen have got the drum which Mr. Simar sat on at the table, 
 and are having a breakdown (dance) under us now. Now our glad 
 hosts prospective are shouting welcome to those they know, and sta- 
 tion boys are pointing out to each other faces or objects they recognize 
 on board. 
 
 Now we are ashore, meeting the two agents for the company and the 
 agent for the State, and the commissaire du district du Kassai, who 
 may be able to help us greatly in our plans, by giving at once his sanc- 
 tion to our application for land. 
 
 Good chop in the "Salle-a manger" of the station! 
 
 Everybody is deep in their letters, the first for many months. 
 Every little while comes an exclamation from one of the rooms at the 
 side, where somebody had fallen on a bit of startling news. " Le 
 Prince Baudouin est mort !" ' "De Prinz Baudouin ist gesterben !" * 
 We are invited to stay a little while as guests of the chief of the 
 "factory" (trading post), and can board as long as we choose. We 
 have a quiet afternoon while they are unloading the steamer's cargo. 
 Before supper we are summoned to share a bottle of brand}^ on the 
 veranda before the dining-room. Naturally we let the rest enjoy our 
 share. 
 
 There is plenty of fresh meat here. At our evening meal we had 
 soup, liver, sheephead, chops, stew, and some simple pudding. There 
 were Irish potatoes, grown here, and other vegetables with the mut- 
 ton — not goat. Mr. Engrens has a great herd of goats and sheej). 
 We brought our own boys, chairs, cups, forks, knives and spoons. 
 The house and service and all is such as is usual on the Congo, only 
 the house is higher and more stable-looking than any clay house I 
 know ; and they speak to the boj^s in an unknown tongue, Baluba or 
 Portuguese. There are many boys here from the Portuguese on the 
 coast, particularly from St. Paul de Loanda and Malange. 
 
 The influence of the Portuguese and Belgians is nearly balanced, 
 but even here plenty of coast English (Kru-boy) is spoken by Por- 
 tuguese slave boys. The whole region has been for generations a 
 
 ' Prince Baudouin is dead. "^ The same in German. 
 
LUEBO. 1G3 
 
 centre for slave trade. I believe the great trans-contineutal slave 
 route is below this, but there is an opeu road to the coast by iMa- 
 lange ; (Dr. Summers came to Luluaburg that way), and the Portu- 
 guese of coui'se know how to use it. The State forbids slave-holdiug, 
 but has a provision whereby persons may ransom slaves, who then 
 come under the control, "guardianship," of the ransomer for seven 
 years ; then the slave is finally at hberty. These liberes (freed men) 
 must be registered as such before the commissaire du district, I 
 believe. When the State overpowers a big slave trader, they get 
 great numbers of slaves, who pass into the seven years' guardianship 
 at once. At EquatorsiUe (from the Mobangi and Lolongo rivers), at 
 Lusambo (fi'om the vicinity) and here, there are many liberes. The 
 Compaguie has many here; and children are offered (for sale the 
 dealers find it) at one, two and three dozen bandannas a head. 
 
 There is a great Bakete village two hours fi-om here across the 
 river on the north bank, and a smaller but fair one nearer. There is 
 also a Portuguese trade post, or small branch, here on the north bank. 
 By what title it is owned I don't know. One of the chiefs of it went 
 to Stanley Pool last year with a flotilla of canoes cai'rying ivoiy 
 and slaves. He got into trouble on the latter score, and has not 
 got back. I saw his camp on a sand-bank last July. 
 
 Two big fat riding bulls rove at liberty about the place, and at 
 Luluaburg, seventy-five miles up the river, they have buttermilk 
 every day. Chickens at three, six and nine cents each, and goats are 
 plenty. 
 
 The rage with the white men newly arrived at this El Dorado is 
 to get some of the rare knives and battle-axes. You ought to see 
 them — perhaps you will some day — and the mpusu palm cloth with 
 velvet figures, and that with the soft satin feel about it, and the mats, 
 and the fancy baskets. But to us the interest is, that it is the centre 
 of influence from which the lines of trade radiate, where the State 
 must make its capital for this district, instead of Luluaburg, I taink; 
 the point of contact, the point of attack, on the peoj^le of a vast region. 
 
 A letter under date of April 21st adds the following: 
 
 We are advised to locate across on the north side of the Lulua, half 
 •way between Luebo Station and the Bakete town of Bena Kasenga. 
 The latter being about forty minutes walk from the feny at the station. 
 
 I am pretty sure of getting this jilace. You may safely think of 
 me as here, busy and happy. A heart full of love to you and all 
 the dear ones. I am hungry to write to each. But so busy I Xever 
 mind. Settled soon, please God! 
 
CHAPTER YIII. 
 
 DiABY FBOM April 23 to Septembeb 7, 1891. 
 
 LUEBO. 
 
 AFTEE receiving the foregoing account of the trip up the river, 
 . there was long wearisome waiting ; but after many months 
 there came tlie tliary, narrating the Hfe at Luebo, which follows : 
 
 April 23, 1891. — We've had a house-raising to-day. The town of 
 Bena Kasenga is in a very good humor with us, but is not inclined to 
 trade or work for our ntaku. They want cowries. However, Sheppard 
 managed before very long to persuade them to sell him a very nice house, 
 ten feet eight inches square on the inside, and nine feet six inches 
 high to the comb. It cost sixty ntaku, worth about one dollar and 
 twenty cents, and forty cents worth of cloth. This paid for the mov- 
 ing to our clearing, three-quai'ters of a mile away, and raising it, or 
 putting it up again. It was a great haul for four men to carry, one 
 side at a time, resting against their backs, but they came running and 
 singing. The roof was double, or more than double, weight, but it 
 came at last, trotting along almost folded up, but showing four pairs of 
 bare legs. Trenches were dug for the waUs. The master mechanic 
 from Bena Kasenga dag them with a little hoe he had in his belt, 
 walking backward so as to keep the right line in his eye. ' 
 
 The walls, one by one, were lifted and stood in their places, and 
 shaken back and forth, to make the ends of the frame sticks settle 
 into their holes. Then posts were planted inside at the corners, and 
 the walls made solid by being tied with withs to the posts and to each 
 other. 
 
 " But how are they going to put on the roof? " we asked each other. 
 They simply put it on by main force, as they had often done before, 
 and it rests there and needs no tying. 
 
 Sheppard is sleej)ing in the house now ; we have divided the candles 
 and keep each his house (tho' mine is the tent, which I hope to give 
 up to-morrow night, as Sheppai-d has engaged a house for me). 
 
 ' These houses consist of thick mats, tied to a frame- work of poles. 
 
 164 
 
CUT LOOSE. 165 
 
 The Floi'ida that brought us here M'ent away yesterday' morning. 
 I felt indeed cut loose at last — some sadness, some solicitude, much joy 
 and satisfaction. 
 
 M. Le Commissaire is very pleasant to mo, and speaks of coming 
 over to see us, before he leaves for Luluaburg. Mr. Engeringh's 
 housekeeper was sick yesterday and he called me in to see her. 
 
 April 24.-^ Went over right after breakfast to see our friends at the 
 Belgian station. I stepped across a black snake, the first snake I 
 have found in Africa. Mr. Stache, the impetuous little "Germanish" 
 CathoHc, second in command at the Luebo station — Mr. E. is first — 
 left yesterday for Wissman Cataracts on the Kassai, to buy ivory. He 
 went on foot, not even taking his riding bullock, the roads are so 
 narrow and overgrown. M. Le Commissaire is better ; seemed pleased 
 when I gave him part of the contents of an ergot bottle in our medi- 
 cine chest, for his hsematuria . 
 
 From where we sat on Mr. Engeringh's veranda this morning we 
 heard a noise in the bushes across the little Luebo river, not a hundred 
 yards from where we sat, and out came an antelope into the stream, 
 and with her were two dogs. They swam together, hardly getting an 
 inch closer or farther apart foi" two hundred yards. Away they went 
 out of sight around Luebo point and into the Lulua, where the canoe 
 caught up and took them all in. So we stayed and chopped venison. 
 AATiile I was writing, M. Le Commissaire came with the law about 
 house tax, and the blanks to be filled by me. We went back home, 
 being paddled across the Lvilua in the big dug-out, by ten Accra boat- 
 men and Logos head-men. We got five Bakete, whom we found 
 "standing there idle," to carry our five loads up to our clearing, a 
 twenty minute's walk, at what amounted to about two cents each. I 
 bought an axe blade ; really a good-sized chisel, native make, with two 
 handles of wood hardened in the fire — one to use the blade as an adze, 
 the other to use as a hatchet or small axe ; the direction of the socket 
 making the difference. Before long, Lisa, a woman, came along with 
 a hoe to sell. I got it for three handkerchiefs — about eight cents. 
 We bought some palm oil and rigged up lamps; simply letting a 
 j)laited rag lie in the open cup of oil, one end out. 
 
 The boys worked well to-day. By oui* return at 2 p. m., the}' had 
 cleared a good space around where they are to put up their house. 
 Sheppard went to town and got a mortal', for beating up mandioca 
 into flour. He also exchanged five little bells for two hundred cowries. 
 
 April 25. — Midnight, a great commotion. Sheppard was moving 
 about very rapidly, and even dancing, and addressing the people in 
 
IGG THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 imj)assioned tones. Ou inquiry, I learned that a column of driver 
 ants bad entered bis bouse and taken possession. Tbey even came 
 under bis blankets and covered bim ; bence bis animation. Tbe}' 
 happened to be marching by and smelt the palm oil inside. We made 
 Tarious reconnoissances with torches and candles, found many columns 
 jDouring across the open space near bis cbimbric, and many large 
 bodies deployed as skirmishers. One line bad reached my tent door 
 just as I got up. A lire stopped them. I Ljoked around and met 
 another body of them making for tho back of the tent, where there 
 Avas a greasy spot black with them. . . . S. slept in the moon- 
 light till day. 
 
 Got up my cbimbric by dinner-time. Not so large as S.'s, but there 
 is a door in mine down to the ground, besides the window through 
 "which the former owner entered. She^Dpard's has only a long win- 
 dow to climb in through. We planted a row of pine-apples in front 
 of each house. A part}' of Bakuba came by and bargained with us 
 for beads, and left with us twenty cowries to keep the bargain open 
 till Monday. 
 
 . Sunday, April 26. — Quiet day. Stayed at home until 3 r. m. ; went 
 into the town and walked through it. Five or six good double streets ; 
 houses well built of stick, frame, palm leaves, and splits like cane, 
 polished neatly outside. A party followed us through the town, and. 
 >every where the people had ready greeting for " mukeleuge." 
 
 "Mukelenge! eh! moyo, mm malengela ! " 
 
 I reply, " Mmmm Malengela ! " 
 
 This is the usual greeting and reply. 
 
 "Malengela " means good. Moyo is " salaam," well being, health, etc, 
 
 Eain caught me, and I took refuge under one of the many sheds 
 here and there in the centre of the village street. A fellow refugee 
 under the shed bad a corn-stalk " beechee," which proved to have 
 more music in it than its looks promised. Before the shower was over 
 I had worked out on it a pretty fair accompaniment to "Blessed be 
 the fountain of blood," which song had been in my mind all day. 
 Many people were 2:»reparing or eating their early sup2)er, as I coiild 
 see as I passed along. One young couple were chopping cozily together 
 as I looked in on them. Another good soul said to me: "Lamba 
 bidia," the precise words in which Nkuka's mother, Lolo, at Kintamo, 
 would tell me she was cooking chop. This shows the similarity of the 
 languages. 
 
 Every comer and cranny in the town has its inkissi or image, and 
 generally the rudest you could fancy in construction. The features 
 
WEAVING. 1G7 
 
 are portrayed by three cuts iu a stick. Two strokes make the mouth, 
 as many each eye, and the finish is planting it before the house or at 
 the cross-road. But it is enough to keep them from beUeving the 
 gospel; and we shall have a hard fight of it, no doubt, for even our 
 boys still beUeve iu the power of nklssl. One of these nkissi posts 
 was sprouting. "Was it a good or a bad omen for the Bakete augurs? 
 
 BUSY PEOPLE WEA\T:NG. 
 
 Busy folks. Very few were without something to do. But the 
 principal business outside of bread-making, the great palaver of the 
 women, is the manufacture of plain grass cloth. But it is not made of 
 grass at all, but of the inner strips of the leaves of a small, dark palm ; 
 like the Elais palm, but not so large, and with jDrickles on the edges 
 of the leaves. This cloth palm is grown all through the town, and 
 there is a lai'ge patch of it besides, just beyond the towTi. I saw the 
 manufacture in all its stages — boys stripping off the outside of the 
 leaf blade, and leaving the delicate pale green ribbons within, and 
 tying them in hanks like yarn. Men were separating it; threading 
 the loom with the warp (is it"?); and then came the clack of the simple 
 but complete weaving machine, the simple, silent passage of the long 
 pohshed stick which does duty as shuttle, and thus the usual every- 
 day waist or loin cloth is finished. But the women pound a few choice 
 pieces in a mortar with floiu* of maize or manioc tiU it is soft and 
 satiny to the feel. These are dyed and worn on sweU occasions. 
 
 Ajyril 27. — Our Congo boys in making their house went to the bush 
 and cut a great lot of palm midribs, and got a man to bring in a 
 bundle of rattan. The midribs were split and tied to the slender 
 stick rafters by the split rattans ; a flexible and very tough string. 
 
 Sheppard makes a shed in front of his house ; begins to-day, em- 
 ploying some of the town people — two or three big boys. It is an 
 important fact that these people Uke to work, and know how to hire 
 out. Some Congo tribes won't do it for love or money. Two clever 
 little urchins planted around my house pine-apple plants they had got 
 in the bush. We bought some copper battle-axes; all very fine work- 
 manship. I bought many hundred cowries for beads. Shejjpard 
 bought some with cloth. I got a native mandolin for two cents' worth 
 of brass "uire. It has a gourd for resonance; has a staff and three 
 strings. 
 
 April 28. — Sheppard's house, and that of the boys, progresses well ; 
 ready for the thatch. I buy, with a double handful of beads, a goat, 
 and a gem of a knife, one blade of native copper, eight inches long by 
 
168 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 two and a half inches wide, well made, and the black handle inlaid 
 with strips of brass, hatched in regulai'ly, and strangely tasteful. 
 
 A small trading party of some eight or ten Bashilange, from Ka- 
 lemba, the great chief at Luluaburg, who has many thousand people 
 in his town, passed this morning e7i route home. They had rubber 
 and chop, some fowls and a paiTot, but wouldn't sell am'thing. They 
 had time tattooing with ink, especially the women, on brow and around 
 the mouth, in most elaborate and faultlessly regular curves that did 
 not deface them, and they had pretty and very interesting faces; the 
 most prepossessing Africans I have seen, having European features 
 and some of them having light complexions, mixed, as the Bakete are, 
 with others of darker color. 
 
 WHITE ANTS. 
 
 Very h.ot to-day ; sweltering and wilting. Last night and night 
 before had palaver with "NsHili" — the white ants. After the ground 
 is swe]:)t and cleared of these rascals, their enemies, great, black, 
 high-steppers, large as small wasps, come out of the ground, as by 
 magic, and march around defiantly. They come from far, and go 
 back with their uijopers loaded with the white ants. The white ants 
 infest the fresh, damp earth of my house. They crawled up the bed- 
 post, and chopped a hole in my mattress before morning big as my 
 hand, almost. I have made a big fire around my bed-jDost to-night, 
 and feel quite secure until morning. Never fear, it will not hurt the 
 post. I can cut another and plant in its place if it does. The bed- 
 stead is a frame of small sticks lashed tightly on two side sticks with 
 vines. These rest on four forks planted in the earthen floor, and sup- 
 port an elegant horse-hair mattress, steamer rug, double blanket, and 
 Austrian rug, in which I am luxuriously comfortable. ]My palm oil 
 lamp is splendid, gives a blaze as big and strong as a student's lamp, 
 without chimney of coui'se, and makes plenty of good light when not 
 in a draught. 
 
 The boys sitting near our rough tea-table out doors, after supper, 
 have been telhng yarns about how leopards do small boys when they 
 catch them alone. " You hear a queer squeak about fifty yards away; 
 the next thing the leopard's claws are in the boy's eyes, gets him down, 
 licks him over and swallows him ! " so says Mpiata, my boy. 
 
 Next the boas come into discussion. When attacked by a boa, a 
 Bakongo knows how to thrust out his left hand, with fist doubled up 
 as if to strike, perhaps. Then the boa thereupon swallows the man's 
 arm. Then the Congo man, no wise scared, rips up the defenceless 
 
AFRICAN STORIES. 169 
 
 snake with the knife in the free hand. (" Give the Nyoka one hand, 
 and when he swallows it do him so with the other." An appropriate 
 gesture completes the little drama ! ) 
 
 Baba and Mpiata paid me an evening call. Baba, you will remem- 
 ber, is our deaf mute, who is so deft with fingers and quick with all 
 the senses that he does enjoy. No bigger than a boy of eleven, though 
 chunky and strong and shrewd enough for his sixteen years, he is a little 
 irritable, and quite original and independent m his notions and ways. 
 He expresses himself by saddest cries, is uncommonly intelligent ; 
 knows all about his own country, people and productions, all he could 
 learn without instruction from books. He loves to confer with us, 
 especially with Sheppard. His sign language is full and most expres- 
 sive. It is equal to indicating anything he knows, is very natural 
 and funm^ ; and he is so shrewd in the obsei'vation of character- 
 istics; e. </., white man is indicated by pinching his nose — those 
 " shai'p-nosed people." Baba is the son of a chief down below Stanley 
 Pool. 
 
 April 29. — The boys' house progresses. Two young women, belles 
 from Mr. Engeringh's station, come over and make known their desire 
 of marrpng our two big boys, Ngoma and Mampuya. The matter is 
 under consideration. I went over to Mr. Engeringh's for some more 
 of our goods in store there. M. Le Commissaire not so well — sUght 
 fever again. 
 
 A2:>rll 30.— I haven't slept well some nights; try a Dover's powder. 
 Plenty of rain yesterday and to-day. Feverish at night. Sheppard 
 buys two hens and two roosters. 
 
 May 1. — Good rest last night. I make a frame for a little hip- 
 roofed veranda to my chimbric. Sheppard's veranda is a great success 
 in all but looks. 
 
 A party of Zappo Zappos came by this morning with chickens and 
 goats. We stojDped them, but they asked double price for everj'thing. 
 They are fine looking folks to see, but have been given to chopping 
 people and dogs. We let them go on. They came back in the after- 
 noon with a gun. That was what they were after, and was why they 
 would not trade with us. 
 
 The " young ladies " mentioned above are on hand to-day again. I 
 fovmd them installed and preparing supper in the tent which the 
 boys occupy till their house is finished. So I escorted them, accom- 
 panied by their disconcerted bridegrooms, to M. Le Commissaire, who 
 will see that the " ladies " remain on their side of the river until they 
 are sent for. Our senior goat has not turned up to-night. 
 
170 LIFE AND LETTEES OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 May 2. — Rain to-day. Sheppard's parrots thriving, but not advanc- 
 ing in command of the vulgar tongue, like Barnaby's "Grip." Driver 
 ants discovered at dawn by S. and his cupid of a boy, Susu (re-named 
 Sukie). They had made out three bands, like the Chaldeans, and 
 crossed our demesne on a foray into the wood on the east of us. S. 
 spied one brigade climbing the trees and making other ants and 
 grasshojDpers "June." (Do you remember your slang ?) Two sisters 
 from the town came by and helped expel the drivers. "We found the 
 columns condensed to two heavj' lines, mostl}' making ff)r homo again, 
 loaded with little grasshoppers, crickets, and such small game, by the 
 thousand — a first rate entomological collection. Sprinkled manioc 
 flour across their road. They don't like it, I think, because it clogs 
 their legs. They began to thin out, especially when the two women 
 from town threw among them bunches of a certain leaf from the 
 woods. 
 
 I went to town and succeeded in getting six eggs for ' ten cowries, 
 the proj)er price, but the nsolos (chickens) were held at ten times 
 their value, as if by general pre-concert. One handsome mpuma 
 (chief), with a little caj) on his top-knot, adorned with soft, brown 
 hawk's feathers, barely tinged red by nkula (cam-wood powdered), 
 took me through the long street to his private seat, at the top of the 
 street. It was a circle of houses, twelve in number, enclosing a court 
 thirt}'' yards in diameter, with a small shed in the centre for work, 
 such as weaving, crushing Indian corn, manioc roots, etc. He had a 
 cock caught and brought to where we sat — I on his stool, he on his 
 goat skin, two or three wives standing around. One wife (the favorite 
 I judged) brought me manioc flour, which I bought. The nsolo was 
 at an impossible price, but we parted good friends without trading. 
 He has a lovely knife in his belt, elaborately wrought, with handle of 
 hard wood, like ebony, inlaid with alternate rows of yellow brass and 
 native copper. 
 
 May 3. — Our first communion — wine and cakes of manioc floiu' were 
 the elements. The boys witnessed it. We called attention to the 
 fact that we showed forth the Lord's death and coming. 
 
 May 4 and 5. Roofing to my veranda goes on ; so does the boj's' 
 house, and the clearing of the bush on the east side of the path. We 
 get plenty, plenty of chickens. The embargo is up, it seems. We 
 have a goodly number of pullets and quite an avalanche of roosters, 
 from the Bakuba, I think — certainly from some town back — with 
 combs all cut close, as if prepared to fight. 
 
 Night of the 5th. — At prayers I paraphrased the ridicule of an 
 
DRIVEES AGAIN. 171 
 
 idolater in Isaiah xl.. but as gently as I could, "svith the turn it takes 
 in Isaiah, from the negative to positive. It was suggested by the 
 exploits of wizards, which the boys related as common in their coun- 
 try. Very clever juggling, I must believe. 
 
 Coming back, heard the goat tramping about. Something up! 
 Light ! Nsalaf u (drivers) again. By the time we could get our men 
 to the scene, with dry grass to burn in the drivers' road, the army had 
 reached a point -ndthin eight feet of Sheppard's house. Baffled there, 
 they tried every point on our line, now away up in my corner, now by 
 Sheppard's, now in the centre. The manioc flour did a little good, but 
 not much, though they passed but one line of it, it is true. "Where the 
 column turned back on itself once, I watched it, a foot wide, almost solid, 
 shoulder to shoulder, close as they could get, and marching quickly as 
 they do, I guess they must jjass at the rate of a million in about four 
 minutes, perhaps. Though not the largest kind of ants, one of them 
 would be big for Alabama, and they bite and destroy and clean 
 up any animal matter, like grease or oil, as the locusts wipe up the 
 grass. This morning there was not a trace of their ravages, except 
 where a blazing tuft caught a pile of them feasting. 
 
