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NORTHWESTERN
UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
The Gift of
M rs. George A. Carpenter
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
The Land of the Pigmies
BY
CAPTAIN GUY BURROWS
{Captain Commandant^ Cont^o Free State)
with intuoncction iiv
H. M. STANLEY, M.P.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS AND
SKETCHES BY THE AUTHOR
NEW YORK: 46 East 14th Street
THOMAS Y. C'ROWELL & COMPANY
BOSTON; 100 Purchase Street
5^^
2DctiiciUri3,
BY I'KKMISSION,
TO
HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF THE BELGIANS.
INTRODUCTION
Having been the means through which the
author of this latest volume of Congo
travels was induced to take a part in the
development of the more distant regions of the
Congo Free State, it is but fitting that I should
give a few particulars respecting him.
Captain Guy Burrows descends from a well-
known English military family. His great-grand¬
father was a General of Engineers, so likewise
was his grandfather. Two of his uncles were also
distinguished officers who attained similar rank in
the same branch of the service, while his father.
General G. E.. S. Burrows, became Quarter-Master
General in the Bombay army. It was therefore
but a natural bent in our author to adopt the same
honourable profession, and since he was gazetted
to the 7th Fusiliers in August, 1880, Captain
Burrows has seen considerable service. In
December, 1880, he joined the 2nd Battalion at
2 vli
viii
INTRODUCTION
Kandahar, and remained continuously in India
until invalided in June, 1885. On reporting for
duty, he was sent to Egypt to be attached to the
1st Battalion, and in February, 1887, he had the
command of Shellal (1st Cataract) given to him.
In the following April he was promoted to a
captaincy, and commanded the British detach¬
ment at Assun during the summer and autumn
of that year. He retired from the Army in
November, 1888.
In 1894 the Congo State authorities being
desirous of opening the region around the Upper
Welle-Mobanghi, requested me to nominate a few
unemployed British officers who would be disposed
to serve a term in that remote corner of the State.
Among those who hailed the opportunity and
expressed themselves eager for service was Captain
Guy Burrows. As both figure and appearance
recommended him as physically qualified, and he
was possessed of indisputable credentials, he had no
sooner presented himself at Brussels than he was
engaged as a district commander in the Welle-
Mobanghi division. That his services were appre¬
ciated may be judged by his promotions, for in less
than a year he was appointed to the command of
the Makua (Upper Welle) Zone, and in February,
1897, w^as placed in charge of the Rubi-Welle
Zone. As his three-year term drew to a close he
was attacked with a severe hjematuric fever, but
INTBODVCTION
ix
unwilling to leave before he had fulfilled his con¬
tract, he held on to his post, and only when he
had exceeded his term did he consent to retire.
He reached Europe on the 17th of September, 1897,
having been absent from home nearly three and a
quarter years. He has now completely recovered
his health, and before this book will be published
he will be well on his way back to the Congo to
take up his new appointment of Commissioner of
the Aruwimi Districts.
With regard to this first literary effort of Captain
Burrows I need say but little. Its title is a
fascinating one, and suggests the satisfaction of
our legitimate cviriosity respecting the little people
whom the Emin Belief Expedition discovered in
such numbers in the great forest traversed by the
Aruwimi. As our author had an enormous num¬
ber of unknown tribes to describe within limited
space, he has selected for treatment only a few of
the principal, such as the Hangbettou (Monbuttu),
Ababwas, Azande, Maigoes, Mabode, Momvus,
among whom the Pigmies live. Our information
respecting these tribes has been hitherto but scant.
Schweinfurth, Junker, Casati, and Emin reached
the threshold of the region herein specified as the
Land of the Pigmies ; but since their time circum¬
stances have altogether changed, and the country
has been penetrated through and through several
times. Fortified stations dot the banks of the
X
lyTBODUCTION
Welle-Makua, and caravans are constantly passing
and repassing between the Lower Mobanghi and the
White Nile. Most of the country was an absolute
terra-incognita until the gallant Van Kherkhoven
led his column to the Nile from the west; and
therefore this first description of the country and
its wild inhabitants by an English officer who has
assisted in its administration for a number of years
ought to be welcome.
Captain Burrows's book possesses several merits.
In the first place it is brief, and gives us a very
good idea of the lands haunted by the Pigmies, as
well as of the characteristics of the larger
aborigines, some of whom, it appears, have qualities
that must prove of great value when their savagery
has been softened by greater intercourse with the
whites. What the Congo State has been doing in
the countries bordering the Welle, or how it is
progressing in its work of clearing the darkness and
mystery that have so long shrouded them, seems
to be a secondary matter. Of his marches and
countermarches he saj^s little, the incidents of his
daily life he leaves untold, and of his hunting
exploits, harassments, fevers, feelings and emotions
he is unusually shy. Captain Burrows has pre¬
ferred to treat only of the natives and their ways,
and I am bound to admit that I found his book so
interesting that I read it through at a sitting.
Lord Salisbury's recent reference to " dying
INTBODUCTION
xi
nations " in his late speech has led a writer in the
Spectator to include the Congo State as among
the moribund, though singularly enough people in
Brussels and on the Congo profess to be entirely
ignorant that there is anything to justify such a
statement, and personally I have not the remotest
idea what he can refer to. The author of this
novel jeremiad will perhaps excuse me if I ask him
not only to read but to study King Leopold's letter
attached to this book, and if he does it with a clear
understanding I venture to say he will entertain a
different opinion.
Brief as Captain Burrows's description of the
regions of the Weile countries are, they yet suffice
to bring to me very vividly the realities of savage
anarchy. They remind me of the state I found
the Congo basin to be in between 1876-1884, but
when I think of what the banks of the Congo are
to-day I am compelled more than ever to acknow¬
ledge what great gratitude the civilised world owes
to King Leopold for his matchless sacrifices in
behalf of the inhabitants of this region.
Carlyle says that "to subdue mutiny, discord,
widespread despair by manfulness, justice, mercy,
and wisdom, to let light on chaos, and make it
instead a green flowery world, is great beyond all
other greatness, work for a God ! " Who can doubt
that God chose the King for His instrument to
redeem this vast slave park whence Dongolawi
xii
INTRODUCTION
and Arab, Bakongo and Portuguese half-caste
slave traders culled their victims for the slave
market. King Leopold found the Congo region
" stained by wasteful deformities, tears, and
hearts' blood of myriads," cursed by cannibalism,
savagery and despair; and he has been trying
with a patience, which I can never sufficiently
admire, to relieve it of its horrors, rescue it
from its oppressors, and save it from perdition.
Some who have marked what he has been doing-
think he has been too slow, others say he has been
going too fast; some are out of patience with the
tedious process of conversion and civilisation, and
think the betterment of a few thousand of the
inhabitants of no account; others again jibe and
mock and sneer at all his efforts, and predict
certain failure ; still the King continues to keep his
treasury open, spends his million francs every year
with undiminishing faith that in the end all will
come right.
I am sorry to have to admit that our Press have
been the severest critics of the King, and the most
persistent in fault-finding. It almost seems as
though the civilisation of the Congo was for some
reason peculiarly obnoxious to the English.
From the very beginning in 1877, when I mooted
the idea first, every one who has been prominent
in this work has been the subject of censure, and
English opposition to it has been strenuous and
INTRODUCTION
xiii
untiring. The English would have nothing to do
with the Congo themselves, they were averse from
recognising the Portuguese claims, the French
were denounced for coveting it, and the efforts of
the Belgians to improve the portion allotted to
them by the Berlin Conference have been always
discouraged and followed by ominous prediction.
I can make nothing of this temper because it is
so unreasonable and unjustifiable, and I cannot
even guess as to what the British Press would
wish to have done to the Congo. It cannot be
abandoned to revert to a wilderness, it cannot
belong to England, and it would scarcely suit the
English to have it transferred to France, Germany,
or to Portugal. Why do our writers, then, object
to hear of steady progress being made on the
Congo under Belgian administration, and prefer
to publish malignant letters from some dismissed
official or splenetic missionary on which they may
base their prognostications of speedy dissolution,
rather than on facts which cannot be disproved
and which point to opposite conclusions ?
For 1898 the revenue of this State said to be
"dying" is estimated at i-'590,000, inclusive of
the subsidies of King Leopold and the Belgian
Government—that is to say, the sum of T470,000
will be drawn out of the State itself, and be it
remembered this revenue has grown from nil
within fourteen years. The debt is no doubt
xiv
INTRODUCTION
large having regard to the present revenue, and
the continued annual expenditure which exceeds
it, hut a glance at the condition of the State,
say in 1885, when it came into being, ought to
satisfy any intelligent person that without such
generous external aid its existence would have
been impossible. It is also better to have incurred
such a debt in creating and preserving the State
than to have forfeited it through allowing it to
stagnate and neglect of effective occupation.