 2[ay 6. — House-finishing drags along. Hot. Marriage palaver 
 still hangs on. Monday I went to M. Le Commissaire and he de- 
 clined to let the women come at all. Siku, his interpreter, was by 
 to-day on a message to the king of Bena Kasenga to come over to 
 see the Commissaire. 
 
 Siku was servant to Major "SYissman; then entered the employ 
 of Dr. Summers, interpreting the Doctor's sermons to the Baluba; 
 was with the poor Doctor when he died near Luluaburg, just starting 
 for Luebo, the steamer, and home. The carriers wanted to bury 
 Dr. S. on the road, but Siku made them take him back to Luluaburg, 
 where his body lies, "far from his kindred and their graves." "But 
 there still is a blessed sleep." 
 
 May 7. — Busy on accounts. Corrected balance sheet. Sheppard 
 begins an addition to his house, rather an extension. We employ two 
 active young fellows from the town for one month at one-half a piece 
 of handkerchief each, about forty cents, perhaps, counting invoice 
 price and subsequent expenses. One of them, Chinyama, came 
 into sei*vice in this wise : He and the other, his chum, finished my 
 shed I'oof 3'esterday. Just at eventide, a man came along with a dog; 
 too much for Chinyama! Must have that dog, but it cost six hand- 
 kerchiefs. " Would I lend them to him ? " " No, but I would advance 
 them to him on his takiner a written contract to work a month." 
 
172 LIFE AND LETTEES OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 Done; and his chum quickly followed suit. Good beginning. At 
 Bolobo and Chumbiri, among the three score or so of workmen, not 
 one comes from the Bayansi of the neighborhood, I believe ; certainly 
 very few, except house boys. A better region, this, to open a new 
 work. We shall not import labor, unless we need skilled mechanics 
 
 A big man in Bena Kasenga died yesterdtiy. Sheppard found the 
 Ngangas (medicine men), a whole string of them, advancing on their 
 patient in columns, and each squeezing into his mouth the juice of 
 leaves which they carried, then, all together, the}' rubbed it down 
 from the throat into the stomach, and nearly crushed the sick man to 
 death out of hand. So I'm not surprised to hear of his death, from 
 the boys who were in the town goat-hunting. 
 
 3Tay 8. — Great preparation for the funeral in the town and much 
 wailing and lamentation, which is executed strictly according to pre- 
 scribed form. A good case of handsome matting, stained shiny black 
 by the resinous smoke of the tropical woods, was prepared, and the 
 interment took place this afternoon. They told us it would be to- 
 morrow. Pei'haps they feared that if we knew the time and attended, 
 the ghost of the departed would suffer in some way from the presence 
 of the inexplicable white man. 
 
 Made a map of our site here, and a formal appUcation to occupy it, 
 and went over to see the Commissaire and present it, but only showed 
 the map, as he is coming over to-morrow to see us and the Bakete. 
 He sends the api:)lication, with his approval, to the Governor General 
 for final ratification. 
 
 May 9. — The Commissaire and Mr. Engeringh came by and sat a 
 few minutes with us. He seemed pleased with our progress Indeed, 
 it does look as if somebody had been working about here and lived 
 here too. At the town he told the people they must sell to us at fair 
 prices ; "and after awhile," said he, " when they have a good house for 
 a school, 3'ou must send your children, to learn to read and write and 
 work at useful trades." We had some coffee made and offered the two 
 gentlemen, and had the usual pleasantries about the "Congo table" 
 and bill of fare; but they preferred the fresh palm wine they had 
 broiight from the village, and it was very nice indeed ; sweet and fresh 
 as new cider. M. Le Commissaire left, saying, " If I can help you in 
 any way, write me to Luluaburg." 
 
 I suppose my Congo name will stick to me, as many others have 
 kept theirs for good. Our boys call Sheppai'd "Ngela," "the hunter," 
 and me "Tomba Njila," which euphonious designation is from Tomha, 
 to find, and Njila, the road, hence, "path-finder." 
 
FIRE MADE WITH TWO STICKS. 173 
 
 In the A-illage the other day I came up behind a man who seemed 
 boring a hole in one little stick with another like it. They were little 
 dry sticks, size of my finger and a foot long. The one he held still on 
 the ground with his toes, and he turned the other between his two 
 hands, rubbing them back and forth. A little plate, shaped like a fig- 
 leaf, with the stem for a handle, caught the dust this made. Presently, 
 as I watched, I saw that the upright stick was grinding out a brown 
 dust, as if scorched, then smoke, and at last, when the man blew on 
 it and held a piece of tow to it, it blazed. I had seen fire made with 
 two sticks for the first time. 
 
 Two young ladies, daughters of a man who lives at Mr. Engeringh's, 
 came over and expressed a desire to many two of our boys. They 
 belong to a tribe of exiles who came from across the Sankuru, and 
 are named by the other natives from their chief, "Zappo Zappo," 
 perhaps because his people had the first guns, as Tippo Tijipo (or 
 Tib) got his name from the sound of his rifles as he attacked the 
 backwoods people for slaves. The Zappo Zaps have been cannibals 
 very lately, without doubt; the Bakete say they eat dogs and people 
 (equivalent in native mind. The Bakongo say the same of the Bangala). 
 But the Zappo Zaps are the finest people about — magnificent men 
 and handsome women, and carry themselves quite as an aristocracy. 
 Chiquaqua and Vwila have pretty faces and figures and dress nicely 
 in African style — plain white or pretty print draped about them in a 
 graceful way, leaving bare only the ankles, shoulders and arms. 
 
 Sunday, Mat/ 10. — Not a good day, and I had hoped that I was 
 through with unimproved Sundays. 
 
 The two little Zappo Zaps again. They say their papa will come 
 to-morrow to "give them away." (No, not that by any means, but 
 I don't like to say sell them, though that is about it.) 
 
 May 11. — Early over to catch the Commissaire e'er he left Luebo, 
 and give him the formal application to hold this ground for good. 
 We could hax'dly get permission to take Sankuru mouth, or rather 
 Basile in the present unsettled state of things, and Luebo is a site 
 worth holding for Protestant Christianity. 
 
 I forgot, yesterday before breakfast Ngoma's sweetheart and another 
 woman, claiming to be the proprietress or mamma of Ngoma's and 
 Mampuya's both, made their appearance. These are different from 
 the Zappo Zaps. After chop they came around, and Ngoma's bride- 
 elect was finally betrothed, and told to come to-day to stay. But the 
 inamma, it seems, hkes Mampuya too, as well as her daughter does, 
 aud arranged that the latter should go away with the party of Bula 
 
174 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 Matadis and leave Mampuya to her. But she was told that she might 
 return Mampuya's cloth, that had been given her for the daughter, 
 and leave with the said daughter. So to-day Ngoma's girl comes, and 
 and the two little Z. Z.'s, the senior of whom is to console Mampu^'a, 
 and the younger is courting my boy, Mpiata, and won't take "no." 
 But the papa could not come. He had to make one of those fine cop- 
 per battle-axes for Bula Matadi's collection of curios. So the Z. Z.'s 
 must go home and wait. 
 
 After supper. "Go call Ngoma, and let us dress him up for his 
 wedding." In comes Ngoma, quite sheepish, and in his every-day 
 clothes, and behind him his Madia (pronounced much like "my dear"), 
 her cloth stretched to cover her blushing face. 
 
 " Shame on you, Ngoma! Where is your wedding garment? Here, 
 take these and go across to my room and put them on." 
 
 Presently the bridegroom stands by his lady dressed in a new cloth 
 and Sheppard's shirt (lower extremity outside, not within, the nether 
 garment), and Sheppard's coat, and a handkerchief about his neck. 
 
 ""WTiere is Mampuya ? " 
 
 " In his house " — mad like Achilles. 
 
 " That won't do. Fetch Mampuya." Done. 
 
 Sheppai'd, standing before the couple, asks the sealing questions^ 
 which, after passing through the medium of several interpreters, is 
 answered as it ought to be. 
 
 "Take her hand Ngoma! Not with that one, with 3'our right 
 hand," and Sheppard made a simple prayer in English for the happi- 
 ness and holiness of the union thus formed, which may God grant. 
 
 Yesterday Siku came over to say " good-bye " before going back 
 to-day to Luluaburg with his mastei', M. Le Commissaire. I used 
 him to question the people sitting under my little veranda about 
 God, as they knew him. 
 
 "Oh, yes, Ngambi, same as Fidi mukulu (God in heaven!) Ho 
 made people and ground and trees. Yes, he is a good man, very good 
 man." But as it is the devil who can do mischief, they are more careful 
 to manage him with charms, etc., than to have anything to do with 
 God, whom they apparently consider an easy going person, that dou't 
 care what people do — " and all the nations that forget God." 
 
 But what a find, all at once, and so soon ! To-day I got both nouns 
 and verbs from a party trading and chatting in my room. I used the 
 words as soon as I caught them, in what I guessed was theii* meaning, 
 and they seemed to understand at once. So down went my prize in 
 my httle book. 
 
MR. ENGERINGH's ADVICE. 175 
 
 May 12. — Woman palaver still vigorously agitated. Went early to 
 see Mr. Eugeringh, to find out bow be "wived" bis men. 
 
 " Ob, I tell tbe Zappo Zaps to bring me a woman." 
 
 " And you jjay — ? " 
 
 " Two pieces of bandkercbief." 
 
 " And tbat fiuisbes it ? " 
 
 " Quite. A man tbree pieces, or four if be is plenty large. If tbere 
 is as mucb to eat on a man as on tbi-ee goats, be brings tbe price 
 of tbree goats, tbat is, tbi-ee bandkercbiefs." 
 
 " But tbey dout eat j^eople near* bere ? " 
 
 " Tbe Zappo Zaps cbop people, or bave done so ; but tbey buy to 
 sell to tribes East." 
 
 " Tbe Bakubas, east of us, are not cannibals? " 
 
 "Perbaps — certainly not. But tbey buy for tbe profit on seUing to 
 tbe Sankuru tribes; and as tbe point of view of tbe fijial piu'cbaser 
 determines tbe price, and tbe consumers are cannibals, tbe price of 
 a man is generally determined by tbe amount of meat on bim." 
 
 "But," said I, "to return to tbe women?" 
 
 " Ob, I keep tbem on tbe State plan, by wbicb tbey are mine for 
 seven years, and tben free. Wbile under my control, I give tbem to 
 tbose of my men wbose terms are long, and wbo are glad enougb to 
 accept ; and I require tbem to be faitbful to tbeir man." . . 
 
 He made bimself very pleasant, asked many naive questions about my 
 rebgion and sect. Strange tbat a singularly sbrewd, clear-beaded and 
 bard-beaded man, and bonest witbal, sbould know so Uttle about tbe 
 Reformed faitb and practice, baving been baptized in tbe Dutcli 
 Reformed Cbui'cb! 1 tbougbt 1 perceived more respect for my 
 religion tbis time. Returned to find Cbiquaqua, Vwila and tbeir 
 mamma, awaiting my return. Well ! mamma and girls are seated on 
 goat skins on our left. Mampuya and Mpiata, witb Ngoma to belp 
 explain, on our rigbt, in tbe sbade of Sbeppard's bouse at two o'clock. 
 
 " Well, mamma, tbese four young people bke eacb otber and want to 
 marry. Now, we, ' God's wbite men,' bke people wbo marry to bve 
 togetber forever afterwards. We don't want to rent yo\ir daugbters 
 twelve moons like some folks bere " — no objection, tbougb we got tbis 
 translated witb some difiiculty — Little Vwila (a minx, not a wbit 
 abasbed) and Ngoma explained most of tbe bard words, and I did 
 most of tbe talking. 
 
 I went on : "So tbe girls are ready to go to Congo land, wben tbeir 
 busbands' moons ai'e finisbed bere ? " 
 
 " Congo ! nasb ! " (no), said tbe mamma, taken aback. 
 
176 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 So, as we coiildn't get past that knot, the conference broke up, and 
 they all went homo, the brides intendant much put out, but not 
 giving up. "We're going to 'Tula' {l. e., 'papa') about it," said 
 Vwila. 
 
 3fay 13. — House progresses. I go guinea hunting with a boy from 
 the town. " Path-finder" (and bad finder) went to right of the town 
 road toward Bakumbuya town. Made circuit and came into the town 
 by a road new to me, but in the same open common, and the same 
 dozen boys were playing shinny with a ball of rubber (not hard to 
 find here). Thirsty, I begged a drink of malafu from a vender who 
 was coming in from his trees with calabashes swung to the pole across 
 his shoulder. 
 
 " Show me first thy penn^' ! " or rather " nashi mibela ! " (no cowries) 
 was the startling remark ; but my httle guide put in, "Never mind, 
 come to my trees, I'll give you some right from the palm." So I 
 hunted towards his trees, where I played with a bevy of little girls 
 who had been catching grasshoppers to fry for supper and eat with 
 the soft kwanga or nifundi. Went on in the circuit through the 
 west madioca fields, and came in on the opposite side of our clearing 
 from that on which our hunt began. 
 
 Surprised to find the brides prospective still here, and proposing to 
 stay. The boys all denied their presence, but a candle revealed them 
 and explained the drum and other preparations for a Congo wedding. 
 They were sent under escort to the Portuguese place, and the bride- 
 grooms got "chicot"; that is, I cut two good switches and wore one 
 out on each. The whole lot lost their chop rations for the day. I 
 made it my palaver. 
 
 May 14. — Catching little Vwila at the ferry, I took her over to 
 explain to her father. Found him seated by his forge, an axe, native 
 style, almost finished in his hand. She had him under her small 
 thumb, evidently 
 
 Presently we arranged for a conference in Zappo Zap's house. 
 Present, mamma again, a small sister (acquaintance of mine) all 
 smiles, Ngosolo, one of my Congo boys, and Vwila. Vwila took it 
 from her father and rehashed it to Ngosolo, w^ho in turn served it 
 Up to me. I understand almost as many of their words as Ngosolo, 
 but natives can talk without many words. Anyhow, I understood 
 that I coiild get absolute control of the two young ladies as their 
 father (!) by the payment of a good dash. Six pieces of handkerchief 
 would have done it, but I preferred to pay full double price and tie it 
 tight. So I promised to send the bridegrooms to-morrow with four 
 
THE BRIDES PURCHASED. 177 
 
 pieces of handkerchief for each giri, and then I made the "mamma" 
 happy with a looking-glass, and departed. 
 
 Returned at dusk. ""Where is Mampuya gone?" "To town." 
 
 "Come on, Mpiata." I got these two gentlemen in a little moonlit 
 glade and said: "You've made palaver for wives six days, and no good 
 result. I've bought the two girls you want. They are m^' childi'en 
 by law for seven years. If you want to stop with me on a long con- 
 tract, I will give you Vwila and Chiquaqua for wives." 
 
 ".Ill right," said they, especially Mampuya, who is hit hard. 
 
 "How about one hundred moons, Mampuya?" 
 
 "All right — a hundred," said this Jacob. 
 
 Chop finished, tlie grooms are di'essed. Mampuya in a fine new 
 fathom of cloth and Sheppard's coat and cap — a most kilhng combina- 
 tion Avith his super sober phiz. Mpiata in some striped breeches 
 he got somewhere, a shii't, neck cloth of my large handkerchief and a 
 little red and white jacket of mine. Very sweU. 
 
 "Spread the rubber carpet under Sheppard's shed! Ever}' boy 
 hold a long new candle ! Mampuya, your bride will come and stand 
 there." 
 
 "When I started up a new wedding march " Luiza a kundi a Jesus " 
 (Come we that love the Lord) to the tune " We are Marching to 
 Zion " Sheppard went and led the ladies in. Meanwhile Mampuya 
 held on to the rafters with one hand; and Mpiata's hands, sad to 
 say, were in his pockets. The ladies take their places, pretty as need 
 be, but a little sheepish. Sheppard offered a very brief prayer. I made 
 a concise translation of Mark x., 6-9, and put the questions. They 
 joined hands, Sheppard helping Mampuya through his ordeal, and I 
 Mpiata. Another very brief prayer, and I told them they were joined 
 for life. Finis — "no Sapi"! (wait! and I made each of the brides a 
 small dash. Then the party wanted to go; their chop was waiting. 
 
 "Allez! Good night," cried Ngoma, and they left. But we were 
 very happy in secui'ing these pleasant additions to our party, and 
 by the contract getting control of fom* hopeful lives to shape for at 
 least three years, God wilhng. The two Uttle ex-cannibals, who still 
 speak sometimes of chopping me (I) are thus introduced within the 
 pale of ci\-ilization and Christianity. 
 
 Jfai/ 17. — Fulfil my engagement to go with Mr. Engeringh to Bena 
 Kibash. Canoe awaited me, and so did chop. Three eggs, so fresh 
 I could almost see through them, were sent out and came back, three 
 in one little frying-pan for me, and three in another pan for him ; a 
 bit of mutton, fried banana, and coffee, and we rigged up our bulls for 
 12 
 
178 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LArSLEY. 
 
 the trip. They carried us at a good rate through the forest. The 
 path has just been widened, making it pleasanter to travel and giving 
 a stronger sense of the grandeur of these giant trees. They are not 
 so large in girth, or don't seem so, but so tall. In two hours to Bena 
 Kibash, where the sheep and goats of the station are kept. It is a 
 Baluba town of, say, three hundred souls, the first of the tribe I have 
 seen. The houses are built in rows, but are of wretched character, 
 and the people are huddled in front of their huts, lean and idle, as if 
 the whole town did nothing but smoke the Indian hemp (diamba they 
 call it), which I fear is the case. Back to dinner with Mr. E. Suffer 
 from sun and riding too much. 
 
 3Iay 18. — Sickish. In the woods all day. 
 
 May 19. — Walk in the town. Found a sick woman and gave some 
 needed physic. 
 
 Bakongo are clearing up and burning off our land preparatory to 
 putting in corn, perhaps. Sheppard's house, under the hands of Bakete 
 boys, progresses. 
 
 May 20. — Sick all the middle of the day, short, sharp fever. 
 
 May 21. — Better. Mpiata's heart having moved him to make a 
 table of wood, I marked off and started the sawing of the stick into 
 boards. Almost finished by night, foui* boards three feet by four 
 inches. Mr. Engeringh came over in the afternoon to see us, bringing 
 a leg of an antelope his dogs chased into the Laebo and Lulua to-day, 
 also some papaws, most refi'eshiug, and some bananas and plantains, 
 and made a kind offer of fruit whenever we should send for it, and 
 also of trees in plent}^ Agreed to take each week half of a goat he 
 should kill, and be charged half the price. We bought a ram sheep 
 and two nanny-goats to-day. 
 
 Madia (Mrs. Ngoma), whose name is correctly pronounced " my dear," 
 and Chiquaqua (Mrs. Mampuya), are ailing now several days, and give 
 the community some concern, but especially Sheppard and me, who 
 are bound to see to their various dosings. 
 
 May 22. — Palaver of sick girls. A puzzling business for us. Plan- 
 ing the boards the boys have sawed. 
 
 May 23 — Go over to the town with a piece of spangled cloth saved 
 from the lot I had of the Dutch house for Kwango trip, to see how 
 much it will fetch on this market. Went into Zappo Zap's quarter, a 
 little half square of some six houses, with a shed and a group of low 
 shady " cloth palms " in front ; a tiny little quarter, not fifty feet across, 
 but busy as a bee-hive. A dozen of the Zaps sitting Tui'kish fashion 
 in the shade — all hard at it; the women weaving the smooth, stout 
 
Z.Vr's WEAVING. 179 
 
 mats only the Zaps can make (our houses are furnished with them) ; 
 the men engaged in the various stages of cloth making, from "Daddie" 
 Chitunga, the head of this group or family, who was stripping the 
 silky ribbon from the palm blades, to the one who wove the thread 
 into strong cloth on the primitive loom. They haven't any land, so 
 their industry and skill in handicraft, and shrewdness as traders, was 
 to fill the gap. Got a bid of 7,000 cowries. Not enough. 
 
 Swiclay, May 24. — Quiet, profitable day after breakfast, and a 
 still hour. Service with the Bakongo. Spoke about the passion of 
 Jesus. Transcribed seven Kongo hymns, which have stuck in my 
 memoiy; the only singing we have for the boys; as I am not up to 
 writing Kongo liATiins. "Wait awhile, till we sing the gospel in the 
 ditxlects of the Upper Kassai! Dinner interrupts the exercises, not 
 unpleasantly. Finished, and then a little more touching up of the 
 hymns; then a nap in the hammock, mider a fine shade, behind our 
 houses. Mpiata wakes me up presently with some freshly parched 
 goobers. 
 
 I go on with Guthrie on Ezekiel xxxvi. A j)ine-apple, present from 
 a httle boy from Bena Kasenga, is chopped with my two " daugh- 
 ters" in Chiquaqua's room. 
 
 Visit to the town, to find my j)atient nearly well. 
 
 3fay 25. — Visit ]Mi\ Eugeringh and get fifty-seven pounds cowi'ies 
 for the fine cloth — six yards. Mr. Stache is back from Wissman 
 Falls. His ivory is on show, several thousand dollars' worth in that 
 lot of tusks, sjDread out before the store door, say twenty-five tusks, 
 big and httle. Some worth one hundred dollars each. The Com- 
 pany will clear about half of this. Of course the}' don't do so well 
 eveiywhere. 
 
 Find some Bakuba have been to see me with a pig, for beads. After 
 dark they came to feed the pig and bring the flower of their town, 
 doubtless, a really beautiful woman, with pretty small mouth, not 
 badly formed nose, and exes like a gazelle, a modest and womanly 
 and charming expression withal. A caudle was brought to see the 
 pig eat his supper, and she, Mashamba, saw for the first time, I sup- 
 pose, a white hand. She got her husband to hold it for her to ex- 
 amine. Then, bolder, she felt it curiously, up to the elbow, indeed. 
 Every little while she would edge up to examine the wonder again. 
 
 May 26. — Board making for our chop table, a small affair; but 
 hai'd wood is no trifle to ]olane. Bakubas spent some hours here. 
 Couldn't agree about the pet pig, but I gave the pretty princess a 
 dash of cloth and beads. She came back after startinof to make sure 
 
180 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 her eyes hadn't deceived her about tnose hands; (anything but white 
 outside the sleeve). 
 
 Half of a goat from Mr. Engeringh — a permanent arrangement — 
 one a week, we pay half. 
 
 3Iay 27. — Messrs. Engeringh and Stache come up and sit awhile, 
 and take us bathing in their big boat. Very j^leasant; no crocodiles. 
 Mrs. Ngoma still quite sick. I am uj) many times in the night to give 
 something to ease her. Vwila, Mpiata's wife, is growing on us ; such 
 a pleasant, cheerful and energetic temper. So fond of her sweet- 
 heart in her pretty way, and good to everybody, while as mischievous 
 as a kitten. I like her immensely, and pray that I may see her a fine 
 woman and useful Christian, among these poor people. 
 