The present question of Boussa and Nikki has
arisen through our neglect of the obligations which
were imposed upon all Powers possessing African
territory. Our indifference to our boundaries has
resulted in France annexing territory far within
our own borders.
King Leopold in his letter remarks that " the
Congo is a state whose boundaries are occupied
and guarded—a result nearly unequalled in the
history of colonisation, but which is explained by
the concentration of all my efforts in one field of
action." It was for this object of securing the
boundaries that the greatest expenditure was
incurred. To judge whether it was a proper
prudence must he left to those who remember
the history of the State. At any rate it will not
be denied, even by the writer in the Spectator, that
had we paid similar attention to our boundaries
in Nigeria, East Central Africa, and on the Nile
INTRODUCTION
XV
we should have had no anxieties respecting Boussa
and Nikki in the West, Fashoda on the Nile, or
the extent of the Abyssinian incursions. Belying
upon our prestige and dignity as a first-class
Power, we thought that by merely painting our
spheres red we should be safe against intrusion.
We were, however, deceived, and it may cost
us a hundred millions to recover our rights.
Now the question is; Had the infant State,
which had no force, no past, and no prestige, left
her boundaries unoccupied and unprotected, how
much would have been left of it by now ? The
next question is. Was the avoidance of contentious
questions between France and the Congo State
worth the large expenditure lavished on the
frontier stations ?
The experience of the South African Company
also goes to show that if you would reap you must
sow, and that as you sow you may expect to reap.
The debt and revenue of the Chartered Company
approximate that of the Congo State. Bhodesia
has hitherto suffered, and still suffers, from want
of sufficient means of transport. True, we know
the railway has recently reached Bulawayo, but
the Goldfields, on which Bhodesia depends for
revenue, are still distant from that town, and
much remains to be done in the way of railway
extension to satisfy the needs of the country, and
justify the faith of investors.
3
xvi
INTBODUCTION
Four months after the arrival of the railway at
Bulawayo the locomotive reached Stanley Pool,
hut instead of railway extension the Congo State
only requires larger steamers to bring to the upper
terminus the 60,000 tons of produce, which the
railway will need to have its full capacity
employed. It will not be long before the 20,000
miles of the upper river banks now accessible will
be abundantly able to furnish that amount of
freight. What the gold output of Rhodesia will
do for Rhodesian revenue, the rubber, gum, and
timber products of 400,000 square miles of forest
are expected to do for the Congo State.
Since 1891 there have been planted on the
Upper Congo 1,500,000 coSee and 200,000 cocoa
plants, and the export of rubber has risen from
a few pounds in 1885 to 3,570,756 lbs. in 1897.
The value of this amount is stated to be £357,056.
In 1884 the exports from the Upper Congo were
?iil, in 1897 they were valued at T621,688. It
ought to be remembered that this produce was
carried on men's shoulders; and now that the
railway is at Stanley Pool, what may we not
expect in a few years when the coffee and cocoa
plants are in full bearing, the saw-mills turning
out their hard-wood logs—mahogany, teak, green-
heart, and ironwood—by the hundred thousand,
every river-bank with rubber-bearing plants dili¬
gently searched, and the gum deposits yielding
INTBODUCTION
xvii
up their wealth to the prospectors ? But it is
unnecessary to dilate upon the prospect. It is
enough to say that out of England few people
are pessimistic in regard to the future of the
State.
The King further says that now the difficulties
encountered in establishing and provisioning the
distant posts, and maintaining the communications,
"will be greatly reduced by the completion of the
railway to Stanley Pool; " the progress which was
hitherto but moderate, considering the means of
transport, must be greatly accelerated. To the
State and its 1,600 white officials, merchants, and
missionaries, most of whom are on the Upper
Congo, the gain will be substantial. The tedious
journey past the cataracts occupied twenty days,
but the train, though only running during day¬
light, will do the distance in two days. On the
Upper Eiver are some sixty steamers and steel
boats, all of which were carried by black porters
in weights of 60 lbs. It also required an army of
40,000 native carriers to annually convey the
goods and provisions needed for business and
existence by the Europeans. It was cruelly severe
labour these natives were engaged in, though they
volunteered readily for the transport service.
Now, however, these carriers are no longer needed,
and the State is suddenly enriched by the departure
of these men, who have been trained by years of
xviii
INTRODUCTION
industrious habits, to other fields, to collect rubber
and gum, oil and palm nuts, &c., &c., which they
know will be bought for cash at every depot. The
expense of transport will be lessened by two-thirds,
and this economy will be net gain to the State.
Captain Guy Burrows and his companions now
on their way to the Congo will doubtless greatly
appreciate the advantages of the railway. On the
twentieth day from Antwerp they will reach the
railway station at Matadi, and towards the even¬
ing of the day after they left it they will reach the
Pool, and ten days later they will be comfortably
housed within the fortified station at the mouth
of the Aruwimi—nearly 1,300 miles from the
Atlantic. Before their contract term has expired
the speed of steamers and railway will have been
so accelerated that they will be able to reach home
in twenty-four days. Neither in their going out
or their return home will their strength and energy
be exhausted as in the past. When the gallant
Captain comes home again I hope he will be able
to furnish us with another book, wherein he will
tell us about the newer developments in the State
which followed the introduction of the railway, and
the linking of the Upper Congo flotilla with the
Ocean Mail steamers and what resulted from the
abolition of the carrier system.
HBNEY M. STANLEY.
May 16, 1898.
2, Eichmond Terrace, W^hitehall, London
PEEFACE
The mouth of the Congo was discovered in
1484 by Diego Cam, a Portuguese naval
officer, and member of the household of
King Juan II., who at that time took part in
an expedition which was coasting the African
continent with the object of discovering the East
Indies. To commemorate this finding of the
Congo a pillar was erected on the southern pro¬
montory of the Delta, which is still known as
the Padrao Foreland, padrad being the Portu¬
guese for pillar. The explorers called the stream
the Zaire, from the word Nzadi, which means
river; and it was not until the early part of
the seventeenth century that the stream was
first described on maps as the Eio de Congo.
Ancient descriptions, which date back to the six¬
teenth and seventeenth centuries, are based upon
stories brought home by traders, and in no way
raise the veil of mystery which enshrouds the
interior of the country, of which they give most
fanciful accounts. From that time until the be¬
ginning of the present century the history of the
xix
XX
PBEFACE
Congo is taken up by the Portuguese, who spread
the gospel among the people subject to their
rule.
The kingdom of the Congo proper was bounded
on the north by the river whence it derives its
name, on the south hy the river Kuanza, and
stretched some miles in an easterly direction.
A cathedral was erected at Ambassa which
became the seat of a bishopric in 1534. When
the King of the Congo was converted to Chris¬
tianity the name of the city was changed to San
Salvador, and later on the Eoman Catholic see
was transferred to St. Paul de Loanda.
In 1784 the Portuguese built a fort at Kabinda,
thirty miles north of the mouth of the Congo, in
order to mark the occupation of the kingdom by
Portugal; but a French squadron compelled them
to dismantle this stronghold. Along the Congo
there were also stations at which slaves were
embarked; these were transferred to St. Paul de
Loanda together with the bishopric.
James Kingston Tuckey, the leader of the expe¬
dition dispatched by the British Government in
1816, gives the first precise description of the
Lower Congo, from its mouth to a distance of 170
miles into the interior. Tuckey mentions the
presence of numerous slave-dealers along the
banks—owners of " baracoons," with which they
did a lucrative business. In 1810, when the
PREFACE
xxi
European Powers resolved to abolish the slave
trade, Portugal alone refused to adhere to the
convention, and in 1816 two thousand slaves
were still being shipped annually from the Congo.
In 1867 Livingstone discovered the Tchambesi,
running westward to the south of Tanganika,
and mistook it for the source of the Nile. He
explored the river as far as Lake Bangwelo, and
between 1868 and 1871 he came to the conclusion
that it issued from that source under the name
of Luapula, flowing northwards into Lake Moero,
from which it emerged under the name of Lualaba.
He again found the same river at Nyangwe, a
town in Manyema, at a distance of 1,300 miles
from its source. At this point it had attained
an enormous breadth.