 May 28. — Messrs. Engeringh and Stache came over to invite us to 
 keep the birthday of the former with them. They were in very lively 
 spirits and cut many queer antics, to account for which each accused 
 the other of having enjoyed their morning's wine too much. But when 
 a shot at a target was proposed they held their guns as steady as we 
 did, and the vicinity of the red spot on our fig tree was warmed up 
 jDretty well. 
 
 Marched over to town and called on Kwete, the chief " mukelenge," or 
 king. His highness was away at Bena Kapunga. Back home, a 
 masquerader waylaid us in the edge of the town, enveloped in a cos- 
 tume made to imitate a bare body adorned with long fringes. The 
 nose was the beak of a queer bird which carries an immense false 
 beak growing on top of the real one. A hawk passed over head at the 
 instant and Mr. E. brought him down like a rock, with the right hand 
 barrel of my shot-gun. The natives rushed on the prize and fought 
 manfully for it, making short work of the palm frond fence, within 
 which it fell. I dined with the gentlemen of the compan}', and went 
 in the boat to a bath at the island below the rapids. At table, a 
 discussion, in which they held that it was impossible to discover a 
 grammatical system in the languages of the natives; that those like 
 the State and company agents, who use such native words as they 
 pick up, without any care or special study, were better understood by 
 the natives than the missionaries. In an after dinner walk with Mr. 
 Stache, who is an educated man from the Jesuit school, I convinced 
 him that there was more known of the principles common to Bantu 
 tongues than he had thought. 
 
 May 30. — Went to Bena Mana to see the town and make friends 
 with the kings. One of them, Mbuya is away. The other, Kwete, 
 received me with courtesy and gave me palm wine (very bad), and 
 
VISIT TO BENA MAXA. 181 
 
 goobers, and at parting two big roosters. In return for -which I gave 
 him twice the value in cloth, beads, cowries and utaku. The town is 
 two-thirds the size of Bena Kasenga, with newer houses, but no appear- 
 ance of thrift and nothing nice to show. The people had no pride in 
 their personal appearance. But Kwete had (wonder) a fine broAvn ox, 
 which was di-iven bv me accidentally that I might see it, just as I left; 
 the only ox among the Bakete. 
 
 Chinyama had got weak in the knees crossing the last bog, with me 
 on his back, so I had to sit in clothes wet to the knees, until they 
 dried, pending the palavers. Ivilled two of the great birds with the 
 double beaks, which you may see if I don't get tired keeping them, 
 also a parrot, my first chance at one, though thousands fly over my 
 head in a week, I suppose, chirping, whisthng and squawking. This 
 was a long shot with heaviest shot — managed to break a wing. 
 
 3fay 31. — A quiet Sunday. Sheppard puny. I had a fever at night 
 from excesssive heat of sun, to which I was a little too much exposed 
 yesterday. 
 
 Ju7ie 1. — Pretty well again. To see Mr. Engeringh. Got a good 
 lot of beads, plain, small, white, fine for trade, in exchange for a piece, 
 twelve yards of elegant cloth for "Madame" Stache — I would add, 
 poor girl ; but she is happy, and don't know that she wasn't married 
 just as her husband would have married a wife in Belgium. When 
 he was sick she would expose herself to a similar attack saying, as if 
 it were a matter of course, "If you die I will die too." So she got a 
 nice dress. Chop, and then a bath at the island. 
 
 June 2. — Kwete, of Mana, spent last night here, sleeping in the 
 addition to Sheppard 's house. Broiight two of his wives, one son and 
 a Httle daughter, " Mayowa " Kwete by name, just as we say Kate 
 Lapsley. The daughters of another chief (Shamba), are named Bula 
 Shamba, Mbomfa Shamba, Mweshi Shamba, etc. Kwete brings a fine 
 httle female goat for dash. But how to adjust the return present? 
 When smaller trading was chspatched I gave myself to my visitor, at 
 ten o'clock, and he chaffered and begged and objected and was hurt and 
 " trampled on " as to his feelings, unless I should give such and such, 
 until it was three o'clock; when he decided he had squeezed all he 
 could out of me, and retired in good order like Jacob, with the loaded 
 women in front, himself and his son bringing up the rear. Sheppard 
 still sick. 
 
 .Tu7ie 3. — Called on Senor Satumino, the Portuguese trader, whose 
 place lies on the way to the Lulua, an old trader who has seen thirty- 
 five years in Africa. "Was pohtely received, and found him poring 
 
182 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAFSLEY. 
 
 over a thick book, which might have been a Bible, but turned 
 out to be the dictionary instead. I noticed a nice coverlet on his 
 travelling bed,, and he gave me a canvas deck chaii-, but his other out- 
 fit seemed to be small. He left a good place at Mwaug Angoma, on a 
 branch of the Sankuru five days away, two hundred kilometres, he 
 said. Found him about to go to see Mr. Engeringh, and we went 
 together. After a chat we went to bathe, and were persuaded to return 
 to supper. During supper Mr. Engeringh pushed the subject of 
 taxes, which had been under discussion, and suggested that Senor 
 Saturnino could hardly afford to keep this place, which his agent 
 Carvalho had made and abandoned. At such a distance from 
 Mwang Angoma he could hardly get the taxes off of it. So Senor S. 
 proposed to sell to me for £100, cente livres (a hundred pounds), 
 he said. We understood him to say cinq hvres (£5), to which I 
 agreed, very much obliged to Mr. Engeringh. AVe further spoke of 
 Carvalho, who hasn't sent any Avord to his chief since his departure 
 eleven months ago. He took ivoiy, rubber and checks to the value of 
 $16,000 to buy a small steamer, with which Senor S. hoped to enlarge 
 his trade greatly. It seems a little as if Senor S. has lost the earn- 
 ings of his thirty -five years' exile. ' 
 
 June 6. — Sheppard, with Susu and Baba, and a good Bakete boy, 
 ^layoj'o, accompanies M. Stache, on a trijD to Wissman Falls of the 
 Kassai, three days west, where the latter makes trade. They will 
 return by the mouth of the Lulua, to see what sort of a country for - 
 trading that is. 
 
 June 7. — Quiet Sunday; first regular Sunday-school; began with 
 Noah, questioning on Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, of whom I 
 have recently taught them. They seem to take interest, but have very 
 hazy notions. Finished at night. 
 
 June 8. — Boys clearing behind the house, giving a sense of room as 
 well as more air. First school ; after a service dismiss Ngoma, Mampuya 
 and Chinj'ama to work, and I instruct the rest on the anatomical con- 
 struction of B-a-ba. I use charcoal on one of my new planks as a 
 board, and impress the shape of the new characters on their minds by 
 copying them with sharp sticks on the dirt floor of the house. " This 
 is the name of a boy you know well (Baba), see how much better is 
 this way of indicating him than trying to draw a picture of him." 
 They began to take an interest in this concrete style of teaching. 
 
 Sunda}' before last, as Sheppard and I were sitting before my chim- 
 
 ' Later — Carvalho is comiBg with a little steamer of his own when the French 
 house has finished it. 
 
A STRANGE AVEIISION TO IlELIGION. 183 
 
 brie in the forenoon, some Zappo Zaps came by with a beautiful child, a 
 little girl, and the Cougos and Vwila at once beset me to stop them. 
 They were going to seU the child in Bena Kasenga. The little thing 
 wasn't afraid of my white (?) face, like most of the children, but came 
 when I called her and stood by me, not afraid even when I put my 
 arm around her. Veiy reluctantly I let her go on, to find a Bakete 
 home — not seeing hoAv I could rear a little girl in this awful hot-bed 
 of corruption, without a lady to take care of her. Besides, when 
 seven or eight years old, she would be considered my wife by all 
 these people, and my statements, seeming to them false, could only 
 make the matter worse. After the bath, Senor Saturnino and I went 
 with Mr. Engeriugh to suj)per, and staid the night. It was then that 
 we found that Senor S. had meant a hundred pounds, not five. To 
 be exact, he wanted £111 and some shillings and pence, to make a round 
 five hundred thousand milreis Portuguese. 
 
 We had some pleasant talk, in which Mr. E. showed what seemed 
 to me a strange aversion to rehgion — strange, because I had thought 
 a man so unacquainted with its very outside should have been indif- 
 ferent to it ; and at the same time he showed a stranger sentimentalism 
 in matters of morals. He harangued against war, for instance, and 
 capital pvmishment. By what right does society take away life, when 
 not one man on the condemning tribunal can tell what Hfe is ! But 
 what a sophism, and what a stretch of the claims of his agnosticism ! 
 His objection against our God is, that he has not given a sign of his 
 existence which Sieur Engeringh should not be able to doubt. How- 
 ever, in the matter of capital punishment, he beheves it right for 
 him to kill a mutinous soldier, who endangers the lives of a whole 
 trading party ; which I don't deny him, though I would hesitate to do 
 the like. I had one or two things that I thought would lead to a 
 proper and frank talk on these matters, but I couldn't get in a word. 
 Mr. E. is one of the shrewdest men I have met, and shows marvelous 
 ingenuity and justice in managing his place. 
 
 JiLne 9. — Spent quietly at home; called on Kwcte in the afternoon, 
 late. Last night learned the antecedents of my girls, which didn't 
 surprise, but pained me, and put me much to prayer. 
 
 June 10. — Mr. E.'s men, who were sent to take a man of Bena 
 Kalamba, who had robbed some Bakubas on their way to sell ivory to 
 Mr. Engeringh, had a warm reception, and one man was wounded by 
 a poisoned arrow in the elbow, only a prick, but it was hke a snake 
 bite, swollen and painful by afternoon. We went to see Kwete about 
 it, and so prevented a panic at Bena Kasenga, which is only one hour 
 from the naughty Kalamba people. 
 
184 LIFE AND LETTERS OE S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 Tlnirsday, June 11. — No sleep last night from 11 to — say 4:30 — 
 small fever. So lay clown until near noon. At 7 : 30 the dull, heavy 
 foggy morning grew darker, like twilight, and we had a very nice lit- 
 tle rain, the first since the new moon in May ; right in the dry season 
 too. Put the boys to planting corn in our new ground. This is the 
 dampest climate I know — a good many days in the wet season, and 
 every day thus far in the dry season, has opened Avith a heavy fog, 
 through which one couldn't see objects at one hundred yards, — a 
 Scotch mist rather ; and there is a peculiar quality in the atmosphere 
 that condenses the moisture of our breath, making us breathe out smoke 
 as in winter time. The sun makes a dull blur through the gray cur- 
 tain. At 9 A. M. the curtain rises, but falls and shuts out the stars 
 again about 9 p. m. In the early morning, the dew drops from the 
 leaves in the woods around us hke rain — a dismal sound to hear in 
 the gloom just before day. However, we don't get sick, and every 
 day the boys put the woods further from us, with axe and hatchet. 
 Mr. Saturnino is making a fine tui'npike, fifteen feet wide (without 
 the stones), from his place to Bena Kasenga — Mr. Engeriugh pays 
 the rations of the men working — in order to attract, the Bakuba to 
 Luebo with their ivory. Word from Shej)pard and M. Stache — 
 arrived and well. Go over with note for S. to go by Mr. E.'s men 
 to-morrow 
 
 tTune 12. — Slept at Mr. E.'s and came back much better. Villagers 
 of Bena Kalamba send to ask if Mukelenge Mai (the king by the water) 
 will accept five goats and call the palaver finished. I make a big row 
 about a few ntaku left in an open box and missing on yesterday. CaU 
 palaver of the Congos, and finally convict Mampuya, who confesses, 
 takes his dressing with great philosophy, and gives up the chicken he 
 had bought with them. Yesterday bought nine hoes ; had one already. 
 They are very queer to our notions ; instead of an eye in which the 
 handles goes, they have a strong point, which is inserted into a socket 
 in the handle. The handle itself is a stout stick two and a half feet 
 long, with a great knob at the end, into which the hoe is inserted by 
 the blacksmith. J.'s birthday to-day. God bless him ! 
 
 tTune 13. — The table nearly finished. Bath, chop, and sleep at Mr, 
 Engeringh. The three of us (Senor S. was there) saw a rare show after 
 supper ; the Kio Ko dance by the young women of the rubber cara- 
 van from Luluaburg. They are Bashilange, belonging to the great 
 Kalamba. Eight or ten of these girls formed a circle, facing inward, 
 so as to exhibit the gay additioia they had made to their ordinary cos- 
 tume, — a bright colored cloth passed through the belt behind making 
 
KIOKO DANCE. 185 
 
 a waterfall (do you call it ?) — quite Parisian at auy rate, whatever it 
 was. Then the eldest led off iu a striking tune, to which the rest 
 resiDonded in unison. In tirae with this music the circle moved round, 
 not stepping, but advancing- sideways, on heel and toe alternately. 
 The bare feet marked the lively time with a thud. The song was 
 responsive, solo and unison chorus of fine strong treble voices. It 
 ended iu a refrain in thii'ds and octaves, thus : 
 
 
 4 — * — " — * — b 
 
 At the beginning of each measure the dancers bowed to the ground, 
 their arms hanging down. But to get an idea of the dance you must 
 conceive of the fine, clear high voices and the effect of unison and 
 measui'e. Slept at Mr. E.'s again; a bad plan; demoralizes my people. 
 
 June 14. — On way from the river, found Mampuya trying to get his 
 wife to go back from her people, who have moved to Senor Saturnino's 
 village, and with whom she was stopping while convalescing. I cut 
 the knot by calhng Kasongo, her father, and teUing him if she didn't 
 report before sundown, I should make bad palaver with him. She 
 came. 
 
 At service — Abraham's call, departure from his people, journey and 
 sojoui'u of faith. Evening, offering of Isaac. Afternoon, a Zanzibari 
 came to see our people. "Standeley" (S. S. Stanley) come Sankuru, 
 Mukelenge Mai (Mr. E.) get book (letter) from Bula Matadi Malange 
 (the Commissaii*e at Luluaburg) ; all soldier go Malange to-morrow." 
 Went to see Mr. E. ; he had a note from M. le Commissaire, to the effect 
 that the Stanley had gone to Lusembo, not bringing letters to any- 
 body but to M. Ic Marinel, at Lusembo. M. le Marinel is evidently 
 a favorite with the powers that be, and is probably doing a good 
 deal of solid work for the State iu his corner. Well, did any of my 
 loads come to Sankru^u mouth for me, and, not finding me, go back to 
 Kiutamo ? 
 
 June 15. — Mrs. Mampuya didn't want to go to get water with 
 the rest. All right, I took a small rattan and started to see the young 
 lady ; but Vwila thrust her own water pot into Chiquaqua's hands and 
 headed me off, saying that Chiquaqua was good now, got the latter's 
 pot and joined the others. Some Baketes brought me to-day sticks 
 for hoe handles. These are as big as my arm in the sleeve, two and a 
 half feet long, with a fork at the end. With a tiny adze they worked 
 the sticks down to size, and worked the end where the fork was into a 
 
186 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LArsLEY. 
 
 knob, -which don't spHt because of the stout grain of the incipient 
 fork. 
 
 June 16. — Saw Kasongo working the hoe handles — quite a part of 
 his trade, for if the hole is burnt (gimlets are unknown) at the wrong 
 angle, the tool won't work well. Kasongo has made a nice little 
 village in the bush, by Senor Saturnine. 
 
 June 17. — Gave the women "books" to work, but they took it 
 so hard after the first half day, that I decided that I must go more 
 quietly, though not disposed to leave them to the temptations of 
 idleness, nor without the discipline of steady work; but they have 
 never had the smallest experience of it. Senor Satumino went 
 away to-day for Monsangoma; says he will be back in fifteen days." 
 Rubber is passing in large quantities to Mr. Engeringh almost 
 every day. Yesterday a party of his people came by with red- 
 wood (cam-wood), which is in rough, dark, brown sticks or chunks. 
 He uses it in trade with the Bakuba from Lukenge's, who give him 
 just twice as much value in ivoiy as the cam-wood costs. The 
 rubber is caught from an incision in the tree or vine, stewed until 
 viscid, cut into strips, which are rolled into balls two inches in diame- 
 ter. Then the balls are stuck together in rows of five, or double rows 
 of ten, and these stuck together in blocks of one hundred. The rubber 
 from the tree is yellow, from the vine pink (not cooked), black or 
 muddy grey (cooked). The former is better and rarer, and brings the 
 higher price. Mr. E. has got in several tons since the Fioruhi left. 
 Most of the rubber is from the Bashilange, either direct from Ka- 
 lamba and smaller traders, or from the Angolese traders resident at Lu- 
 luaburg, who buy, bring and sell it to Mr. E. The ivory used to come 
 from the Bakuba ; the^^ would bring it only to the edge of the territory 
 of their vassals, the Bakete at Kapunga; but Mr. E. has opened 
 another district, Wissmann Falls (Mr. Stache's beat at present), so that 
 the Bakuba of Lukenge must come all the way or lose theh* trade — 
 they have competitors, in short. 
 
 June 18. — A strike by Ngoma and two smaller boys under his 
 influence. Suddenly took notion of renewing an old palaver which I 
 had settled three times before, and at the sound of the work-bell jire- 
 sented themselves, made their demand, and as I told them to take their 
 tools and quick, they marched off the place. Put Ngosolo and 
 Chinyama to squai'ing a stick for boards, dimensions of a cross-tie. 
 Strikers showed up at dark very meek. I put my house in order, 
 went to Mr. Engeringh and left them to think over it. 
 
 June 10. — Papa and mamma's wedding day? I'm not certain. 
 
 ' September 21 not returned yet. 
 
STRIKEES SENTEN'CED. 187 
 
 Palaver with Congos. Sentence the strikers to lose half their next 
 week's rations, a month's pay each, and as to the demand, I gave the 
 cloth as a dash to the three who didn't strike, and gave the malcon- 
 tents nothing. Ordered Ngoma to give his pupils their allowance 
 of birch; he got up and left. " Well, you may go or stay; if you stop 
 at Mr. Engeringh's I will have him ari'est you." In a few minutes he 
 decided to stay and take what was coming to him. " Wait a minute 
 though," so all three went and reinforced their cloth with another and 
 thicker cloth under it, which, I suspecting, having indeed heard of 
 the like device in another country far from Luebo, quietly requested 
 each in turn to undress, and the palaver ended in a few tears. In ten 
 minutes my men were working hke beavers, and in the best of humors. 
 Palavers again ! Vwila (et tu !) had a pout at Mpiata, and went to her 
 father's. 
 
 June 20. — Sent to Kasongo to say that if he wanted his daughters 
 back he might have them for the eight pieces of handkerchief I gave, 
 and two big goats (a small forfeit in native ideas, for relinquishment of 
 contract formally agreed upon and ratified by a bonus received, espe- 
 cially such a large bonus). The girls came back somewhat tamed, 
 "svith lowher notions of their independence. Big dance at Bena 
 Kasenga in afternoon. Some fifty women in their best, i. e., a new 
 waist-cloth, or one freshly colored with red-wood powder, and the 
 body anointed with the same put on with palm oil. Perhaps five 
 hundred other women, also in holiday attii'e, followed in the proces- 
 sion, which moved with a swinging cadence through one street after 
 another, stopping at the squares, to give special exhibitions. These 
 dances are all, more or less, lasci\ious in intention and effect, as are 
 the songs to which they keep time. A pitiable sight was the little 
 baby girls in the crowd, all innocent -looking, many bright-eyed and 
 pretty, imitating the immodest gestures of their big sisters and even 
 their mothers — immodest? often frantically obscene. Poor children, 
 who have never known what a pure mind is, all example and tradition 
 corrupt, and, add the influence of a climate never cold — what chance 
 for them, without an aid entirely superhuman? 
 
 June 21. — Joseph and the Lord's prayer this morning. I go to 
 Mr. E.'s, and stay to supper, and had the straightest talk on religion we 
 have had yet. I paddled the canoe over in the moonlight, with 
 Mpiata and Vwila for cai-go. 
 
 June 22. — We go to Bena Kibash on the bulls. When I come 
 back, find Nlandu and Ngosolo have finished seven boards, seven feet 
 long, four inches by three-quarters. 
 
188 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 June 23. — Ngoma and his partner, getting tired perhaps of \York- 
 jjQg on the big saw, took their stick down to the trestles for the hand- 
 saw, and spoilt a fine stick of hard, solid grain. The big scaffold, six 
 feet high, is for the cross-cut saw, which I am trying in the capacity of 
 a rip-saw. It is hard on the boy who is on top to stoop at eveiy stroke 
 for half a day at a time. 
 
 June 24.— The scaffold saw works — the two boys with the hand-saw 
 are learning too — they have a stick of soft wooil. Visited Bena 
 Kasenga; found a poor little girl with a swelling all around and 
 through the knee joints. Promised to come to-morrow and get medi- 
 cine. A crocodile seen in the Lulua. "We must take more care how 
 far we go into the river to bathe. 
 
 June 25. — Doctored my little patient at Bena Kasenga, a lady -like 
 sweet little girl ; but fear I can't help her much. 
 
 June 26.— Tried to find a shorter road from the river to Bena 
 Kasenga. Found a road through the great madioca fields, but it was 
 much longer. Met a parrot and shot it. There are thousands pass- 
 ing over head, flying like the wind, and whistling all the way. Also 
 in Bena Kasenga was over persuaded to shoot a hawk saihng over 
 head ; was much complimented by the admiring villagers, when the 
 bird doubled uj) and dropped. Then the small boys and the big ones 
 made a scramble for the feathers to wear in their hair. Mr. E. sent 
 me yesterday some papaws, which I enjoyed immensely; not so juicy as 
 a cantaloupe, more mellow, not at all tough, big as two fists. 
 
 June 27. — Saturday. Expect Mr. Engeringh to-morrow, so we have 
 big cleaning up, clear a chamber in the thick bush, sweep the leaves 
 from the floor, ready for a mat carpet which matches nicely with the 
 high-pitched leaf roof. 
 
 June 28. — Mr E. comes at eleven. AVe had finished service early. 
 Still on Joseph. All hands on the dinner, which consisted of, first, 
 soup, of chicken, tomatoes, and goobers boiled and mashed. Very 
 fine ! Second, fish, broiled, Mpiata caught yesterday' in his basket. 
 Third, chicken, minced and fried, with rice balls. Fourth, scrambled 
 eggs. Fifth, smothered chicken ; was it ? no, should have been baked 
 chicken ; but we had chopped enough meat, so that number was omit- 
 ted. Sixth, pudding, of my manufacture, very small, round, heav}- 
 and hard, omitted by request after trial. Seventh, tea, as bad as 
 before. In Bena Kasenga saw women go through the Bakete dance. 
 It was very creditable to the musical ability of the Bakete, but a dis- 
 gusting and saddening exhibition of their degradation. M}' little 
 patient came and led me away to give me a dash, which I shall return 
 
SLAVES FOR SACKIFICE. 189 
 
 to-morrow. Mr. E. got word to-day of slaves, seen by bis men at 
 Lukenge, sold by Mr. Saturnino to Liikenge, and kept by that king 
 to be killed on the next occasion of state, as when a wife dies; then a 
 slave must go with her to Nzambi, as the people here express it. 
 "What can be done ? 
 
 June 29. — Some Zappo Zaps from Luluabiu'g came by with a group 
 of slaves. I wanted to get a httle boy and girl, but could secure only 
 the girl, a poor Httle creature, perhaps six years old, very timid, light 
 as a mulatto, not a bad face. I think I shall call her Maiy Adams, 
 and ask Mrs. A. G. Adams, of Nash\-ille, to supjDort her, as I am 
 authorized to do. Paid value of half a dollar; no, six bits for this little 
 girl ! two dozen red bandannas. 
 
 On Saturday, the first break in our family. The mother, or wife of 
 the owner of Madia, Ngoma's wife, came and said she wanted Madia 
 to go with her to ]\Ialange (Luluaburg). We had no written contract, 
 and the native law, which makes the adjustments of a formal palaver 
 binding, didn't hold here, because the people who have any business 
 at Malauge know how to complain to the State, and nothing but paper 
 will satisfy Bvda Matadi, least of all, native law, which the State plumes 
 itself on having replaced. So I asked Madia if she wanted to go, and 
 when she said yes, I dismissed her at once Avith a small present. 
 She was married the same day to a Hanssa or Accra man in Mr. E.'s 
 sei'vice, but was sent away shortly to Malange. Last Sunday some- 
 body entered my house and took a considerable quantity of beads. 
 I fear the Bakongo know more about the aifair than they have told. 
 I have lost cowries also. I left both unguarded by lock and key, 
 thinking it sufficient to know how many I had. I fear it was a fatal 
 temptation to the Congos. I feel very badly about it. 
 
 July 1. — An Accra opened the box of Mr. E.'s boy, and took out 
 five handkerchiefs which had been entrusted to the boy by Mpiata. 
 Many cross-examinations, but little hght on the question. It seemed 
 quite simple that he should have given part of what he received to 
 Bunga to keep. But the dates don't tally, though the numbers do — 
 always five. 
 
 July 2. — Prosecution of Mpiata breaks down, to general satis- 
 faction. 
 
 July 3. — A i^arty of Zappo Zappos (though vmder another name) 
 come to sell rubber to Mr. Engeringh. They are men of Panya Ma- 
 temba's town above Lusembo on the Sankui'u. Also a party of 
 Bakuba from Bena Siam near the mouth of the Lulua. They have 
 slender, well-made canoes, in which they stand and paddle with long. 
 
190 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LArSLEY. 
 
 broad-bladed paddles. They made Mr. E. a dash, a huge fish, and 
 received a dash in return. 
 
 July 4. — Survey the right bank of the Lulua for a good beach. 
 Find that there is plenty of water and apparently no rocks from one 
 hundred yards below the present landing for a distance of a quarter 
 of a mile. At night Chiquaqua left her husband and returned to the 
 Zappo Zaps. 
 
 July 5. — Moses, morning and night. A quiet but not profitable Sun- 
 day. I shall not go after Chiquaqua again; Vwila hangs on; seems to 
 care for her man in good earnest. 
 
 July 6. — Go to Mr. E.'s in the morning with soap and candles to go 
 to Shepj)ard with his caravan; find him sick, but bus}' buying rubber. 
 A summary process. One Accra grabs the basket of the nearest 
 Zappo Zap or Bashilange, as the case may be, empties its contents 
 into a larger one, ready for the purpose, and suspends it on the scale. 
 Mr. E. adjusts, reads, and says one fathom (funk-a-dime), two fathoms 
 (ma-funka mabida makolo) strong cloth, the latter if the vender has 
 brought a big basket full. He steps inside the store to the counter, 
 seizes a piece of cloth, measures the length from one finger tip to the 
 other of his outstretched arms. Bakan cuts it oflf, thrusts it into the 
 hand of the buyer, and thrusts him out of the way. "Next." So sev- 
 eral hundred- weight were tossed across the counter to join the big pile 
 behind, while I stood by fifteen minutes perhaps. Find myself hotter 
 than I should be, by dinner time. Service and school, and a little 
 lounging, and study of Zappo Zap's variety of the Bantu speech 
 under Vwila, writing in my hammock. Friend from the town made a 
 headache medicine for me — some leaves crushed, rolled up in a conical 
 shape within another leaf, from which I squeezed the juice, drop by 
 di'op, into my aching eyes, and to my surprise, for it amused me 
 greatly, I had no more headache. Went to see how Mr. E. is, with 
 four eggs, my usual dash. On Tuesday, "Wednesday and Thursday, 
 boys were sawing boards ; and on Wednesday, I fastened my things up 
 in good shaj)e and spent the night with Mr. E. Thursday morning, 
 find Chiquaqua back. Call the Congos together and administer a 
 general lecture, also a dash to the whole band, except Chiquaqua, 
 who naturally wasn't much surprised. Saturday, find IMr. E. sick at 
 bath time. 
 
 Sunday, July 12. — Service. Subject: "They could not enter in 
 because of unbehef." Imitate the childi'en who dared to cross the 
 border and enjoyed the land; not the fathers who feared and died 
 without the light. Evening — The lost sheep. Went to dine with Mr. 
 
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BENA SIAM. 191 
 
 E. who is sick in bed. Hear that Shej)pard and INIr. Stache are at 
 Bena Siam, a Bakuba town on the Lulua near the Kassai. 
 
 Juhj 13. — Udju (Lagos man) comes to ask me to go and see Mr. E., 
 who is very sick. Find he has had hematuria. Spent most of the 
 day with him, until with the abatement of the fever the flow of blood 
 ceased. Quinine, Dover's Powders, and cathartic compound (calomel, 
 jalap, colocynth, gamboge) did the work. Udju called me out to kill a 
 big snake. " Stick no fit, get gun." '• I don't see any snake." " There 
 in the bush, like a handkerchief." I saw a wide ribbon, green with 
 brown spots, and presently he was out on the grass, headless and 
 writhing — a bad one ; sleeps in the day and bites at night ; size of your 
 Avrist, three feet long. At home, found that Mampviya had stolen my 
 salt, almost all. 
 
 July 14. — Tie Mampuya's hands behind him, and order him to stay 
 in the bush at the bottom of the clearing as a punishment. I tried 
 (on intimation that Vwila's mother was well disposed) to get a written 
 permit for Vwila to stop permanently with Mpiata. The disaffected 
 Zappo Zaps, led by Chiquaqua, forced the poor girl to refuse, and she 
 took leave of us very silent and sorrowful. 
 
 July 15. — Vwila could not stand it longer, broke loose from her 
 people, came up the road at dusk, smiling all over her Httle face, 
 blushing at the same time — black people do blush, you know. Their 
 word for shame means an emotion felt on the face. 
 
 July 17. — "Went to chop with Mr. E. ; returned to find my runaway 
 boy, Mampuya. Mpiata found him in Bena Kasenga, hid. "With the 
 three Congos he led his captive home, then turned him loose, saying 
 to him, " Mundele says you have seen enough mpasi (trouble) for the 
 salt you have stolen. You see he can tie you or flog you as he likes, 
 but he says you are free now, if you would run away, go." I found 
 him in his right mind. Another little boy, Shamba, son of a chief in 
 Bena Kasenga, asked to stay with me. 
 
 July 18. — Mr. E. and I suddenl}^ took the notion of visiting Shep- 
 pard and Mr. Stache, who have reached Bena Siam. Two fine little 
 Bakuba canoes, cutters, carried Mr. E.'s outfit, two of om- little round 
 dug-outs from Luebo, served for Mr. E., myself and my things ; the 
 big canoe carried the cowries for Mr. Stache. "We dropped down 
 stream quick enough, i:)assing the clearing under the big trees, on the 
 right bank where the Bakwambuya come to make malafu. Ten canoes 
 tied up at the bank. Every little while we passed ferries, indicated 
 by landings opposite each other. These ferries are on the trade 
 routes between the hne of Bakete towns, four or five, that He inland 
 
192 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEYj 
 
 from the right bank, below Luebo, and the Bakete, who Hve in the 
 angle of the Kassai and Lulua. Camp on a sand-bank and reach 
 landing of Bena Siam 
 
 Juhj 19. — Find it a walk of upwards of an hour to the town, forest 
 and then plain. Surprise the two white men, who are vegetating in the 
 town, growing quite wild, we found, living much like the natives, 
 though hardly so well. Took them to task, for they can, with same 
 expense and no trouble, have a chimbric kept clean, a comfortable table 
 of slats, a variety of meats and vegetables, food more temptingly 
 cooked. They had no tea, had thrown it away, perhaps it was a bad 
 tin. But they were famously in with these Bakuba Fine race of big 
 men, modest, pleasant-looking women Very proud, don't take insults. 
 The most artistic race I know, even the commonest utensils have an 
 attractive shape, sj^ears and knives are good. There is a special 
 variety of the famous Kassai cloth made here ; call it plush in distinc- 
 tion fi'om the well-known velvet. The town is built in the usual 
 Bakuba style, a series of rectangular walled enclosui'es, formed a large 
 square or rectangle and enclosing an ample court. What I call " wall " 
 is the same close fence of palm leaves and spUnts, on stout stick frame, 
 which makes the walls of houses. Ivory is coming in. The company 
 will put a station here at once, build a house for a white man to hve 
 in and talk the palaver of ivory — i. e., chaffer for the price This 
 must be done with closed doors — both the buyers and the sellers are 
 interested in keeping the final price a dead secret. Far from water, 
 must buy water needed for cooking, etc. We arrived hungry and took 
 the dinner which had been prepared for our hosts, finished it, and later 
 heljied them discuss a second. The drink is malafu. Sheppard and I 
 drink it not Avithout misgivuigs, as to whether it is safe policy; but 
 when the water is dangerous to drink habitually, without boiling first, 
 and there is another healthy, refreshing drink, furnished by natiu-e, 
 at the simple expense of taking it from the tree, the burden of proof 
 falls on the prohibition side The effect of the malafu is laxative; the 
 immediate precursor of African fever is constipation usually — ergo? 
 The exigencies of pastoral work here may prove that it is necessary 
 to prohibit. We shall see. The malafu is like cider, ferments as it 
 gets old. That of Bena Siam is the best b}^ far that I have tasted — 
 more acid, more saccharine, and with a pleasant milky body to it. 
 Susu and Baba nmch grown. They were radiant as they ran to greet 
 me. At supi^er we still had some capacit}' To soup, bouille, greens, 
 were added roast chicken and Saratoga chips (madioca answers finely) — 
 then IMr. Stache's madioca flour pancakes. Mr. E. requested that the 
 
MAKIMO. 193 
 
 cook make one huudred. He didn't fall far short. After supper the 
 to'wn clerk (or Siam's prime minister) stood in the court and addressed 
 the people, who could all hear from their houses. Sheppard, catching 
 his drift, put up one of his friends, who answered the clerk from the 
 other side and corrected some of the unfavorable remarks the said 
 clerk had thrown out. S.'s man urged the ivory people to bring their 
 tusks and sell without fear. Monday I leave Sheppard, and we re- 
 turn home. Arrived Tuesday evening, July 22. Bena Siam is the 
 first tow'n of the Bakuba on the right bank — an hour's more paddling 
 will bring us to the Kassai, and not much more to the landing of 
 Bena Makina, described page 160. Saw a party from there; fine men, 
 almost giants. They are Bakviba. Makimo is "Mwana Lukenge"; 
 that is, he is the son or brother of the late Lukenge, the Pharaoh of 
 the Bakuba. Now his two brothers are both become Lukenge, so 
 the dynasty has di^dded. The principal town of Lukenge is two days 
 from Bena Siam. 
 
 July 31. — Month goes out in palavers. Mampuya tells that Ngoma 
 has taken soap. Sustained by Mpiata. Ngoma says yes, but Mam- 
 puya took the beads to the value of two months' j)ay. " And how 
 many cowries did you take? " He says, " Not me one, all took." " All" 
 denied. "No chop until you own up." They begin to get hungry. 
 The women, seeing a storm coming and flush times at an end, with- 
 draw to Kasenga on French leave. Mampuya goes to the bush again. 
 The Congos finally own "we took, but not much," and have the de- 
 duction made on their accounts. A road has occupied us seven days — 
 the boys have opened the narrow trail which has served as path to the 
 river and made a good road, to be better when the ground is leveled and 
 smoothed with hoes. Timbers for a boys' house, 30 feet long, ground 
 smoothed for it opposite my house. The other day I went over to Mr. E.'s 
 to see a king of the Makioko — Maila — from Maimonene (great water), 
 situated on the west bank of the Kassai, midway or just below the series 
 of the Wissman cataracts. The old man has a negro face, an afiable 
 manner, far from dull. He lives a little way from the sub-station S. A. B., 
 operated by Mr. Stache. Says the white man woiold get tired buying the 
 quantities of ivorj' that will come now that the market is open. He is 
 of the race that lord it over the region of the headwaters of Kassai, and 
 the branches of the Kwango, " the Arabs of this region," Mr. E. calls 
 them; "the terrible Makioko" (according to Commisaire Lienart). 
 They have been the middle-men between traders here and on the coast. 
 Maila, our friend from Maimonene, has seen the "river of salt," the 
 Atlantic, at St. Paul de Loando. He had on two caps, a velvet cape, 
 13 
 
194 LIFE AND LETTEKS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 and several other European garments, but a skii-t of red blanket. The 
 Kiokos have and sell European cloth, gunpowder, guns, and good 
 salt — i. e., sodium chloride (Question: from Europe or found in Afri- 
 ca; probably both) ; not the potash-magnesia stuff that is leached out of 
 grass ashes all over the Africa I know. True, every trader through 
 whose hands it has passed has taken some out and filled up "with sand 
 (so Mr. E. says), making a gray coarse powder ; but the sand sinks in 
 water and leaves a good brine. That's how Mr. E.'s cook uses it. 
 
 The biggest news of the month is the capture of Kalamba's town of 
 10,000 inhabitants at Luluaburg — the great Kalamba, who has been 
 to Kintamo with the Wissman expedition, who is carried by eight 
 men, too good for the ground — who has imposed a new religion on his 
 people, the Bashilange, commanding them to give up malaf-u and to 
 cut down all the palm trees, to smoke diamba (Indian hemp) in all 
 leisure moments, and during the whole of every other night with the 
 variation of lascivious dances ; whose people threw pepper into the eyes 
 of the men of M. Braconnier, the predecessor of Commissaii'e Leinart. 
 Kalamba wanted to crush the Zappo Zaps. There was a palaver, then 
 a bold decision of M. Lienart, a warning and defiance, then a sudden 
 attack on Monday morning (13th instant), penetrating the palisaded 
 cidadel of Kalamba, which was burnt after the capture of plenty of 
 cattle and goats. The effect will be to assure in a great measure the 
 safety and ascendency of the white man in all this upper country. Ka- 
 lamba's people came from the S. E. in great numbers, and settled on 
 tojD of the Baluba. Their villages line the road to Malauge — eleven on 
 the way. They made the rubber trade, buying from the bushmen, 
 who make the rubber, and seUing to Makioko, or Mr. Saturnino, or 
 Mr. Engeringh. A federation of great chiefs joined to make a big 
 town near where Luluaburg now is, and made one of their number 
 Idng — Kalamba, to-wit. Their power quite shaded the " flag with the 
 golden star," until M. Lienart decided to put it to the touch — brave 
 his fate, to win or lose it all. He has declared himself King of the 
 Bashilange, ex-officio as Commissaire du district du Kassai. I think 
 it right to give thanks for this Providence. 
 
 August 7. — Road-making. Access of comfort in the acquisition of 
 chickens from Mr. E., at a dollar a dozen, counting the original cost 
 and all subsequent expenses on the four pieces of handkerchief given 
 for each dozen. Sheppard and Mr. Stache bought seven hundred at 
 Bena Siam, and when the pi*esent installment reached here Mr. E 
 called me in. Lisa, the gentle-mannered friend of Sheppard and me, 
 is keeping my little girl, bought, or rather ransomed, June 29th. She 
 
BANGAI.A — PlK.t... in •• l,L- Con^o llluslrc. 
 
SLAVE RAIDERS. 195 
 
 was a pitiable object. Chop and kindness have quite transformed 
 lier. Lisa told me lately the Bakwambuya are the same or kindi'ed 
 people with the Bamoyo, who wear only two small pieces of cloth, which 
 are suspended from a string about their waists ! Why ? " Nsarabi 
 (God) tuma (told) bantu (their men) bakala-kala-kala (of long ago)"; 
 and that is why each of Lisa's teeth is filed to a point. Tradition is 
 traced to Xzambi — as the heathen said, and the Jews said. — Deut. iv. 
 19. My patient of May 19th gave me a little bunch of fish — she has 
 wanted to acknowledge the service, but only yesterday' was able to buy 
 the present. But I shall not remain in her debt ! The most genuine 
 case of disinterested gratitude I have met. She isn't strong yet. 
 
 August 15 — Saturday. — Road finished yesterday. Sheppard back 
 to-day from Bena Siam. 
 
 August 17. — We go with Mr. E. to capture a big slave-raider at 
 Bena Kampunga, an inland town of Bakete, three hours distant — a 
 great slave and ivory market. Albes, who escorted Cameron from 
 Katanga to Bihe, camped here once for trade. 
 
 Bakuba come to-day en masse; there must be ivory here with them. 
 
 We expected to find a crowd of Bangala from Kwango. Slavers run 
 awa}'. Bakete and Bakuba begin to rifle the camp. We stopped 
 them — took three pieces of ivory, seventeen slaves, and, as we couldn't 
 get near the leaders of the party, we returned with our plunder, leav- 
 ing three men to lie in wait for the responsible heads of the slavers. 
 The three westcoastmen overtook us as we approached Luebo, bring- 
 ing a man who proved to be a king of the Makioko, not Bangala. A 
 nice-looking young woman among the prisoners cried all the way, and 
 rejected all offers of food, saying she knew the white men had caught 
 them all to chop them. The captured chief, when he saw our prison- 
 ers, at once claimed the young woman as his daughter, and little Gatrda 
 as his granddaughter. He was sent back to say to his friends that 
 they could get their property and go away in peace, as it wac the 
 west-coast raiders we were after, but they mustn't come back. 
 
 The town of Kampunga being decidedly opposed to haviup; their 
 slave market broken up, took the Kiokos fi'om the messengers, and 
 sent word that any white man or white man's servant would lose his 
 head if he came within their reach. The Kioko sent word that they 
 would leave their slaves and property, and send more slaves and ivory 
 as indemnity for intruding into Bula Matadi's laud and white man's 
 ivory market, if we would call the palaver finished. At this point we 
 reported to the Commissaire and asked instructions. I asked for per- 
 mission to take the slaves for the mission as "liberes." (Denied later.) 
 
19 G LIFE A>'D LETTEllS OF S. N. LAl'SLEY. 
 
 August 21-24. — I was sick, our place so hot ; I took refuge at Mr. E.'s. 
 Mr. Stache arrives Monday, 24th. I return the 25th. Tuesday, Sheppard 
 and I found a better site, more pleasant and cool, and, we think, 
 healthful. 
 
 August 28. — Having bought a house from Bena Kasenga to serve us 
 as store, we hired a gang of Bakete, and our two houses, with the new 
 one, were taken down and moved over to the new place, a side at a time, 
 much as Samson moved the gates of Gaza, only half a dozen men instead 
 of one. Queer to see the whole roof trotting along, on a dozen brown 
 legs that show below — cross between a terrapin and a " thousand-legs.' 
 
 September 1. — Congos moved over the addition S. had made to his 
 house, put a partition in and ends, which gives them a spacious house 
 with two rooms. A space of two and one-half acres is almost cut out, 
 and a good road to the big road I made from Mr. Saturnino's to the 
 old place. Part of the plot we chose has lately been in madioc, and 
 took little work ; other half in woods, but not heavy timber. Good 
 soil, gentle slope, just on the brow of the great hill that rises from the 
 Lulua. Immediately behind us is a great field of madioc, perhajDS 
 fifty acres in one field, though only about twenty just in sight. This 
 we shall get from the Bakete, as we need more room. And the rest, 
 between the field and the river, a gentle slope for a great distance, is 
 only Ughtly wooded, so that I hope to see good pastui'es for cattle be- 
 fore long. Plenty of work, grubbing up the stumps, making otu* place 
 habitable. 
 
 September 4-6. — Sheppard almost sick again, worse than I had been, 
 yet not very bad, thank God. We are glad to do so well, really good 
 health for Africans. I never felt such vigor. 
 
 September 7. — Mr. E. the other day sent a picture magazine to Bena 
 Kasenga as a summons to all Bakete to be at home next morning. 
 "Bia Kiaiabwabo (Mr. Engeringh) kulua (is coming) ambo (talk) bwalo 
 (palaver) na (with) Bakete." 
 
 He told them he would buy the ivory of Bakuba at Kasenga. 
 They promised to build him a house — are on theu' heads that they 
 are going to get the fun and profit of a big ivory market. Road 
 from the river to Bena Kasenga finished. The Bakete have gone 
 to work covering with palm leaves the sides and top of the frame 
 Mr. E.s men put up. Traders brought news that M. Leinart, the 
 Commissaire, is at war again with Kalamba. Zappo Zap, the young 
 king of the people, who was named after his father, is helping the 
 State. The post at Makado, half-way, has been taken by the Bashi- 
 lange, the two Baluba soldiers captured, and the Zanzibari forced to 
 
END OF DIAEY. 197 
 
 run awav, turned up at Luebo Sunday. A rumor says that the 
 Kioko are going to attack Luebo. Not likely. Mr. E. has not re- 
 called Mr. Staclie for all that. There is little likelihood that anybody 
 can capture a white post : but it is bad for a mission to be identified with 
 operations which, after all, only aim at making the people willing to ac- 
 cept foreign rule. It is doubtful whether missionaries get moi*e imme- 
 diate good than harm from " State protection." But without the present 
 secular occupation, the missionaries would have been obhged to con- 
 quer a foothold, inch by inch, as on the lower Congo. The State makes 
 this interior field accessible. 
 
 Mr. Lienart heard of a tusk of ivory being offered to Kalamba, and 
 accepted as tribute. He seized it, on the ground that none but him- 
 self could lev}' tribute since the late palaver. The Bashilange said that 
 was a little too much, and that though they had run away the other 
 time, they shouldn't yield so easily again. Several have been killed 
 on both sides, and the road to Luluaburg is impassable. Mr. L. has 
 not had a steamer with supplies since last fall. He lives on loans 
 from Luebo ; got a few bales of handkerchiefs three weeks ago. 
 
 Ngoma is our head man now. Mamjjuya is back, but his woman 
 never again, I believe. Vwila is doing very well. Another woman 
 (bought by Sheppard while away), named Kafinga, is a strong Moluba. 
 These ladies will plant our goobers and corn at once, as the rain began 
 five days ago with the new moon. The boys enjoy the new place — 
 dance often at night to the big drum I bought lately. 
 