In October, 1876, the expedition despatched by
the Daily Telegra2)li and the New YorJc Herald
under Stanley reached the Arab town of Nyangwe.
It was from here that Stanley made his famous
descent of the river to the ocean. After travelling
two hundred and eighty-one days, the expedition
came in sight of the Atlantic, having traversed
1,660 miles by water and 140 miles by land.
The Tchambesi, Lake Bangwelo, the Luapula,
Lake Moero, and the Lualaba were then all
proved to be parts of the Upper Congo, which
was thus followed in its entirety four hundred
years after the discovery of its mouth by the
xxii
FBEFACE
Portuguese, and shown to cross Central Africa
from east to west, and to form a natural means
of communication with the very heart of the Dark
Continent.
The first African expedition to start from the
East Coast left Europe on the 23rd of January
1879, with Stanley at its head, proceeding first to
Zanzibar, where a number of servants of the
former expedition, and many Zanzibaris, were
recruited. Stanley reached the mouth of the
Congo on the 14th of August, and there found the
Belgian flotilla awaiting him. On board the
Esperance he ascended the Congo as far as Yivi,
the furthest navigable point, where he erected a
station under many difficulties. In March 1880,
he began to construct a track between Vivi and
Isangila, which he reached in February 1881,
having transported his heavy loads and his boats,
mounted on waggons, and dragged by negroes,
through a country bristling with almost impassable
forests.
I am well aware that several earlier explorers
have given to the public interesting accounts of
their travels and discoveries in remote African
regions, and it is a pleasure to me to have been
able to record some further and fresh information
gathered by personal experience in parts where
no white man had trodden before.
G. B.
CONTENTS
CHAPTEE I.
PAOE
Mr. Stanley's Advertisement—I am ordered to Semio—The
journey—Matadi—Lukungu—Leopoldville—The principal
races—Their food—Their dresses—The Musserong^s—
Fetich-Priests—The Babuendi—The voyage up the river
—The Roman Catholic Mission—Equator station—The
Ubanghi—We journey in dug-outs—IMokoangai—Banzyville
—A native's idea of a flogging—A ransomed slave—
Yakoma—I become a "blood-brother"—The ceremony . 3
CHAPTER II.
A tornado—Extra paddlemen wanted—Lieutenant Devenyns
obliged to proceed by land—Strike of canoe-inen—The
rapids—A canoe sinks—Desertion of the paddlemen—We
surprise , a vfllage—A press-gang—Interpretation under
dififlculties—A portage—Dahia breaks his promise—I camp
on an island—Canoe-men anxious to work—Konirah—I
learn my destination—Djabbir—M'Bima—The ransom of
a condemned wizard—Arrival at N'Yangara ... 31
CHAPTER III.
A punitive expedition—A deserted country—The colmnn sur¬
prised—The Azande charge—Rout of the Sierra Leone —
We faR back to Dongu—I am sent to establish a new post
4 xxiii
xxiv CONTENTS
page'
—I am given charge of the District of the Upper Welle—
Its aspect—Altitude—Navigation—Climate—Native names
for the months—Trihal divisions—The Azande—Their
origin a mystery—Their country—Hunters—Pottery—
Status of the women among them—^War-dress of the chiefs
orality—Tl'he warriors—Their weapons—Beer—Their
methods of execution—Superstition—Not nomadic, but
ahsorbing—Their villages—Type of face—Possible Semitic
origin—The " chieTs^^Trafts, military science, primitive
jurisprudence and trial by ordeal—The oracle of Befige . 50
CHAPTBE IV.
Tlie Mang-bettou tribe—The conqueror and vanquished—
Modern Mang-hettous — Villages — Good husbandmen —
Skilful craftsmen — Aristocracy — Chieftain— Cannibals —
The war-drum—The mapingo—iC^^__Bmnen—Giving paint
—No divorce—Arms—Tobacco and pipes—Smoking cus¬
toms—The beer—Drinking customs of the Mang-bettou—
Harvest—Mang-bettou "gold cure"—No knowledge of
tactics—Huts—Intermarriage—Head-dress of the men—
The chief's "hall"—Their religious superstitions—Spiri¬
tualists—Funeral customs—The attaro—Funeral customs
of the chiefs — Morality non-existent — Nicknames —
Mourning 77
CHAPTEE V.