 Mr. Lienart took and burnt Kalamba's town ; Kalamba fled, leaving 
 great flocks and fields. "War ends ! 
 
 (And here ends the diary so far as it has reached us.) 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 LETTERS. 
 
 September, 1891, to Makch, 1892. 
 
 f pHE rest of bis story is told in the following letters, received 
 JL subsequent to the last date in tlie diary : 
 
 To His Brother James. 
 
 LuEBO, May 6, 1891. — Our first communion Sunday, the second 
 Sunday in our station, is just finished. Sheppard and I have 
 just said "Good-night" after prayer by the supj^er-table out 
 doors, and a talk and song. Two of the boys are rolling about 
 on the floor to find the softest spot, or the one that will best fit 
 the peculiar curves of their respective backs. 
 
 Our first choice of station, not necessarily the final one, is a 
 little glade in the forest on the north bank of the Lulua river, 
 twenty minutes' walk from the ferry of the Belgian trade station, 
 on the south bank, and fifteen minutes from Bena Kasenga, a 
 ^akete town of 1,000 or more. We reached here on April 22d. 
 
 On the 23d we got up our house, ten feet square, bought from 
 the natives, and brought by them on their heads with great en- 
 thusiasm. A few days later a second "chimbric" was ranged in 
 line with that first one, and now the boj's have nearly finished 
 one for their own occupation, so that, with the tiny kitchen, we 
 have a town of four houses already. 
 
 We have had the grass and scrub cleared away, and planted 
 rows of pine-apples and plantains in proper places about us. 
 Some impression has been made on the woods also, so that 
 presently we shall have some two acres to begin gardening on. 
 I haven't been able to keep my hands off these buildings, and 
 indeed I made the frame of the little veranda to my house my- 
 self, because my boys don't "sabby" a hip-roof, like those in 
 front and rear of ovir old Vine-Hill home. 
 
 198 
 
LETTEK TO HIS BROTHER JAMES. 199 
 
 The natives are passing all tlirougli the day, and usually stop 
 for a chat and look, principally the latter ; though, for the matter 
 of that, I think we could talk with Kaffirs or N^-am-Nyams fairly 
 well, what wdth the similarity of the Bantu languages in the 
 common words, and with the universally current sign lan- 
 guage, I have j)icked up some ten or a dozen words of Kikete 
 (Ki means language, so Kikete is the language of the Ba-kete, 
 the prefix Ba- signifying people), but not enough to do any good. 
 I know "nsolo" is chicken, "bungi" is jilenty, "kakesi" is little, 
 "malengela" is good, "bi," "bosh," or nosh," all mean no, or 
 not. But my little Kikongo helps no little. Sheppard has lit- 
 tle Kikongo, and less Kikete, but he is powerful on signs. 
 
 The people bring us manioc (first cousin of sago or tapioca), 
 in the dry root, and in flour. We have already collected a little 
 flock of chickens, besides the one or two we " chop " every day. 
 But it is hard work to buy the hens, as the natives love eggs, 
 too. 
 
 Often the traders from the bush pass with baskets of rubber, 
 or tusks of ivory, for Mr. Engeringh, of the Belgian house, to 
 buy. 
 
 The rubber is in small balls, made of thin narrow strips rolled 
 up. They catch the juice from vines, stew it, cut it into these 
 strips, roll them up, and it is ready to go to Europe. Mr. E-u- 
 geringh sent over ten tons by the Florida^ on which w^e came 
 here, and he has 30,000 pounds in store now. He also sent 
 some tusks of ivory, some of them beauties, weighing close on 
 to a hundred weight. 
 
 We had a delightful service this morning, but in the afternoon 
 had " palavers " with the tw^o big boys, Mampuya and Ngoma, w4io 
 "have pretty girls on their minds," and tried to mis-use a pass- 
 port Sheppard gave them yesterday, so as to get them wives 
 from among the "young ladies" in Mr. Engeringh's quarters. 
 So they made the acquaintance of that which drives foohshness 
 from young people's minds, and they will wait until we get 
 them married in due course. Then Luamba must get mad with 
 Baba, because the latter youth, my clever cook (who is deaf and 
 dumb), cleared him out of the cook-house, according to orders. 
 I found Baba staggering from a blow on the brow, made by a 
 
200 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 stick. When Luamba came in fi"om a brief retirement in the 
 woods, whither he had fled from justice, he was dressed also ; and 
 now we have great peace and satisfaction — a clear, pure atmos- 
 phere, as after a storm. 
 
 We are out of the world now, if it is possible to be so in the 
 heart of Africa. I am not lonely — plenty of work — plenty of 
 company, and more of heavenly companionshijD than I used to 
 enjoy. 
 
 Still, my mind goes back in the quiet nights with great fond- 
 ness, and a sort of sad delight, to the scenes and people which 
 made me, and still are a part of me ; and the sadness is in being 
 cut off from them so effectually. I remember vividly the day 
 you told me in the garden that you felt called of God to preach, 
 and that we were to go to the University; then that Sunday in 
 the Mathematical recitation room, when you organized the Y. 
 M. C. A., and many other scenes that followed. ... I am often 
 with you at Hampden-Sidney, and in memory visit Hartsell and 
 Somerville and Fairview, and am always wishing now I could 
 get another shot at those people. I could take better aim now, 
 it always seems. But my game is here. 
 
 I hope immediately to begin cramming my note-book and 
 my head with words and idioms I can pick up constantly, even 
 from the children, who love to come and pull up grass for a few 
 cowries (little shells), and from people I meet every hour, and then 
 before long begin to give them ideas of our Saviour's life and 
 death and of his interest in their souls. Perhaps in six months 
 I can stand up and speak in the town before a formal concourse 
 of people. 
 
 I caught yesterday an instance of the alliterative concord 
 which is the key to all Bantu idioms. A woman was heljDing 
 us sprinkle manioc flour across the line of march of a foraging 
 army of ferocious " Driver " ants. (This clogs their legs, it seems, 
 and makes them turn and clear out.) She used the expression 
 "Dina diame" — Dina is name. In Kikongo and Kibangi 
 name is Zina. In Kimbundi it is Zhina. " Ame " means "my" 
 here as in Kikongo. To say "my name" she said " dina diame," 
 the "di" being required to be prefixed to the "ame" to accord 
 with the first syllable in the leading word "dina." The same 
 
LETTEK TO HIS BROTHER JAMES. 201 
 
 rule obtains iu Kikongo, aud uow I am accustomed to sticking 
 on the prefixes. I do it quickly and without thought in my rough 
 Kikongo talk with my Bakongo boys. 
 
 I want to see another station at the mouth of the Sankuni 
 river when our reinforcements come, aud our supplies ; and from 
 Sankuru moiith would work up that river, placing our next post 
 one hundred miles up, and possibly move them inland toward 
 the capital of the great Bakuba king, Lukenga, some of whose 
 people I have seen tradin-g here. 
 
 Well, it is getting late in the night and lonesome. The owls 
 are claiming more attention than is comfortable and cheerful. 
 Visions and footfalls of leopards take possession of the imagina- 
 tion after 10 o'clock. So I must say good-night to you and my 
 little partner and namesake, and his little sister. I would like 
 mightily to kiss them good-night. 
 
 P. S., November 14. — A steamer has come at last, and this will 
 soon start to you. Indeed, four steamers have come, and two 
 more commercial establishments are planted at Luebo. 
 
 "We came just in time for the "boom." We have now a house 
 of two rooms and a hall-way, built of round poles, and covered, 
 roof and sides, with mats of palm leaves. On the roof the mats 
 are three deep. The floor is the earth, but levelled and covered 
 with mats. We are expecting Mr. and Mrs. Adamson in a few 
 mouths, two perhaps. Then school and building in earnest will 
 begin. 
 
 With much love and prayer, Tour brother, S. N. L. 
 
 Iu a httle note enclosed with above, under same date, November 
 14:th, he says: 
 
 I am very weU . . and very happy, except when I let things 
 make me careless about seeking God's help and comfort in prayer. 
 I like the black folks very much. They are not stuck up, though 
 they are ready to stand up for themselves, and they like much 
 better to keep on good terms. They are very funny and lively, and 
 make good company. They keep pretty clean, especially those that 
 live by tlie water-side, who have skins like velvet, soft and smooth. 
 They all believe in sweeping their yards and houses in the town 
 (and no African but lives in town). If any fellow is laz}' about it, 
 
202 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LArSLEY. 
 
 tliey call a town meeting, and make him pay the price of five 
 chickens or a goat, and the rest have a feast at his expense, 
 which makes them all careful. 
 
 To HIS Brother Robert. 
 
 LuEBO, September 30, 1891. 
 
 Dear Rob : The coming of the FlorhJa with our mails has 
 opened a new epoch in our Lnebo life, and stimulated even me 
 to a little more diligence in getting ready for the coming oppo- 
 tunity for sending oflf letters. Your time to profit by this has 
 come around, if I can collect my thoughts sufficiently. But the 
 little group near me in the "pavilion," where I write at the 
 cleared dinner-table, seem bent on distracting my mind from the 
 undertaking. These boys are trying to squabble like women 
 over the work in their laps. Ngosolo is making Sheppard a 
 shirt, but is more intent on convincing the " Mokete " Chinyama 
 that he is kyanana (nothing), because of a hat he owes to Ngo- 
 solo, &c. The Bakete bend over the rattan they are splitting 
 into strings to use in making Madame Kafinga's house. Little 
 Ntumba is rocking herself on a section of a tree I used for a 
 seat while my camp-stool was in the hospital. 
 
 Sheppard and the men are busy enough putting up the sticks for 
 Sheppard's house. But the principal cause of my wool-gathering is 
 the Kasongo palaver, which I described to papa, and which is yet 
 unsettled. 
 
 The five months at Luebo have been a period of experience 
 rather than of progress in divine things, leaving me wiser, per- 
 haps stronger, but sadder certainl}^, as I look back and ask if I 
 have grown in grace. 
 
 The isolation from Christian influences, even of all books ex- 
 cept my Bible and English hymn book, and the constant contact 
 of godless influences, has certainly lowered my level of Christian 
 life, chilled me, and kept me always in a series of internal apolo- 
 getics. Only when I could assume the aggressive, and show Mr. 
 Engeringh that our faith is not " a cunningly devised fable," and 
 that our experience has resources of happiness he cannot under- 
 stand, and when I saw how transparent and inconsistent are 
 
LETTEB TO HIS BROTHER ROBERT. 203 
 
 the sophisms by which he has bhnded himself, could \ feel what 
 I always knew, that my feet are on a rock. My devotions have 
 been as a whole unsatisfactory, and I am still without a system, 
 which brings uniform, steady efficiency in prayer ; and I have 
 known many fruitless days. It is to my shame that I must say 
 this, and humiliating when I see that we have still been kept 
 safe, and have got on, though slowly. 
 
 After a long period of aimless floundering, I have got started 
 on the Bakete language, with some three or four hundred words, 
 and an idea of the structure, which is worth much more. But 
 the words most needed, such as "life," "spirit," etc., come hard, 
 and Luebo is a bad place to get a language, because five or six 
 other tribes, Bashilange, Baluba, Zappo-Zapp, Bamoyo, (Bak- 
 wam buya) Biombo, and Bakuba, all trade at Bena Kasenga 
 and with the S. A. B., at Luebo, and many of the slaves that 
 come from the southwest are bought by the Bakete. So how 
 do I know when a word is really Bakete, or only part of the 
 hash spoken in trade at this great market? 
 
 I think that decided good has been done to the Bakongo who 
 are with us, especially in the daily meetings. One of them, 
 Ngosolo, responded to an in-satation to lead in prayer, intended 
 for some of Dr. Sims' boys, who had come in to our evening 
 prayer at Kintamo. I have since thought I saw evidence of 
 grace in him, though his character is very imperfect. His 
 prayers have probably instructed the rest, more than my broken 
 talk. 
 
 Recently I asked Sheppard to take charge of the Congo's 
 daily meetings, and gave him full swing. I was surprised to 
 come in one day, and find he had made them all try to lead in 
 prayer. Two of the new ones developed some gifts of expressing 
 their desires, and show their interest in the service, and an im- 
 proved demeanor in all other matters. But I intend to tran- 
 scribe for you one of Ngosolo's prayers. They are edifying, and 
 often strikingly fresh and appropriate. 
 
 Sheppard and I had to laugh when he told me of the discus- 
 sion between the two big boys, wise Ngoma, and hair-brained 
 Mampuya, as to which should have the privilege of leading next 
 day. 
 
204 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 N'ovemher 12. — Now I must wiud np for tlie mail. The diary, 
 a stupendous volume, will roacli you with this I trust. I hope 
 you can read it. If any steps described therein don't meet your 
 approval, wait a bit ; perhaps under the guidance of God's 
 Sjiirit I may turn back and retrace them, or may see such good 
 ends reached as may prove their wisdom. 
 
 The two most perilous are keeping women on our place, and 
 not enforcing total abstinence. I am thus far of opinion that 
 the opposite in either case would be wrong. The burden of 
 proof lies with the other view. 
 
 The thing that I am most ashamed of, as I review the six 
 months at Luebo, is the small spiritual jorogress made, and the 
 amount of unimproved time allowed to slip by. I humbly hope 
 that He that is able is enabling me to improve in both of late. 
 One simple plan has helped me, viz. : make out on Sunday a 
 schedule of subjects for devotion for morning, noon and night 
 during the coming week, leaving space between the lines thus 
 inscribed for the record of what work was accomplished during 
 the day corresponding to each topic. It has helped me. 
 
 I haven't seen the Christian's Secret, etc., which you were going 
 to send me. I should prize something quiet and straightforward 
 on that line. I sometimes find an artice in The Christian of 
 London, that helps me. 
 
 With Avarmest love and sympathy, S. N. Lapsley. 
 
 Your suggested scheme for evangelizing is not impracticable 
 at all, but it is not possible till one knows how to speak better 
 than I do, or any one else of the white colony here. I am anxi- 
 ous for the day to come, but must do the next best thing mean- 
 while, somewhat still-hunt fashion, hand picking. I am sure 
 some impression has been made, but how much? 
 
 Letter to his Sister Isabel. 
 
 Luebo, Octoher 4, 1891. 
 "Tour summer in Alabama is past, biit our spring is just on. 
 "We have had four months of dry, cold weather, with barren- 
 
LETTER TO HIS SISTER ISABEL. 205 
 
 lookiug liill-sides, rusty, leafless trees overliangiug tlie dusty 
 road, and almost hiding the more faithful ones that keep their 
 green. * Dry,' I said ; yes, from ten o'clock till sundown, and 
 dead hot out in the open exposed places. But when the dew 
 begins to fall it is a very rain. By the last watch before day — 
 the hour I used to wake often — I could hear the uncanny sound 
 of the water dropping, dropping when there had been no rain ; 
 and a dense mist fell then or about sunrise, so you could'nt see 
 fifty yards ; and it was cold enough for more than my two good 
 blankets. But a few weeks ago the rains began nicely, — not 
 too much, but a good drencher every evening, — until the ground 
 was ready for the seed. Then the women of the town, Beua 
 Kasenga, held their annual meeting, to assign to each group of 
 friends their patch to plant of the great fields north, east, south, 
 and west of the toAvn. Now the roads are walled with a mass 
 of first green like our woods at home in April 
 
 The weather too is very pleasant, especially here where the 
 big manioc fields behind give the breezes room to play. The 
 hunters are glad of the rain. They can follow the trail of their 
 game. Some are at it all day; and more than that, you can 
 hear all through the night, any moment, the long calls exactly 
 like a horn far away in the forested hill across the river, whether 
 it is to drive the game, or to keep in call of the rest of the party 
 I cannot say. . . . 
 
 [Speaking of the possibihties of good in the way of woman's work, 
 he says :J 
 
 "Any good woman can do so many things we men cannot, 
 even if we knew how, and essential things too. You should see 
 the ladies at Lukunga. They don't preach at all, but they teach, 
 or rather direct the teaching; instruct, lead or point darkened 
 and slow ones. They do as much as Mr. Hoste, I do believe; 
 and they are very happy too." 
 
 Letter to Mrs. Kay. 
 
 Ameeican Pkesbyteeian Congo Mission, 
 LuEBo, October 21, 1891. 
 My Dear Auntie : God has kept me safe and happy since I 
 wrote you last, and has enabled me to see the work begun at 
 
206 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 Luebo. To-morrow I hope to speak to the people. I have now 
 enough " Bokete," as the natives (the Bakete) call their language. 
 
 A Christian soldier from Zanzibar, a pupil of Bishop Sture, 
 and who also knew Bishop Hanniugton and Mr. Mackay, has 
 lent me his Kiswahili Testament, and owing to the similarity of 
 these Bantu languages, it may help me in the little translation I 
 intend to make for use to-morrow. 
 
 We are on very good terms with the Bakete of Bena Kasenga, 
 though some of them think that old Shamba (the chief) went 
 too far when he gave me Shamba Mwana (Shamba-son) to be 
 my personal boy. This little gentleman is ten and a half years 
 old, I should say, and is coal-black, with a fine strong face, not 
 like a negro, very much. His blackness is more conspicuous be- 
 cause he wears only a single garment, which covers the middle 
 third of his figure. lie is not afraid of anything or anybody ; is 
 frank, self-respecting in his manner, sunny tempered, always 
 laughing, but inclined to rule whoever is next him. We like him 
 very much, and the town wakes up when Shamba Mwana is 
 seen following me across the common just before we get to Bena 
 Kasenga. You will be a bit surprised to learn that I have be- 
 come something of a doctor. How, I don't know, unless by 
 having first to take a good deal of physic from others, and then 
 learning to dose myself and Sheppard On the steamer up, I 
 had four patients (a dozen counting the black folks), who sang 
 my praises on my arrival here, and helped to make us welcome 
 neighbors. The pretty box of medicine ($25 worth) had some 
 share, it may be. I began to take a little medicine to the town, 
 and now I have many cases a day, and they have all got well, 
 though three or four were bad ones. I discharged a light case 
 of dysentery to-day. I use mostly only a fev/ things I know 
 well, such as calomel and jalap and Dover's powders, with car- 
 bolic acid for washes and ointments, and iodoform. 
 
 Shamba Mwana says they have a song in my honor like this : 
 
 Mutomba Njila watuambiku bwanga, 
 {Translation): Mutomba Njila (that's me) gives iis medicine. 
 
 Watumenekesa moyo. 
 Makes us see health (life). 
 
LETTER TO MRS. KAY. 207 
 
 It is always a good means of interesting tliem in the " Balm of 
 Gilead." 
 
 But now I must leave you to get ready for to-morrow. I got 
 your message inclosed in Tillie's note, and it made me glad. 
 
 May God bless my dearest auntie. 
 
 Letter to Mrs. E. A. L. 
 
 LuEBO, October 25, 1891. 
 Sunday Night. 
 
 My Dear Sister Genie : The promise of a good day was poor,, 
 when Mr. Clotens, of the Societe' Anonyme Beige, came in on 
 us, at the end of a rather lazy breakfast hour. And he staid 
 until nearly 10 : 30. So my Sun'Tay meditation began late. The 
 station boys and women came in for prayers, as I came back 
 from seeing Mr. Clotens ofl'. We had a pleasant little service, 
 and I settled to seek a fresh store of grace, with which to begin 
 next week on a higher spiritvial level. 
 
 Little Ntumba came in and sat down in front of an array of 
 ^^ Children s Friends'''' with pictures, and went to sleep on the 
 mat. Early dinner was brought on and dispatched — not very 
 plentiful to-day — and yet I had not got much help, and felt much 
 discouraged. 
 
 But God was pleased to answer my prayer, by giving me 
 " purpose in prayer," through the use of a pencil ; and a few 
 petitions and promises took definite hold of my heart, I trust, 
 as they lay written before me on my little desk, when I sat alone 
 in the intense solitude of tropical noon, when all others were gone 
 away. Then I made a little sketch of what I might say in town 
 to-day, largely a translation of Paul on Mar's Hill, with the 
 clause about the Saviour enlarged till it balanced all the rest of 
 the discourse. 
 
 About 3 p. M, I found a quiet corner with a group of women 
 I know very well. The houses made a screen from the noise of 
 the street, and the subject came up naturally. 
 
 My patient, lounging opposite, reported herself as nearly well. 
 " That's God's doing," I said, and asked what she knew about 
 NiuHule. 
 
208 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 Bomba, nursing lier poor little baby (wliicli I think will die), 
 and another woman opposite, began to listen and repeat every- 
 thing, to be sure they heard rightly. Milembo, a great friend 
 of Sheppard's, comes wp between two of the little houses, and 
 I asked her again. She answered right along and explained 
 fully, when I stopped to breathe. 
 
 She said the Bakete knew God made and preserved us, and 
 everything, and gives us everything. 
 
 " Yet," said I, " you don't clap your hands softly three times, 
 so," (then I imitated their manner) "and say, 'Wolali'! as you 
 would if Zgave you only a present of a little salt." 
 
 " The Bakete would sing to him, if they only knew how," 
 said she. And so I went on explaining who Jesus is, and they 
 listened earnestly, with some doubt about his coming again in 
 the clouds. But the usual complaint was, " we have not heard 
 this : you white people know, but we don't." 
 
 I think I shall have more satisfactory progress each time. 
 The first difficulty is to be understood. If I had more of the 
 Spirit's power I should be more able to compel them to hear 
 and take it in. 
 
 I had a few cases of sickness, as always now, before I turned 
 back to supper. I have had good success, and am thankful to 
 see that it helps one to get influence and a hearing. The thing 
 that has left the happiest impression, as I look back on the day, 
 was a sermon by one of the English leaders of B.'s holiness 
 friends. Canon Moule, of Cambridge, on the New Testament 
 Christian, as shown in the Epistle to the Ephesians. What he 
 is, chap. iv. to the end ; how he is able to be it — the first three 
 chapters. 
 
 October 26. — A busy day — morning — superintending Mpiata 
 plane planks for a door to the new store room, and mending my 
 pocket rule, when two women came, and one said : " My little 
 daughter is very sick ; you must come." She would not be put 
 off. I got there at eleven o'clock, and found the child in spasms, 
 from a rising in the head. I came back for mustard plasters 
 and hot Avater appliances, and was thankful to see the child 
 come to very quickly, and made the family kill a chicken to 
 make it broth. "Wonderful ! They live so poorly and are so 
 
LETTER TO HIS MOTHER. 209 
 
 stingy. I am very glad aud thankful ; it will help me greatly at 
 the town. I have three cases now. One is his highness, Kwete 
 himself. 
 
 Afternoon : Made the door, put in the posts, arranged the 
 hinges, all ready to swing the door in the morning. Went at 
 sundown to see Chickwakwa, our old protege, who is sick. They 
 were surprised to see me at Kasongo's, after his naughty be- 
 haviour a few weeks ago. Maybe they will learn by it that our 
 Master is a peace-maker. I am urged to demand a goat of the 
 Bakete, the usual fee for treating a bad case of sickness. The 
 gratis healing is another surprise to them. 
 