I visit the Mabode country—Eeturn to Pokko—Attacked by
fever—The Mege—Their country and customs—The Niapu
—A buffer state—No interest taken in the white man—The
mule a fabulous animal—The "lucundoo"—Poison resorted
to—The methods of working witchcraft—Cleanliness of the
Mege—I interview a tribe previously unvisited by the white
man—Good reception spoilt by an accident—I take the
initiative—Eout of the Mabode—I turn off eastward—
Fresh attacks by the Mabode—Cross the Nava—Attack
and capture of the zareha—Nineteen men of my party are
wounded—Belief by Lieutenant Laplume—The Mahodd
villages—Cannibalism rampant among them—The under¬
ground rivers — Dances — The Momvus tribe — Their
customs—Equality of the sexes—Eeturn to N'Yangara . 110
CONTENTS
XXV
CHAPTER VI.
Cannibalism—Its possible origin discussed—Livingstone and
the Manyema—The question never properly discussed—
Prehistoric cannibalism—Superstition or choice—Cannibals
not necessarily degraded—Pigmies not cannibals—Body-
snatchuig—The Bangala—The Bateke—The Mabode made
no secret of it—The way it is done—Among the Bangala—
Among the other tribes . . . • |
CHAPTER VII.
Returning down the Welle—The name of hippopotamus—I
shoot one—The scenery of a Congo river—Elephants' play¬
ground—A night expedition—A chance shot—The second
elephant—We follow the wounded elephant into the bush—
Ammunition expended—A further supply obtained—The
delighted natives — Elephant-shooting by daylight—The
Mobanghi paddlemen—The dug-out—I miss—The first
elephant killed—The second afraid—Bull elephants travel
in couples—A " picture puzzle "—An elephant's gentle
shuffle 158
CHAPTER VIII.
Early traces of the Pigmies—Possible relation to the people of
fairy legends—The Akka—Division—Tribe mark—Villages
—Mental state—Physical state—Instruments—Dancing—
Hunting—^Weapons—Bananas—Purchase their instruments
—Chiefs — Nominal protection — The Albino—Nomads —
Burial rites — Under White influence — Their language—
Making fire 172
CHAPTER IX.
The Ababwa people—Fictitious reports had reached me con¬
cerning them—The reasons for this—The middlemen—The
deference paid by the Ababwa to the Azande—The countrj-
—Customs of the Ababwa—Language—I arrive at Djabbir
—An expedition against the murderers of Grahame—The
doctor—Wild firing—Terror of the doctor—Volleys heard—
No trace of the other column—Attacked bj- the Azande—
The men demoralised—I form a square—Azande driven
back—The doctor's idea of warfare—Deserted by the other
xxvi
CONTENTS
two columns—We return to the station—The chief Djabbir
—The corporal promoted — News of Dhanis's disaster —
Recruiting—The Mohanghi—Their tribal customs—Malie
the best soldiers—Frank criticism—Hunters and watermen
—Reading the river—The mission station at Upoto—^Arrival
at Boma .......... 200
CHARTER X.
The Government of the Congo Free State—Local Adminis¬
tration at Boma—The Consultative Committee—The State
Offices—Districts and their Commissioners—Native Head¬
ships— Department of Justice — Coinage — War Office —
Native Service—Regulations the same as in the Belgian /
Army—The medical service—Powers of the State medical
officers — The Red Cross Society — The missions — The
Scheut Fathers—Missionary newspapers—Methods of the
workers — Probationary period — The Protestant Missions
wealthier than the Roman Catholic—English taught to the
natives—Publication of native grammars .... 219
CHAPTER XI.
The geology of the Congo—Prehistoric axe-heads—Fauna—
The goriUa and the chimpanzee—African elephant —
State decrees regarding elephant-shooting—The tusks—
Rhinoceros—Birds of prey—Reptiles—Domestic animals
—Fish—Methods of the natives in catching fish—Flora—
Equatorial vegetation—The banana—Manioc introduced
from America—Other edible vegetables—Tinctorial plants
—Rubber—Textile plants—Cocoa-trees—A relic of Stanley's
experiments—Tobacco, and smoking customs—Barter . 237
CHAPTER XII.