 Letter to his Mother. 
 
 To his mother he wi'ites about this time. 
 
 . . . Shamba Mwana, the heir and pride of old Chief Shamba, 
 brought matters to a head to-day at 2 p. m. His hvely disposi- 
 tion and absolute lack of discipUne, little bushman that he is, 
 have gradually got the better of his early reverence for me. 
 Yesterday he needed a boxing before he would bail the canoe 
 (with his hand). To-day I saw him tickling dumb Baba during 
 prayer. He knows better, as well as R. A. L., Jr., does. So I 
 took him down the road and wore out a switch on him, probably 
 his first experience of the kind. He packed his little stock 
 pretty soon after, (a mat and two cloths I had given him) and 
 
 struck for town . I looked up about 5 : 30 to see Shamba 
 
 Mwana leaning a little sheepishly against the door post, but iu 
 an angelic state of mind, and "so thankful and willing to please." 
 
 Trip to Luluaburg. 
 
 To a younger brother he writes this account of the trip to Lulua- 
 burg, or Malange: 
 
 LuEBo, November 19, 1891. 
 
 Dear Rutherford. — I decided yesterday to go to Luluaburg, 
 and, if possible, engage workmen there for our buildings and 
 clearing. So this morning, the boys and I mended my travel- 
 ling bed, and in the afternoon we counted thirty-five dozen ban- 
 l-i 
 
210 LIFE AND LETTEKS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 clannas, and got out two long pieces of brass wire, and four 
 hundred brass rods thirteen inches long, cut from the wire. This 
 is the currency with which to pay our way. We filled a box 
 with provisions, and I had Vwila and little Sliamba Mwana 
 pack a covered basket with some changes of raiment for me, and 
 then at evening we crossed the river, to get a good start to-mor- 
 row ; and I am now writing at the Belgian Station, the guest of 
 Mr. Engeringh. 
 
 Two Bakete volunteered to go with us, and the whole party 
 are all agog to be off for " Malauge," as the natives call Lulua- 
 burg. At dusk we heard a terril)le hullaballoo at the landing, 
 other side of the river ; and when the cries became articulate,. 
 Shamba Mwana began to giggle. " It's Shamba Mboyo's mother. 
 She don't want him to go with us to Malange." 
 
 MwANTTiMBi's, Nowmher 20. 
 
 Left Luebo about 8 o'clock, which was a late start. But it 
 rained until a good while after daybreak, and everybody slept. 
 It is the rainy season now, and here this season is greedy. Not 
 content with a storm every other evening or night, and a burst 
 of rain like a water-spout, it holds on and on, till long after day, 
 and the clouds don't disperse until nearly noon. Then the sun 
 bursts out and makes up for lost time. It seems literally to 
 smite one. But we took the road with a rush, travelling just 
 four hours to this place, I only stopping once to sit down astrad- 
 dle Ngoma's load for fifty -nine seconds. 
 
 There is along with us a crowd of women going back to Ma- 
 lange. They came down to Luebo with the Zauzibari soldiers, 
 who Avent away on the steamer, and they have been waiting at 
 Luebo, until there should be a party going to Malauge, so they 
 could travel without danger of being caught by the Makioko on 
 the way, and sold as slaves. They led the way, a string of seven 
 or more of them, and they brushed the water off the grass, which 
 was convenient ; and here they find tomatoes and go for water, 
 and cook the dinner for my boys, which is more so. 
 
 After the big bush which fringes the Lulua river was passed, 
 we walked on a high level plateau, covered with grass like 
 broomsedge, but richer looking, dotted with clumps of thick 
 
LETTER TO HIS BROTHER RUTHERFORD. 211 
 
 trees, sprinkled with Ioav scrub trees, much like apple trees. 
 There ought to be game on the plaiu, but I haven't seen any yet. 
 The boys haven't walked for a long time. So to-day's tramp 
 did them up pretty thoroughly. I have therefore asked the old 
 chief for a hoiise, had it swept, the rubber rug laid down, the 
 camp bed put up, blankets nicely spread on it, mosquito net 
 hung, a table improvised and spread for dinner, and the boys 
 put to work to make that a success. The Baluba of the town 
 seem a little surprised, not at seeing a white man, but at such a 
 tame one, with well-behaved men too. 
 
 LuLUABTJEG, November 27. 
 
 The road has not been favorable to letter- writing ; yei it was 
 not an unpleasant trip by any means. To resume my story. I 
 woke up at four o'clock next morning (the 21st), had my coffee and 
 oat-meal prepared while the bed was being packed and the little 
 things stowed away in various pockets and bags. Then, when 
 it was just plain daylight, I called to the Malange ladies to 
 " hght oiit " and show the Avay ; and the caravan, eighteen be- 
 sides myself, filed away through the grass, which was bending 
 with heavy dew, and almost meeting across the narrow path. 
 The young people got up steam, by singing snatches of their 
 songs, cracking jokes on each other, repeating the funny things 
 that were said the day before, and trotting briskly under their 
 light loads. 
 
 We marched steadily for five hours, threading our way most 
 of the time through a great forest. I hardly stopped walking 
 once ; was almost careful not to sit down and rest, as I find that 
 I hold out better that way. Reached Kakamba's town about 
 10 : 30, to find the town deserted and partly burned — fear of the 
 State soldiers. We " chopped," and, as it was Saturday, and I 
 wished to do double that day, and so earn the Sunday's rest, we 
 pushed on I was taken aback to find, when I had made four 
 hours from Kakamba's, that it was three hours' march still to 
 Mokano's, the nearest place where I could get a roof over my 
 head against the storm which threatened. We got in by 8 
 o'clock, and the people of my caravan were so well trained that 
 in a little while the house was found, and swept, bed made, and 
 
212 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 chop spread before the camp-stool, from wliicli I hadn't wished 
 or needed to move. The carriers and the women, too, were 
 given brass rods with which to buy chop, to eat, drink and be 
 merry ; and we went to sleep very gladly. 
 
 Preaching at Mokano. 
 
 Sunday (the 22d) we awoke, not very tired, and none the worse 
 for the big march of twelve hours, except that I felt as if I had 
 been beaten with rods from my waist down. 
 
 I had the pleasure of explaining very simply the story of the 
 gosj)el to the two chiefs and about a hundred of their people, 
 and of finding them very curious to know about the future des- 
 tiny of the souls of men. They must be in the habit of talking 
 and guessing about these things, as they sit together the moon- 
 light nights. 
 
 But there are two sad things about the people on both sides 
 the Lulua, far, far above Luebo, the region of which Luluaburg 
 is the capital. They all, who are old enough, smoke the Indian 
 hemp — diamha, they call it — and its effect is like that of opium. 
 They are all lean and dreamy -looking ; that is, most of the crowd 
 that gather around to look at me are ; and the children look 
 poor and scrawny. The other sad thing is, that the only mission 
 that they are apt to have here is the Catholic Belgian mission 
 at Luluaburg. 
 
 The diamha pipes are queer affairs — simply a great gourd, 
 big as a bucket, with a hole at the stem for the mouth of the 
 smoker, and another at the side, in which is inserted a large 
 bowl for the leaves of diamha. Everywhere in the villages the 
 diamha is growing, and grows, like most bad things, in the rain 
 and the drought. 
 
 The Journey Resumed. 
 Another early start on Monday, and by noon we halted in 
 good shape at Ndumba's, a big town which had war with the 
 State some months ago. One of Ndumba's men drew a bow, 
 whether at a venture or no, I can't say, but with a poisoned ar- 
 row in it, which found its way straight to the knee of M. Lien- 
 art, the Commissaire. So the Ndumbaites got off more easily 
 
LETTER TO HIS BROTHER RUTHERFORD. 21? 
 
 than they might, if the Commissiare hadn't had such good rea- 
 son for Avantiiig to get back home. They must have got over all 
 that U()\v, for they swarmed around me, seemingly greatly pleased 
 at being allowed to look as much as they liked at this new kind 
 of white man. They said it seemed funny, and I told Ngoyo, 
 the woman who got me water, to say that my King, whom they 
 know as JSfsavibi (God), likes black people as well as us, and I 
 couldn't properly be bad to them, even if I wanted to. 
 
 One of Ndumba's women gave me her house, and moved into 
 one beside it, though unfinished. She also " dashed " me a 
 dried fish as I was eating my supper. 
 
 The next day, Tuesday, was the only bad one of the six. We 
 pushed on from day-break until two o'clock, over the hills — bad 
 ones and woody — and far, very far away, to Kalamba's. My 
 left knee isn't well yet from the wrenches it got then. About 
 ten o'clock we passed the thicket of bananas which marks the 
 deserted town of Chinyama, where Dr. Summei^s died on his way 
 back to England and health. It makes me sad every time I 
 think of him, that so brave and good a man should have been, 
 taken away with his work only begun, and not able to go on 
 without him. The people loved him very much, and talk about 
 him as if it had been yesterday that he died. 
 
 At Kakamba's I saw six or seven head of cattle ; and I w^as of- 
 fered cpiantities of young bees, roasted with a little oil, and what 
 is more, I ate quantities of the same, and found them very nice 
 
 On Wednesday we passed village after village surrounded by 
 gardens, but mostly deserted and partly burnt in the war. The 
 people have gone to the bush. The ruins remain of nice little 
 houses which the chiefs had made for themselves after the model 
 of the clay-walled houses of the white men. We took a good 
 rest at Kakamba's at noon, and marched into Luluaburg in the 
 evening, in good time. The country near Liduaburg is hilly, 
 much like that around our Vine-Hill home ; only the hills, though 
 gently slopiug, are higher and there aren't enough trees to shut 
 off the prospect. The woods line the creases down the hillsides 
 and fill the bottoms of the valley, and their dark green makes a 
 pleasant set-off to the bright green of the grassy mounds and 
 ridges, especially where the light has begun to get soft and 
 
214 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 mellow in the sunny afternoon. Have you begun to like tliat 
 kind of pretty thing? But I expect that you are not just begin- 
 ning now, but that you know a pleasant view when you see it. 
 
 At Luluaburg at Last. 
 
 Well, before reaching Malange (Luluaburg) we came in sight 
 of the fields of corn and manioc and goobers, belonging to the 
 Zappo Zappos ; here a big patch of twenty acres, then another 
 of fifty, and another of one hundred and fifty. We walk a long 
 while through the corn, until we sight a long village of conical- 
 shaped grass houses, covering a ridge for more than half a mile. 
 That is the village of the Zaps, and the tall cone half-way up, 
 with a flag floating aloft on a very high pole, is the house of 
 King Zappo Zappo himself. We climb that ridge and at the 
 top get a view of a large group of grass roofs with trees peeping 
 through between, on a fine plateau a mile away, and the girls 
 all cry, "Malange! Mukelunge! Malange!" They call me and 
 all white men " mukelunge," which means king. Down the 
 slope to the little brook at the bottom of the valley, Avhere every- 
 body freshens up, puts on or adjusts anew the new cloth got at 
 Luebo, and all climb the last hill in a body behind me. The 
 approach to the station has the same efi^ect as the cornfields had 
 on me, of making me feel, a moment, that I was in Alabama 
 instead of Africa. There is an avenue graded up to the top of 
 the hill, lined with trees and about as wide as Ninth street (An- 
 niston). On either side are houses enclosed in a fenced yard. 
 One side, I have since learned, belongs to the interpreter Jose ; 
 the other to Seeku, whom I knew at Luebo, long ago with M. 
 Lienart. At the top of the street is an opening of the same 
 width, which admits into a large enclosure, where there is a 
 circle of brick houses thatch-roofed, facing on a yard full of 
 pretty trees a few years old, with flowers here and there. 
 
 Lieut. Rom led me to the Prince de Croy, a young Belgian 
 officer mentioned in a former letter, and who is now Commissaire 
 of the Kassai district ; and I received a welcome and quarters. 
 
 LuLUABrEG, December 10. 
 I stopped at the station several days, from Wednesday until 
 Wednesday following, looking around, asking people questions. 
 
LETTER TO HIS BROTHER RUTHERFORD. 215 
 
 and lookini^ for workmeu, for slaves to ransom, and for a bull 
 and cow to buy. Not mucli luck at fii'st. But as I determined 
 on Friday to go to Zappo Zappo's, and try my band there, 
 whom should I meet on the way but the young Prince Zappo, 
 himself. He was coming out of Seeku's place, and he came up 
 with Seeku and a party of his people, and asked to be presented 
 to the new white man. Zappo is a very handsome young fellow 
 about twenty-three years old. He wore a cloak from the waist 
 to the knees, and another thrown over his shoulders, and a 
 folded handkerchief, tied about his head in a rakish style. 
 
 "Is that cloth you have in that bundle? Let's see it." And 
 he led the way back into Seeku's, where we sat down and Seeku 
 (of whom I wi'ote R. as Dr. Summer's boy, and also interpreter 
 for the Commissaire) made the palaver for us. 
 
 Zappo ofiered some slaves for the strong blue cloth I showed 
 Mm, and suggested that I make him a present and arrange it as 
 a matter of friendship rather than of business. I agreed and 
 gave him eighteen yards of the blue cloth, and some twenty 
 yards of brass wii'e, not cut up into rods, seeing he was a king. 
 
 Xext day I went over to see him, about haK an hour's walk. 
 He received me in his fi'out porch, and had his present brought — 
 a good looking boy of nineteen years, a gii'l about sixteen, and 
 a boy of eleven. These young folks were not sorry of the 
 change, only asking if they were to be sold again. 
 
 I said; "No, you are my children now," and I gave them 
 cloth and plenty of chop. So they are immensely pleased. 
 
 Sunday, I was very tired, my lame knee making a small walk 
 a fatigue. Monday, I ventui-ed to go to see the great chief 
 Kalamba, wh© since the State drove him from his village, lives 
 five hours away. But I only got as far as his former capital, of 
 which only the traces remain. The gardens are already grown 
 up in grass, though it is not six months since four thousand 
 people occupied the broad plateau. 
 
 Tuesday I had to lie on the shelf, for my lame knee to recover 
 from Monday's trip. 
 
 "Wednesday evening I got on the road again, to visit Mr. 
 Saturnino, the Portuguese trader I knew at Luebo. The guide 
 lost the way and cost me five home's marching, but my knee 
 
216 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 regained strength, and I landed at a village of Angolais, from 
 whom I engaged eleven workmen, and tlie wives of five of them, 
 and mj host agreed to go with me to Luebo and to settle there, 
 if lie found it good to he there. 
 
 Saturday morning I was welcomed at Mr. Saturnino's, and 
 fed and treated as if I were a prince, or three princes. 
 
 When I left him Monday morning he gave me four pigs to 
 take to Luebo, as the start for a drove. The fellows he ordered 
 to carry the pigs to the town where I had left my new employes, 
 did'nt enjoy their task, as the pigs were somewhat restless and 
 inclined to make remarks. So two of them pitched their pigs, 
 baskets and all, into the bushes, and made off. Ngoma found 
 one of them. To-night I am fixing to sleep at the town of the 
 Zappo Zappos, with my big caravan, seventeen men, four women, 
 one baby, three pigs and two dozen chickens. 
 
 These Zappo Zappos are part of a tribe of cannibal marauders 
 from far East of this. Their chief fell out with his bigger chief, 
 Mpanyu Matomba, on the Sankviru, and emigrated to this place 
 five years ago, with some eight hundred people. Their houses, 
 like themselves, are both tall and big, and square, with the corn- 
 ers rounded. They make on me the impression of being jDecu- 
 liar, not like others. Their mode of living has been to hunt a 
 town weaker than themselves, surprise it at daybreak, catch all 
 the people and kill those too strong to make slaves of ; then sell 
 the slaves for guns or anything that is current, goods, goats, 
 ivory or rubber. 
 
 Ltjlua Eiver, Steamee Florida, January 6, 1892. 
 
 I finished my visit to Luluaburg, December lOtli, and said 
 good bye to my friends there. They were very kind to me. 
 The Comte d'Ursel is a big square young Belgian, with a very 
 kind heart and level head, but he has been allowed to wreck his 
 health by fast living in the army, all because he was a Count, 
 poor boy. He helps steer the official course of his cousin, the 
 Prince de Croy, who wants to distinguish himself by great im- 
 provements in the Station. He seemed to be really glad to have 
 me there, and walked and talked with me often in the mornings, 
 
LETTER TO HIS FATHER. 217 
 
 and gave me good bargains for a bull and cow, and asked me 
 back to see bim. 
 
 I made the trip home quietly, not to hurry my little folks and 
 live stock, a miscellaneous caravan, mucli like Father Jacob's in 
 miniature ; but still I reached Luebo in six days, limped thirty 
 miles the last day, and dragged into Mr. Engeringh's, down the 
 avenue between rows of tall bananas, through the silent Station, 
 and up to the big fi-ont door, where my friends sat on the veran- 
 da in the twihght. 
 
 The next morning we -ferried the caravan across. 
 
 I found Sheppard had improved the place greatly, cleaning 
 and clearing up the ground and planting us a banana avenue up 
 to the front door, Mr. Engeringh giving the banana trees. 
 
 I have had another fever, which I charge to a great hole in 
 the back of my undershirt, which made me susceptible to a sud- 
 den change fi"om hot to cold. Thankful to be quite well again 
 by the second day of the new year. 
 
 Xew Tear's afternoon we heard a whistle which we recognized 
 as that of the Florida. Such a shout as was raised ! 
 
 The need of supplies for our Station, and the state of my 
 health, determined me to go down on the Florida to Stanley 
 Pool, a journey which the state of our transport arrangements 
 has long suggested as desirable. 
 
 Letter to His Father. 
 
 Steamek "Flokida," EIassai Kiveb, 
 Between Lulua and Sankueu, January 8, 1892. 
 
 Dear Papa : To-day finds me well on the way, and on a very 
 pleasant way. The prospect of meeting old friends and con- 
 ferring with old advisers, with more intelligent inquiries to make 
 of their experience than when I saw them last ; of receiving the 
 new contingent to our mission, with whom we shall be more 
 closely allied than if we were kin almost, if God will ; of making up 
 at the Pool the first fiill, satisfactory equipment for our business 
 that we have known — all this is enough to make rae feel hght 
 and hopeful. We are a very congenial party, too, as far as that 
 is possible, outside of the household of faith. Mr. Engeringh, 
 
218 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 always sttird}-, plain, genial, and wide awake, and so kind at the 
 bottom ; Engineer Van Kouteren, a level-headed Fleming, with a 
 twinkle in his eye — (Mr. Sircx is dead !) ; the captain, well-dis- 
 posed as ever, and very pleasant, now that things go well : 
 plenty of chop aboard, too. We have three dishes of meat, 
 each with some nice accompaniment — the courses driven "tan- 
 dem," European st^de, not abreast, as we do it. Coffee at 4:30 
 in the morning, when the engineer stamps back and forth be- 
 tween his boiler and his cabin over the noisy sheet-iron deck ; 
 then Shamba Mwana and Mr. Engeringh's Tumba (boy, very 
 small and black) enter cabin, light candle, and put two steaming 
 cups on the table between our berths. Dress and wash, and 
 steamer gets off ; then we sit down to coffee and a bite, not be- 
 fore I have had a quiet time by myself. Then I go up on the 
 bridge, get medicines out of the ca]5tain's cupboard, and come 
 down to my seat on a box among the Lagos boat hands forward. 
 They hang their sore legs overboard for the rushing water to 
 wash them for treatment, and come up and present them in 
 turn for medicine. There were nearly twenty sores this morn- 
 ing, some twice the size of a silver dollar. I find a solid satis- 
 faction in easing somewhat their pains — something accom- 
 plished ! 
 
 I have five Congo men on their way to home and pay. Some, 
 perhaps all, will go back with me " when they have seen mamma," 
 as they always say ; and we shall have a nucleus of trusty fel- 
 lows, whom we can make do anything or go anywhere, for I 
 picked them up fresh, and we have trained them. Mpiata is 
 my major-domo, permanently, I hope; his contract binds him 
 until I go to Mputu (white man's land). He can sjjeak very 
 fair and very funny English, wash, cook, boss workmen, or hold 
 a hand himself — is a gilt-edge river-man. Little Mrs. Vwila, 
 his wife, is also aboard, going to see the Congo land, and report 
 to the Kassai folk, and to be servant to Mrs. Adamson for the 
 time. Shamba Mwana, my table-boy, is also taking his travels, 
 eyes wide open, but not surprised at anything, not he! nor 
 afraid of anything or anybody. His mother's people, headed 
 by Uncle Musangu, raised a terrible row about his father's let- 
 ting him go to "Malange" with me in November, and made his 
 
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LETTER TO IlIS FATHER. 219 
 
 little life extremely bitter wheu lie came back, even tlioiigli I 
 uttemled daily on his sister Bula's little Siangu (pronounced 
 Shaugoo) every day till the aAvful sore on her heel took her 
 away. Since the death of the little girl the mother's ioYks were 
 unexpectedly mollified, and Monday what was my thankful sur- 
 prise when Shamba and Musangu came together to the mission 
 and sat down on the veranda. A pause. " Shamba Mwana 
 wants to go with you to the country down river." " Good !" I 
 say. "I am his father, and Musangu here (the uncle, tough 
 old case) is his mother (!), and we agree, only we count on your 
 bringing us back a nice dash of cloth and beads." So the ice is 
 broken at Bena Kasenga. The most popular boy in Kasenga, 
 known, too, all over the Bakete country, child of two "royal" 
 houses, has gone to Mputu (its all Mputu down country in the 
 Bakete mind). 
 
 Yesterday we passed out of the little Lulua into the Kassai, 
 which isn't at all little. The river Kassai rolls to the junction 
 in six streams, divided by five beautiful wooded islands. Be- 
 hind the sloping forest hides the almost unknown country of 
 the Tukongo on the left bank ; our Bakuba friends are on the 
 right. The first station in their land has just been founded by 
 M. Stache (" S. A. B.") just below the mouth of the Lulua. 
 They occupy the left bank, from there down to the Loange river, 
 I hear. Stopped 10 A. M. at Bena Makima, which I saw last April. 
 The chief is the son of Lukenge, but was not ashamed to keep 
 us waiting until three o'clock for four promised goats, of which 
 only one turned up, after all. Dropped down to Bena Dibive, 
 a Bakuba town a quarter of an hour inland (there are no towns 
 on the river, only fishing camps). Saw a woman whom we 
 knew very M'ell away up at Luebo. It seems then that even these 
 Bakuba trade at Luebo. It is far. Yesterday overheard a small 
 palaver between Mr. and Mrs. Mpiata, in the course of which 
 she reminded him, " You didn't give me any marriage-cloth — 
 you have no legal rights" (by black folks' law, i. e.), which was 
 settled by my prompting the young man to make the significant 
 present, and her acceptance removed one little matrimonial diffi- 
 culty. The acceptance of a present, after full understanding of 
 terms of agreement, is binding with all Bantu tribes. 
 
220 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 From the Lulua moutli down to the Sankuru, almost, there 
 are a good many beautiful islands— some, clumps of dark green 
 trees rising out of the brown water, some, meadows of rich grass 
 and lines of something like alder. The latter are ornamented with 
 an affair which looks very much like swing-frames on pic-nic 
 grounds ; two tall posts with cross-bars — gymnastic poles, per- 
 haps! But a native will inform you that a heavy beam, with 
 sharp point downward, is usually hung at the top, which is 
 thrown down wdien a passing hippo runs against the string below. 
 
 January 9. — We turned loose to-day. No delays for chickens 
 or goats ; indeed, all the important villages are out of sight in- 
 land. Only a fishing camp, or, perhaps, a landing, with canoea 
 moored, half-hidden under the trees. They often shoot out^ 
 these slender canoes, propelled by two big Bakubas, who wave 
 fine fish, just caught, and offer a bargain. From the first Ba- 
 kuba town, Beua Siam, on the Lulua, near the mouth, we see 
 these beautiful canoes, twenty feet long, very slender, and per- 
 fectly symmetrical — the paddle, seven feet long, very heavy, but 
 likewise perfectly made. It is amazing how the watermen make 
 these little crafts plow the Kassai — it looks as if they ought to 
 go to the bottom every stroke ; you can hardly see the boat 
 among its waves — but it goes ! 
 
 Reached, at five p. m., a new town in sight of the Sankuru, or 
 *of the ridge on the Bassongo Mino side, 
 
 January 14. — We are in the Congo, an hour or two out of the 
 Pool, and four hours from Kinshassa, where the Florida is to 
 unload her burden — ^very gladly, if the badly shaken old craft 
 feels anything like her officers. We have been shaken up very 
 badly by the big waves which the stiff breeze from the ocean 
 raises every day. 
 
 Unfortunately, too, Captian Carlier felt called on to find fault 
 with Engineer Van Kouteren, and that somewhat stubborn gen- 
 tleman payed him back, I guess it from his pouting. At any 
 rate we average thirty pounds of steam instead of sixty. But 
 the good old river stood by us and bore us down whizzing. We 
 can see this evening the ridge which closes in the Pool on the 
 east. Left Kwa-mouth this morning. Between us and it saw a 
 strange sight near sundown ; a flotilla of great trade canoes. 
 
LETTER TO HIS FATHER. 221 
 
 ■svlieii tlie breeze up river fell at evening;, ]5ulled out of shelter 
 Avhicli had concealed them, and moved down stream, a line of 
 eighteen, Babuma from Musye-way, is my guess, with sugar- 
 cane, beer, pots, and fish for the big towns on the Pool. 
 
 To-day a poor soldier fi'om near Lagos on the west coast, 
 sent down from Lusambo with consumption, died aboard. His 
 countrymen, though strangers to him, helped me make his last 
 experiences of this world a little more tolerable than he found 
 it with the expedition — he didn't feel that he died friendless. 
 Oojoo finished smooth and square with shovel, the grave the 
 other Lagos men had hollowed in the plain with big knives and 
 their hands. I spoke and prayed with the hving, and they made 
 a neat mound over the dead. I told the sick man last night a 
 few words to tell to God as he lay awake, and this morning he 
 was dying. 
 
 Well, I wanted to give you an idea of the Kassai, seen as a 
 whole, for we have come like the wind, and seen with older 
 eyes. I should have given each day's story when it happened, 
 but Mr. Engeringh and I took a fancy to learn to work the wheel, 
 and get something of a j)ilot's knowledge of the steamer's route 
 among the sand-banks. This plan worked nicely for awhile, 
 but the wind gave me a fever the third day, so I had to nurse 
 myself awhile, and didn't risk the exposure again. 
 
 At the Sankuru mouth, Saturday, we called in to speak with M. 
 Cadenas, a pleasant, frank little man in charge of the station 
 there, Bena Bende, named after a neighboring village. He 
 told me tiiat the people inland (the awful Bassonge Mino, saw- 
 toothed cannibals) were friendly and peaceably disposed towards 
 the white man. The Sankuru is dark brown and has plenty of 
 water, though not nearly equal to the Kassai. 
 
 On the way again, we passed a pretty stretch of river, banks 
 lightly wooded and rising in j^leasant slope to perhaps a fifty- 
 foot ridge, a quarter of a mile back. Sometimes the ridge was 
 covered with palms as thick as they could stand. Not far below 
 Sankuru we began to pass neat little towns, one after another ; 
 we were almost never out of sight of one, all snugly nestled at 
 the foot of the slope near the water's edge. I estimate that we 
 passed four thousand people's homes that morning ; more — for 
 
222 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 Ngung at the moutli of the Loaugo has half that man}", — say six 
 thousand along the river bank from Sankuru to Loango. Basili, 
 near Ngung, is gone ; Mr. Clotens burnt it up. 
 
 Sunday the steamer went ahead as usual, and the goat buy- 
 ing was resumed in earnest. We have passed out of the region 
 of Bakuba temple marks, fine velvet cloth and mats, and tall 
 houses of palm leaves. Now we have timid people, who make 
 yercale cloth, and live in houses whose great mde roofs com^ 
 nearly down to the ground, and are entered by a loop-hole hid- 
 den up under the eaves. Roofs and sides are made of forest 
 leaves, fastened one edge in, other out, giving them a strange 
 appearance. Indeed, the houses from Loange to Mt. Pogge and 
 past, all have doors away up by the roof, and a platform, or 
 series of them, to climb up by. Many of the towns are on the 
 grass islands which divide the stream into a dozen channels, all 
 big enough for rivers, and the mainland recedes into the hazy 
 distance. 
 
 Mr. Engeringh did the chop buying. Once the people all 
 ran away and left us their chickens and other worldly goods. 
 Mr. Engeringh, not a whit put out, had the chickens caught, 
 calculated what the people would value them at, stretched out 
 the payment, cloth, like a long flag on a house top, and came 
 away. Then the people, who had been watching it all, decided 
 this was the man for them, and came back ; hunted up chickens 
 we had never dreamed about, and in half an hour from landing 
 we had bought forty-six chickens and left the natives exultant — 
 and so were we. A few such raids quickly raised our stock to 
 twenty goats, several pigs, and fifty chickens, with which we 
 were content. Monday afternoon I steered around Moiint 
 Pogge, a nice green mound high as George's Point, at Vine 
 Hill. It is on the right bank. "We had plenty of wind and big 
 waves. 
 
 Below Mount Pogge we reached another stretch, and different, 
 reaching nearly to the "Swinburne Rocks." This section is 
 characterized by a rich prairie, sloping gently to a ridge, which 
 is usually surmounted here and there by a picket line of 
 lonely wind- mill palms. As we were floating out of this region 
 Tuesday morning, we heard "Sail ho!" and soon drew up along- 
 
LETTER TO HIS MOTHER. 223 
 
 side the little " V'dle de Yerviers" en route for Lusambo, with 
 Captain Dhanis on board. Here and there in this part we see 
 a strip of woods lining a little water course down to the river. 
 Hardly any people. Bnt inland, are my old friends on the 
 Duma, Avhic-h is only a few days' march away ; and to the right 
 are the people spoken of so highly by the German travellers Kune 
 and Tappenbeck. Tuesday afternoon put us through the wooded 
 section, with forested banks, openings under the big trees, lined 
 w'ith people on land and canoes in the water. Another striking 
 element of the scenery here is the dark green masses of leaves 
 and vines that rise to a hundred feet height sheer out of the 
 water without a fringe of sand. Between these islands the 
 channels are beset with dangerous rocks. A straight course 
 would take a steamer to destruction, as Mr. Swinburne found 
 out, long ago. 
 
 Camped in the lower end of this reach, just above the month 
 of the Kwango, on Wednesday. Thursday, Kwa-mouth ! Friday, 
 Kinshassa, at 11 : 30 a. m. Chopped at the Belgian house, where 
 there are between twenty-five or forty-five white men to feed, 
 over half of them belonging to the expedition of the Katanga 
 Syndicate. This is a union of the S. A.. B. and the Katanga 
 Compauy, and has taken two of the smaller steamei's of the S. 
 A. B., " Roi des Beiges" and ''August Beer riant." 
 
 Letter to his Mother. 
 
 Leopoldyille, January 16, 1892. 
 
 Reached the Kinshassa S. A. B. station at eleven yesterday. 
 It is a big affair now, a regular ship-building yard. Dined with 
 M. Butaka, who kindly sent me down to Kintamo (Leopoldville) 
 in his boat with six Bangala oarsmen. I stopped to speak to 
 Mr. Gordon, the sensible colored man from Jamaica, in charge 
 of the English Baptist Mission at Kinshassa, and reached Kin- 
 tamo without accident. Mr. Camp left the big workshed he is 
 roofing to say his welcome. 
 
 " The doctor is up at his house ; don't know you're here," he 
 said. Dr. Sims seemed pleased to see me, and' then Mr. Adam- 
 son and Mrs. Adamson ! ! ! You don't know how satisfying it is 
 
224 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 to see a white lady after so many months of savagely. Adam- 
 son has done himself a good turn, and us too. His "wife is 
 pleasant looking, gentle and tidy, and reminds me of my Glen 
 Addie friends. Miss Mary T. and her sisters. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Adamson keep well. Mrs. Adamson keeps house for us four. 
 Dr. Sims and I making up the number, and she makes other 
 good things besides chop and tea. She has just fixed vip the 
 doctor with a new mosquito bar; and an' official inspection of 
 my quarters was made on pretense of showing me the j)i'etty 
 little Gleichman baby. I hadn't a pillow case on the little pillow 
 from home. You see Shamba Mwana, the young bushman, is 
 forgetful, and I only discovered it when he was gone off to sleep 
 in some nook or corner of the Ilorida. So I was reminded of 
 my carelessness, by Mrs. Adamson's coming to me "with a pillow 
 case, asking leave to put it on the pillow. 
 
 Letters to His Father. 
 
 Since reaching here I have opened my ledger, under Dr. Sims's 
 instruction in book-keeping, and incorporated therein all the 
 scattered accounts of the mission up to date. The last back 
 accounts were entered to-day. 
 
 I have purchased also of the English Mission S. A. B. and 
 the French house nearly <£80 worth of goods suitable for the 
 Kassai ; enough I hope to last until we receive the large invoice 
 ordered last November from Whyte and Company. 
 
 I am writing out by bits the grammar of the up-country talk 
 as far as I have mastered it. Mr. Adamson improves the wait- 
 ing time by making the molds for a brick press, by means of 
 which Luebo is to be built of burnt and pressed brick. Re- 
 member, Mr. A. has already put through one big job on the 
 Congo, the remounting of the steamer Pioneer. His father 
 was a large contractor ; built some of the famous Liverpool 
 docks. Mrs. A. is making clothes for the bachelor contingent 
 here, and chop for her man. Dr. S., and me. I am well and in 
 excellent spirits. I believe the "A. P. C. M." is going to do 
 good, and to get started at it before very long, if God wills. 
 
LETTER TO HIS FATHER. 225 
 
 Where are the others to take the new fields that we could begin 
 to open to-morrow ? 
 
 P. S. — Foiiud unfinished and brought to date, February 19, 
 1892. Mr. Clotens left Luebo five days after we did ; came by 
 way of Lusambo ; reached here 13th February. The Comte 
 d'Ursel, whom I left sick, died, poor fellow, at Luluaburg, Jan- 
 uary oth. Mr. Luff, Mr. McKittrick, Mr. Comber, and Mr. 
 Broholm, all friends of mine, have been taken in the last three 
 mouths. "\Ye should be humbly thankful that I am kept well. 
 I have not yet been dangerously sick. 
 
 TuNDimA, March 12, 1892. 
 
 Dear Papa : The above address will no doubt startle you. A 
 week before I left the Pool I had no idea of coming ; but shortly 
 after the date of my last to you, under this same cover, I got an 
 answer from the Governor-General to my application for the 
 land at Luebo. He said that the ground in question was already 
 given away, and that I must find another place, near Luebo, if 
 I liked. As the " Commissaire de district " had seen my ground 
 and assured me officially that it was unclaimed, there must be 
 
 some mistake or some trickery In any case, I judged it 
 
 worth the time and expense to come down and finish the busi- 
 ness in person. 
 
 On the way down I found more disturbing news. Dr. Guin- 
 ness left a letter for me at Lukunga, saying that the present 
 transport arrangement will not be convenient for the C. B. M. 
 
 much longer I believe that if Mr. McKittrick had been 
 
 spared, this arrangement, suggested by him, would have stood. 
 .... However, I feel that when I have looked around and got 
 at the business the transport can be an-anged. 
 
 I have been amazed at the progress made by the railway peo- 
 ple here at Matadi The trains carry to the Mpozo, and 
 
 the construction is going ahead beyond We hope four 
 
 years will put it through to Stanley Pool. 
 
 I am writing in the same house we occupied nearly two years 
 ago. My open door is a frame enclosing a picture, which, to 
 15 
 
226 LIFE AND LETTEES OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 me, is always striking — the monster liill that shuts Devil's caul- 
 dron on the up-river side, carpeted with grass, pale green, va- 
 ried with wrinkles and dotted with trees, small by the distance, 
 but distinctly seen through the clear atmosphere. At the foot 
 sweeps the Congo, hardly five hundred yards wide, but rolling 
 down like — no other river on the globe, certainly, and looking 
 more majestic here than in the cataracts, or where it stretches 
 for miles in width. At the top, the loveliest thing in this or any 
 other country, the blue sky, "serene and far" — there's some 
 poetry for mamma. I haven't time for a line to her by this mail. 
 
 To-morrow or next day I go to Boma, T>. V., for the palaver 
 with the Governor. Mr. Grenfell and Mr. Bentley think I 
 shall get through all right. 
 
 Your loving son, Sam. 
 
 P. S.— Boma, March 17, 1892, 10 p. m. Back from dining 
 with the Governor. He was very obliging — only heard my case 
 at four p. M., put it through, and handed me the letter when we 
 came to dinner. Thanked God and took courage. I go back 
 to Matadi to-morrow. 
 
 Letter to Me. "Whyte. 
 The above was his last letter home ; what follows was to his 
 very kind friend, Mr. Robert Whyte, of London : 
 
 Boma, March 17. 
 
 Deae Me. Whyte. — I am awaiting at this moment an answer 
 from the Governor-General, appointing me an audience with him. 
 
 Boma has become a busy place since I came by here two years 
 ago. A big Elder-Dempster boat, which discharged here a few 
 days ago, passed down this morning from Matadi. Hatton and 
 Cookson's Liverpool boat came in this morning ; three smaller 
 steamers, which go, however, to sea, have come or gone these 
 two days. As I write, the Antwerp boat is unloading at the 
 hotel pier. A truck, which holds two hundred boxes of gin, has 
 rolled by several times fully loaded. There are some fairly good 
 shops, too, by which I have made myself pretty comfortable, and 
 made vud for the scantiness of the outfit with which, in my ignor- 
 
LETTER TO MK. WHYTE. 227 
 
 ance, I came to Africa; for you must know that most of what 
 I brought iu the way of clothing is long since finished. 
 
 (Kesumed March 19, Underhill, B. M. S.) 
 
 But you had rather hear about Luebo, where we have our first 
 station. I need not — yes, I had best say that it is on the Lulua 
 river (the third affluent of the Kassai, on the eastern bank), and 
 at the head of navigation of the Kassai, in effect, because the 
 Wissman Falls ai*e not far above the confluence of the Lulua 
 and the great river. So our post is the meeting point between 
 the Upper Kassai people and the white people's commerce and 
 the white people's religion, now. Whether due to the presence 
 of the white traders or of immemorial usage, there is a concourse 
 of native traders from widely different and widely separate tribes 
 at Luebo. 
 
 We used to live in a little glade on the wooded plateau through 
 which the big trade road passes. In the same day I have seen 
 caravans of Bakuba from the east, bringing ornamental mats, 
 painted in several colors, and the coveted tusks of ivory, and the 
 delicately formed and featured Bashilange from the southwest, 
 followed by slaves laden with baskets of the little rubber l^alls, 
 which are the forms this staple starts with on its long journey 
 to markets and consumers. 
 
 I know not how many droves of hungrj' slaves have been 
 marched past the door of my hut (it was). Most of these were 
 sold for goats, which were driven by with at least as much con- 
 sideration as the human cattle were. A more pleasing occur- 
 rence, frequent in our little home in the woods, was the passing 
 of the hunters from the town of Bena Kasenga, not far away. 
 Every man and boy is arrayed, or disarrayed, in the scantiest 
 garb consistent with decency, and carries the strung bow over 
 the shoulder, a spare bow-string wound about his brow, and a 
 scrip of skin or basket work, containing arrows and the two 
 dried sticks with which he makes fire, if he wants a warm lunch. 
 (I have seen the fire rubbed out of these sticks.) In addition, 
 some lead hunting dogs by the leash, each dog with a wooden 
 bell strapped under his body, that his master may follow him in 
 the chase ; and some carry great nets rolled up, into which the 
 game is to be driven. 
 
228 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 In the town, men and women divide tlie work (unequally), 
 the women finding the bread, of which cassava and millet are 
 the main bases. They also flock to the river for fish, etc., in 
 season. Where there is clay the women make the earthenware. 
 The men divide among them the trade of cloth or mat-making, 
 making the palm wine, hunting, and each man builds the house 
 that shelters himself and family. They are very genial and good 
 humored, as you know, and lying, stealing, and impurity are 
 considered disgraceful, but are universal, almost. They have an 
 idea of God, the creator and preserver of all things, and a tradi- 
 tion that a closer acquaintance with him once existed. But 
 they have no intention to submit themselves to him, and no idea 
 that they need a Saviour. Will you think of our work for these, 
 when you remember the dark places of the earth ! 
 
 I had begun to get hold on grammar and vocabulary when I 
 was called here. Hymn-making and translation will soon begin, 
 I trust. Kindly remember me to Mr. Black and Mr. Ellis, and 
 any other friends who remember me, and accept this letter as an 
 indication that I have not forgotten your kindness to me when I 
 ■was in London. 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 Samuel X. Lapsley. 
 
 I 
 
CIIAPTEEX. 
 
 The End. 
 
 AFTER the cheery letters from Tunduwa and Boma, just 
 copied, the transition to the last scenes is sadly abrupt. 
 These letters reached here the second week in May, having 
 come from Africa in the same steamer with Rev. W. Holman 
 Bentley, who, the day after his arrival in London, wrote the fol- 
 lowing, which was forwarded, and reached us on the 17th of 
 May : 
 
 Baptist Missionary Society, 19 FuenivaXi St., Holbokn, 
 
 London, E, C, May 3, 1892. 
 Robert Wliyte, Esq., London: 
 
 Dear Sir : I have just returned to England after my second 
 five years on the Congo, having arrived yesterday only, and 
 hasten to discharge what is to me a most painful duty. 
 
 Our brother Lapsley, of the Southern States Presbyterian' 
 Mission to the Congo, has been called away to the higher ser- 
 vice in heaven, after a few days of fever at our mission station 
 at Underbill, near to Matadi, at the head of the navigable por- 
 tion of the lower river. He died on the 26th of March. Know- 
 ing that you are the agent for his mission in London, I address 
 myself to you, and beg you kindly to inform the directors of the 
 Mission of their sad loss. 
 
 As ypu are aware, his colleagues are far away in the interior, 
 and are not likely to hear the news for some weeks. We there- 
 fore assume the duty of acquainting the home officials. Allow 
 me to supply such details as I am able to furnish. 
 
 At our station of Wathen, 144 miles from Matadi, and 80 
 miles southwest of Stanley Pool, we three times had the plea- 
 sure of a visit from Mr. Lapsley, and learned to respect and 
 esteem him highly. 
 
 While waiting at Underhill for our steamer for the journey 
 home we were surprised to see Mr. Lapsley amve. He ex- 
 
 229 
 
230 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 plained to us that he had several matters to arrange with the 
 Governor of the Congo State. 
 
 Mr. Lapsley very -wisely determined to settle the matter at 
 once, and personally. . . . Everything was arranged with the 
 Governor in the most satisfactory manner. . . . The next day 
 Mr. Lapsley returned to Underhill. 
 
 Before this trip to Ml)oma he had been very well, feeling all 
 the better for the long journey down coiintry ; but on returning 
 fi'om Mboma he said that he had felt the sun very much. 
 During the night he had a slight fever, and a degree or so of in- 
 creased temperature during the next day warned him that all 
 was not quite right, and the usual treatment was adopted, with 
 a fitting dose of quinine. During the day he told me of his sat- 
 isfaction at his success at Mboma, and we hoped that the fever 
 would soon pass off, and he start back to Luebo to carry out his 
 many plans, and push on the work. 
 
 He had once or twice suffered from hematuric fever, and 
 was all the more careful during this little fever that was then 
 upon him. 
 
 During the night his temperature rose again, and hematuria 
 ■developed. At six o'clock the next morning I started on my 
 homeward journey, and just shook hands with him. Mr. Gren- 
 fell, of our mission, was at Underhill, as well as my colleagues, 
 Messrs. Graham, Pinnock, and Fuller, so that he was well 
 cared for. Mr. Grenfell's experience dates over some seven- 
 teen or eighteen years. 
 
 Mr. Pettersen, the senior missionary of the Swedish mission, 
 was also there. I was delayed a week at Banana, and, just be- 
 fore starting, received a letter conveying the distressing news. 
 I copy the following from Mr. Grenfell's letter, which is all I 
 know of the sequel : 
 
 " The hematuria lasted for thirty-six hours only, but the fever 
 was persistent, and at noon on Saturday (the seventh day after 
 hematuria a])peared), March 26th, he passed away. 
 
 The news of his death came as a great shock to me, as it will 
 to all his friends in America. It is a terrible loss to his mission ; 
 
LETTER FROM REV. W. H. BENTLEY TO MR. ROBERT WHYTE. 231 
 
 for, apart from the courtesj, shrewduess, and tact which distin- 
 guished liim as specially fit for the delicate and difficult task 
 of starting a mission in such a country, he had acquired 
 most valuable experience and information, as well as a fair 
 knowledge of the native languages. Of course the language of 
 his district is qnite unknown to me, but he was conversing very 
 fi'eely with the native boy who accompanied him, and we dis- 
 cussed together many grammatical points, which would be com- 
 mon to us 
 
 The field is great and wide, and great are the opportunities 
 noic ; what they vnM be when the Catholic mission and the new 
 Jesuits get to work, who can tell ? I earnestly hope that the 
 Presbyterians of the Southern States will support earnestly and 
 vigorously this mission to the Kassai, and be in no way dis- 
 couraged by this ten-ible loss. 
 
 Believe me to be, yours respectfully, 
 
 W. HOLMAN BeNTLET. 
 
 This was followed in a few days by a letter from the Rev. R. 
 H. C. Graham, dated Underhill, March 29, 1892, containing 
 the following, in addition to what had been told by Mr. Bentley: 
 
 ..." The usual treatment was adopted, and the Bev. K. J. 
 Pettersen, of the Swedish Missionary Society (who happened 
 to be here at the time), kindly took charge of the case. . . . When 
 it became evident what the issue would be, Mr. Lapsley gave a 
 few directions about his things ; told where his will was to be 
 found ; spoke of the prospects of his mission when he should be 
 gone, trusting that God would more than fill his place ; and, 
 commending his native lads to our care, he said he was 'going 
 home,' and sent ' good-bye ' to all his friends. Soon he became 
 unconscious, and remained so until he went/ to be with Jesus,' at 
 ten minutes past two, Saturday afternoon, wS^^Gth. 
 
 "We laid our brother's body to rest, on Sunday morning, in 
 our little cemetery among the trees down by the river-side, 
 where sleep quite a number of our brethren 'until he come.'" 
 
 The Eev. T. A. Leger and W. A. Hall, of the A. B. M. U. and 
 Bev. A. Young, of the C. B. M., came over from Matadi to 
 
232 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 attend the funeral. Rev. K. J. Pettersen, of S. M. S. and Rev. 
 G. and Mrs. Grenfell, Rev. J. J. and Mrs. Pinnock, and Mr. J. 
 A. A. Fuller of this society, being also present at the service, 
 which I conducted. 
 
 A great many native carriers who were here came to the 
 sei*vice, and I had an opportunity of speaking to them and also 
 to our workmen and school children of the Saviour in whom 
 our dear brother had trusted, and in whose service he had given 
 up his life for the sake of Africa. 
 
 I shall enclose herewith a copy of the will made by your son 
 at Stanley Pool on his way down from the river Kassai. 
 
 Again assuring you of our united sympathy, and prayers for 
 you and yours in this bereavement, I am, dear sir, 
 
 R. H. C. Geaham. 
 
 The following is a copy of the will : 
 
 Will. 
 " The year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-two, the 
 twenty-fourth day of the mouth of February, I, the undersigned, 
 Lapsley, Samuel Norvell, Missionary at Luebo, give and be- 
 queath to my father, Judge James W. Lapsley, of Anniston, 
 Alal)ama, United States of America, my English Bible and my 
 watch, and I further give and bequeath to the American Presby- 
 terian Congo Mission all other property and efiects of which I 
 may be possessed within the Congo Independent State, and I 
 hereby name and appoint Sheppard, William, and Adamson, 
 George, executors of this my will. 
 
 " (Signed,) Samuel Norvell Lapsley." 
 
 " Nous, soussignes, Aaron Sims, Bachelier en Modecine, et 
 Georges Frank, sous Commissaire de District, residents a Leo- 
 poldville, declarons que le present testament a etc fait devant 
 nous par Monsieur Samuel Norvell Lapsley, le vingt quatre 
 Fevrier mil liuit cent novante et deux. 
 
 " (Signed) Aaron Sims. 
 
 " Georges Frank, Sous Commissaire de District" 
 
HIS AYILL. 233 
 
 "We certify that tlie above is a true copy of Eev. S. N. Laps- 
 ley's ^vill. R. H. C. Graham. 
 George Grexfell. 
 
 J. W. PiNNOCK. 
 
 The execution of the will, together with numerous allusions 
 in his letters, show that this early termination of his labors was 
 not unlooked for by him. Upon his medical examination at 
 home, before his acceptance as a missionary by the committee, 
 he was reported to be in perfect health ; but his friend, the 
 doctor, warned him fully of the dangerous African climate. He 
 simply replied: "That will not deter me." The reader may 
 recall the following from one of his letters on a preceding page. 
 " I think often of two trips, one to you all . . , another to a 
 lasting home which I hope to reach after a good deal of the 
 work I was sent here for. . . . However much time for service 
 he may lend me, it will not be long. ' A little while, and ye shall 
 see me.'" How brief this "Httle while" would be, none of us 
 realized or appreciated until the shock came, and found us, 
 though constantly fearing, yet all unprepared. 
 
 And we had little idea how full was the appreciation of his 
 work and character, and how wide-spread the grief over his 
 death, until the mails brought us from all parts of our church 
 and country, and from other lands and churches, letters and 
 papers, telling how heavy the blow was felt to be. Many were 
 from strangers to him and us, but all breathe the same thought 
 and spirit, of which the following brief extracts are examples : 
 
 Extracts from Letters. 
 Rev. K. J. Pettersen, of the Swedish mission near Matadi, wrote^ 
 under date, Septeniher 12, 1892 : " It so happened I was here ar- 
 ranging to start building a station for our society, near Matadi, 
 when your son took ill. He seemed to me to be in low health 
 generally, although he said he felt well, and had had very little 
 illness. He said he had had several hematuric fevers ; but, 
 apart from that, he had good health. Yet he dreaded another 
 such fever, and said several times he wished that fever would 
 leave him alone. 
 
234 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 " He went down to Boma and retui-ned. Not feeling very 
 well, he staid in bed, but made very light of his ailment 
 
 " On Sunday morning there was a repetition of hematuria. I 
 
 got him to bed at once, and applied the usual remedies 
 
 Having had a good deal of experience in the sick-room, as well 
 as a hospital training, I" was asked to take charge of the case, 
 which I did willingly ; and, except one night and a few hours of 
 daytime, I spent all my time attending to Mr. Lapsley. 
 
 " He kept very qiiiet all the time. He did not once mention 
 death until the last day, although I could find that he was fear- 
 ing the worst all the time, having been made to believe that he 
 could go through only a certain number of attacks of that fever. 
 
 "I had good hopes of his recovery until the early morning of 
 the last day, when I found that the temperature did not fall as 
 low as usual. Instead, it gradually rose, but I still hoped I 
 could check the fever. We tried all we could think of. I had 
 not mentioned my fear to him, but when I told him we wished 
 to try a cold bath, he said, ' Yes, and if that doesn't succeed, you 
 will find my will in my bag, and other valuables are on the table. 
 Other instructions I have left with Mr. Whyte.' 
 
 " We tried the cold bath, and brought the temperature down 
 a good deal. However, it rose again, feeling which, he said : 
 'It is no use. Bless my father and mother. Please tell them I 
 go home to be with Jesus, where I wish to meet them. I am 
 sorry for my poor mission, biit they will find a better man. Say 
 good-bye to all my relations and friends.' After that delirium set 
 in, and he soon qiiietly passed away." 
 
 From Dr. Sims, whose great kindness and generous hospi- 
 tality the foregoing pages abundantly attest, we have a letter, 
 dated Leopoldville, September 1, 1892, from which we copy the 
 following words : " I dearly loved your son, and regard him as 
 a real martyr. I warned him to go home, but he wished to 
 complete a definite work before that. Too much goodness for 
 his strength ! " 
 
 Mr. Matthew Addy, of Cincinnati, wrote : " Not often have I 
 felt more sad than in reading the notice of the death of your son. 
 To cheerfully leave the home he had, with all its fond associa- 
 
EXTRACTS FKOM LETTERS. 235 
 
 tions, to Avillingly spend his life in one of the darkest regions of 
 heathenism — this -was too much. . . . Christ sent for him to 
 come home." 
 
 From 21)'. L. A. B., of South Carolina: "Thousands of 
 Christian hearts through our church mourn with you to-day." 
 
 From Rev. N. Bachmaii^ of Tennessee: "He permitted his 
 workman to lay a few foundation stones, then called him to a 
 brighter field; . . . but the work will go on." 
 
 From P)'(f. Bhd'e, of Greenicood, S. C. : " May the heroic 
 example of your son stimulate others to rush forward to fill up 
 the gap." 
 
 From Miss E. J. B., of Yir^ginia : " We only knew him by 
 
 is work Fr( 
 
 with eager interest." 
 
 his work From the beginning we have traced his career 
 
 From Rev. AV. IT. Clagett, of St. Louis : " His gentleness, 
 consecration, affability, everything about him, drew me to him in 
 a peculiar manner.' 
 
 From Rev. R. M. Du Bose : " For days, under the stunning 
 effect of the blow, I could go no further than to say, 'The Lord 
 God omnipotent reigneth.' " 
 
 Col. Reginald II. Daivson writes : " It was a glorious death. 
 The soldier who falls in the battle front fighting for his country 
 is praised of all men ; but the noble life spent in the service of 
 God . . . exercises a power for good that cannot be measured. 
 Your boy is blessed. Many a noble sainted martyr has had to 
 struggle through long years of weary waiting and wasting labor 
 before he has been judged fit to wear the crown, but this noble 
 boy has in a brief space been called by his Lord to his kingdom." 
 
 From Mr. M. TF. /*., of Yirginia : "I loved your boy as I 
 never loved any one out of my own household. ... I was say- 
 ing to my little N., ' how strange that Sam was taken just now,' 
 and she repeated the lines, ' Shall God's appointment seem less 
 good, than what thyself had planned.' " 
 
236 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLET. 
 
 Col. John C. Graham writes from Carlsbad, Germany : " I 
 was greatly shocked and grieved. . . . Sucli splendid physique, 
 good health and good habits ! I expected him to go through all 
 the hardships. ... I had studied his character and found in it 
 the rarest quaUties we so much love." 
 
 Hev. P. Gowan, of Mississippi, writes : " We have all been 
 bereaved; as a church we have sustained a common sorrow." 
 
 From. Rev. M. II. Houston, IJ. I). : "The attractions of the 
 world above are becoming brighter to us year by year, and we 
 soon shall be there. Yet there is a consummation better even 
 than the departure to be with Christ. It is the dawn of that 
 day when, over all this regenerated earth, there shall be no more 
 curse, no more sorrow nor crying, for the royal Saviour shall 
 make all things new. Your gifted and attractive son, by his de- 
 votion to the Saviour, by his zeal and self-sacrifice, has done an 
 important part in hastening the arrival of that glad day, for the 
 ' gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a 
 witness unto all nations ; and then shall the end come.' " 
 
 From Rev. T. W. Hooper, D. D., of Virginia : " . . . . Sam 
 has been translated from the jungles of the Congo to the Para- 
 dise of God. . . . The God of missions will take care of his own 
 cause." 
 
 From Judge Jonathan Haralson : "It seems but yesterday 
 when the little fellow, our neighbor, was running around, bare- 
 footed, genial, bright, and happy. How little did we think then 
 of the wilds those feet would one day tread, and of the moral 
 heroism that would fill his soul ! " 
 
 From Rev. T. M. Lowvt/^ of Georgia : "In his letters and 
 diary I noticed a maturity of thought, a wise forethought in 
 planning, a whole-hearted consecration and fearless courage, 
 which we do not often find in one so young." 
 
 Senator Morgan writes from Washington : " The sad news 
 distresses us as much as if dear Sam was a member of our fam- 
 ily. His life was very precious to us, as his memory will always 
 be." 
 
EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS. 237 
 
 Rev. A. L. Phillijys, writing from the General Assembly at 
 Hot Springs, says : " . . . O, sir, my heart cries out for Sam, 
 but my faith whispers to it, ' Peace, be still ! ' . . . When Dr. 
 Houston yesterday announced the death, the whole Assembly 
 was moved, and many wept." 
 
 From Rev. W. J. Sinnott : " All day yesterday the loss we 
 have sustained was present with me as a heavy weight on my 
 spirits. ... A church of nearly 200,000 members mourns with 
 you. . . . May it not be a trumpet call to the church to renewed 
 consecration, because ' we know not the day nor the hour wherein 
 the Son of man cometh ? ' " 
 
 Rev. Dr. St'dhnan writes : " It has completely unnerved me. 
 I loved him tenderly. I admired his simpHcity, purity, and 
 nobleness of character, his lovely traits, his entire consecration 
 to Christ, and his heroic, even sublime, devotion to his great 
 work." 
 
 From Rev. 11. M. White, D. D.,of Yirgiiiia : " Never have I 
 felt so deep an interest in any one man not related by blood to 
 me, and never have I been so grieved. I have been reading 
 the lives of missionaries for forty years, but no one of them ever 
 got such a hold on my heart as he did. I have eagerly read 
 every line pubhshed by or about him that has come to me. 
 Macaulay's lines over the tomb of Henry Martyn have been in 
 my ears off and on all this daj- as appropriate to him : 
 
 ' For that dear name, 
 
 Thro' every form of danger, death, and shame, 
 
 Onward he journeyed to a happier shore, 
 
 Where danger, death, and shame are known no more.' 
 
 I can think of no one whose course so much resembles that 
 of our dear Lord as did his. Not Carey's or Martyn's, for they 
 went among a people with some civihzation and under the 
 British flag, and in companionship, at times, with British officers. 
 Tour noble boy penetrated to the centre of the " Dark Conti- 
 nent," and settled down there for life to save others, and others 
 he saved — himself he could not save. Wliat a record ! It will 
 move the heai-ts of God's people— the old to prayer and praise, 
 and the young to gird themselves with fresh zeal and devotion 
 
238 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLET. 
 
 for a century to come. For years the poor Africans -will be 
 asking about him, even as Sir Robert Porter says he was asked 
 by the Persians about ' the religion and the Book of the man of 
 God, Henry Martyn.' His memory will be embalmed in the 
 church long after you and I have passed away and been forgot- 
 ten. His life will be a fragrant incense from her altars for 
 many, many years. I never saw your son, and learned but to- 
 day that you probably lived in Anniston, Ala., and so I write 
 for my own sake." 
 
 His venerated preceptor, Rev. Dr. J. A. Waddell, of Virginia, 
 writing of his bearing the banner of our church into the depths 
 of Africa, says : " The cheerfulness he manifested in all his sac- 
 rifices, privations, dangers, and sufferings, is now a permanent 
 impression of memory, and an assurance that he was right in 
 regarding the Congo as the shortest route to heaven." 
 
 Mi\ E. T. WHherhy lorites : "Yesterday, in one of John Mc- 
 Neill's sermons, I found the following, which I venture to think 
 finds a deep response in your soul : 
 
 ' I have a son, a third sweet son, 
 Bis age I cannot tell, 
 For they reckon not by years or months 
 Where he has gone to dwell. 
 I cannot tell what form is his, 
 What looks he weareth now. 
 Nor what a shining seraph crown 
 Adorns his holy brow.' 
 
 His name is enshrined with Livingston and Hannington and 
 Mackay. I cannot see their names without seeing his And 
 those grand words of the Litany, "The noble army of martyrs 
 praise thee," have a new meaning as I think of the new name 
 enrolled therein." 
 
 Bev. N. E. Clemensoji lorites from Utah Territory : " His 
 consecrated and consistent life was a constant inspiration to me, 
 while his earnest, loving words were of priceless value in my hoiirs 
 of sickness and discouragement. He was my dearest, truest 
 companion in the seminary." 
 
 Mr. liohert Why te, of London, wHtes to Dr. JIousto)i: "In the 
 few days he was in London, in March, 1890, I learned to know 
 
EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS. 239 
 
 him pretty well. His guileless nature seemed to open itself to 
 any one whom he trnstecl and who wished to know him ; and I 
 shall always cherish the memory of the young and earnest mis- 
 sionary. I may add the hope that Mr. Lapsley's wise, and in 
 the providence of God, tinielj' arrangements as to secxiring the 
 site at Luebo, will be felt by you to be an indication that your 
 church should earnestly go forward in the prosecution of the 
 mission to which Mr. Lapsley has given his life. You will see 
 (from Mr. Bentley's letter) that such is the hope of oiir Baptist 
 friends. The tidings of his death may be blessed to the calling 
 of other workers of like spirit, and our dear friend's noblest 
 monument may be the winning to Christ, through the efforts of 
 your church, of the people for whom he has given his life." 
 
 From Dr. Hampden C. Du JBose, SooeJioto, China: "Life is 
 not to be measured by length of years. The Lord asks his peo- 
 ple to be consecrated. Your son taught the Southern Church 
 that lesson, and it was felt throughout "thirteen States." 
 
 Bnt of the many tributes and testimonies received, none is 
 more touching than the following : 
 
 Luebo, Congo Independent State, 
 
 W. C. Africa, May 26, 1892. 
 
 Dear Mrs. Lapsley : I know that you have wondered why I 
 have not written, or why I was not the first to break to you the 
 sad news ; but, as you may know, we were a thousand miles apart. 
 And at this point of the interior we get a steamer once, or per 
 chance twice, a year. 
 
 About the first of January your darling son was sick with a 
 fever. In three days he was feeling much better. A steamer — - 
 the "Florida" — came in just then. Mr. Lapsley and I both 
 thought that a change for a month or so would be beneficial to 
 him, as he also had some business with the governor about our 
 land. And he thought to accomplish this, and to look after the 
 transport at the same time. So he secured a passage, and left, 
 Jamiary G, 1S92, for Stanley Pool. 
 
 Dear Mrs. Lapsley, that Wednesday morning, February 26, 
 1890, at the foot of W. 10th Street, New York, just a few 
 moments before the '^Adriatic" left for England, you placed 
 
240 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAP5LEY. 
 
 your arms arouud jour boy, and gave liim liis last kisses and 
 God-speed till you sliould meet again, and turning to me, re- 
 marked " Slieppard, take care of Sam." We went at once into 
 Mr. Lapslcy's cabin, and prayed that the good Master would 
 comfort you and protect us. We held daily communion with 
 God. We spent a month in England, being together always. 
 On board the steamer ^^ African" we held daily private prayer, 
 and would often mention and ask special blessings upon our 
 parents, whom we were leaving. We entered Africa, and pro- 
 ceeded as we procured iufornlatiou. We have never been sep- 
 arated for any length of time since we left America. I can 
 place my hand on my heart and look straight up to God and 
 say conscientiously I have kept the charge you gave me. I 
 have loved and cared for him as if he were my own brother. 
 The last words of one of his sisters at the depot in Anniston 
 was, " Sheppard, take care of Sam." It has not only been a 
 duty of mine, but a pleasure. I have nursed and cared for him 
 in all his sickness. And he has done the same for me. When 
 I have been sick his eyes knew no sleep. By my side he would 
 sit and give medicines. On our canoe trip up the Kassai he 
 was quite sick with hematuric fever. It was the rainy season, 
 and we were unduly exposed. So we camped for three days on 
 a beautiful island near the Kwango. There was nothing that 
 w^e could get that was nourishing for him. And he remarked, 
 " Oh! I wish my dear mother was here. She would know just 
 what to do for me ! " Shortly after this trip we came to Luebo, 
 and here we have labored as best we could in promoting the 
 Lord's kingdom. Every day we would have prayer, and lecture 
 with our people. Not only has he been zealous to tell the 
 natives of Christ, but the French traders also. Manj^ nights, 
 when all was wrapt in sleep, he would be walking up and down 
 the walk, communing Avith God. 
 
 Yesterday, May the 25th, when the steamer blew, I at once 
 ordered the people to sweep the walks and fix everything in 
 order, so that the station would present a nice appearance. I 
 huiTied to the river, and crossed in a canoe to meet him and 
 bring him home. I entered the steamer and asked for Mr. 
 Lapsley. The captain informed me that he had not come, and 
 
EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS. 241 
 
 at the same time handed me a handful of mail ; so I hurried 
 and opened a letter to get some news, and oh, how sad the 
 news ! I was struck dumb. The letter read thus : " Your friend, 
 and brother has joined the faithful of all ages." He who left 
 me a few months ago, and said, " Good-bye, Sheppard ; God 
 bless you ; I will return by the next steamer," dead ? Oh ! is it 
 possible ? He, my comrade and co-worker, from whom I have 
 not been separated these two years, now dead ? I at once re- 
 turned to the mission and broke the news to Mr. and Mrs. Adam- 
 son. They were struck to the heart. It was sad. 01 1 ! more 
 than sad. And the men, women, and children weeping for him 
 they loved. And to-day (the 26th) they have been crowding in 
 and asking is the news true ? The greatest weepers were the 
 chief's family, whose son was Mr. Lapsley's personal boy. 
 
 My dear Mrs. Lapsley, what am I to do ? My friend and 
 brother has gone to be with Christ, and I shall see him no more. 
 No more kneeling together in prayer ! No more planning to- 
 gether future work ! His work is done, and he is now blest 
 with peaceful rest. Oh, that I could have nursed him, that I 
 could liave kneeled at his bedside and heard his last whispers 
 of mother, home, and friends! This is my sorrow, that I was 
 not by his side while he fell asleep. I know that your heart is 
 breaking. I vnsh that I could say a word to comfort you. Lit- 
 tle did you know that his farewell was forever. But he shall be 
 standing at the beautiful gate waiting for us. We shall soon 
 join him, where farewells and adieus are sounds unknown. We 
 will submit to the Master's will, saying "Not ours, but thine be 
 done. What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know 
 hereafter.' 
 
 ' ' Sleep on, beloved, sleep, and take thy rest ; 
 
 Lay down thy head upon thy Saviour's breast ; 
 
 We love thee well, but Jesus loves thee best." 
 
 Everything of Mr. Lapsley's shall be taken care of, and if 
 there is anything special you would have me look after, it will 
 be my pleasure to do so. 
 
 I beg to remain yours to serve, 
 
 W. H. Sheppard. 
 
242 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF S. N. LAPSLEY. 
 
 His brother Robert gives me this little note, which makes for us an 
 appropriate closing page : 
 
 " The most vivid and precious memory I have of Sam is that of 
 his face and voice as he played and sang with me Mrs. Crewd- 
 son's exquisite words, ' Oh, for the peace that floweth as a 
 river,' ' with the music as written below. Where he g(jt the 
 music I do not know, as I never saw it in print. He would say, 
 and we now see it was prophetic, "This always carries me for- 
 ward to the Conso.'" 
 
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 1. Oh, for the peace that flow-eth as a riv - or! Mak - ing life's 
 
 2. "A lit - tie while" for pa-tieiit vis: -il keep - ing. To face the 
 
 3. "A lit - tie while" the earth. en pitch-er tak - ing, To waj'side 
 
 4. "A lit - tie while" to keep the oil from fail - ing, "A lit - tie 
 
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 des - ert pla - ces bloom and smile, 
 storm and wres-tle with the strong, 
 brooks, from far - off foun-tains fed, 
 while" faith's flick'ring lamp to trim: 
 
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 Oh, for the faith to 
 "A lit - tie while" to 
 Then the parched lips its 
 And then the bride-groom's 
 
 HS2- 
 
 ;rasp Leav'n's bright hereafter, A-mid the shadows of earth's "little while." 
 sow the seed with weeping,Then bind the sheaves and sing the harvest song, 
 thirst forever slak- ing Be-side the fnl-ness of the fountain head, 
 coming footsteps hailing, We'll haste to meet him, with the bridal hymn. 
 
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 "The words are in Gospel Hymns 1, 2, 3, find 4, p. 181. 
 pencil MS. of Sam's. 
 
 The music I copy from 
 

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