The transport of goods on the Congo—Native deserters—Rail¬
ways in Africa—A wonderful piece of engineering—Railway
lines in prospect—The schemes of the Congo Government
—An express Irom Alexandria to the Cape .... 267
Appendices :—
Letter from the King of the Belgians ..... 28,5
A Glossary of Words and Phrases 289
LIST OP ILLUSTEATIONS
FEONTISPIECE THE AUTHOR ....
MATADI (DOWN-STREAM) .... 4
LEOPOLDVILLE - . . . . .5
AMERICAN MISSION SCHOOL, LEOPOLDVILLE . . 9
POTTERY OF LOWER UBANGHI . . . .11
MASK OF MEDICINE MAN .... 13
TYPE OF RECTANGULAR HUT . . . .17
THE "GOODWILL" STARTING FROM BOPOTO . 19
YOUNG GIRL, HIGHER UB.ANGHI . , . .20
NATIVE OF HIGHER UBANGHI .... 22
CONGO MISSION SCHOOL . . . . .25
WOODEN SPOONS FROM THE EQUATOR ... 28
IN THE RAPIDS . . . . . .29
LULU.ABOURG ...... 83
BANANAS ....... 35
MOBANGHI NATIVE ..... 37
THE SULTAN DJABBIR . . . . . 39
CONGO CANOE ...... 41
SULTAN DJABBIR AND FAMILY . . . .43
xxviii LIST OF ILLUSTBATIONS
FOET AT DJABBIR .....
WOMAN CARRYING MANIOC
WOMEN CARRYING RICE AFTER THE HARVEST
MOBANGHI NATIVE ....
WITCH PROCESSION : GIRLS DECORATED WITH BEADS
AZ.A.NDE FETICHES ....
AZANDE NATIVE .....
AZANDE KENIBA ....
NATIVE DANCE .....
AZANDE WEAPONS ....
TYPE OF HUT .....
SECTION OF HUT ....
DENDI WOMAN, HIGHER UBANGHI .
POTTERY OF ARUWIMI ....
NATIVE OF THE EQUATOR
DRUMS FROM THE EQUATOR
MANG-BETTOU NATIVE ....
THROWING KNIVES ....
INTERMENT OF A CHIEF ....
A DANCING WOMAN ....
WAR MASKS AND THROWING SPEARS
TOBACCO PLANTATION ....
WRESTLING MATCH ON THE CONGO
NATIVE AXES .....
TYPES OF CHIEFS . . . .
AB.-iRAMBO WOMAN AND MAN . .
NATIVES OF THE UPPER CONGO
WAR DRUM .....
LIST OF ILLUSTBATIONS
xxix
COFFEE PLANTATION, STANLEY FALLS
,
.
PAGE
111
DISH FROM THE EQUATOR
•
114
GROUP OF YOUNG GIRLS .
•
•
117
COUNCIL OF WAR, BOPOTO • . .
t
120
MASOMA, SOUTH OF NAVA
•
.
122
MABODE TATTOOING (BACK VIEW) . ,
t
124
MABODE TATTOOING (FRONT VIBW) .
•
•
125
NATIVE WITH TATTOO MARKS . . ,
>
129
ENSIGN OF CHIEF ....
.
.
131
FETICH ......
•
132
BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION ON THE INKISSI
.
•
133
MAVIMBA, LOWER CONGO
•
136
FIRST BRICK STATION BUILT ON THE HIGHER CONGO
•
139
FALLS ON THE CONGO
•
143
HUMAN SACRIFICE . .
•
•
145
AXES, KASSAI . . . . .
•
150
AXES, KASSA'i ....
•
•
151
BOY, LEOPOLDVILLE ....
•
155
VILLAGE ON THE CONGO .
•
•
161
AMARYLLIS .....
•
165
SANGO TYPE .....
•
170
TRIBE FROM THE UPPER MONGALA RFVER
•
.
173
PIGMY ......
.
175
METHOD OF FISHING ON THE CONGO
•
•
187
A BAS-CONGO CARRIER
.
189
A BAS-CONGO CARRIER
•
•
193
BOY AND GIRL WEARING METAL RINGS .
•
198
VILLAGE OF KUNZI
•
.
201
XXX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
DANCING-WOMAN AND ATTENDANTS
A DANCING WOMAN ....
FUNERAL DANCE, BOPOTO
FUNERAL DANCE, BOPOTO
A MISSION CANOE ....
BANGALA NATIVE SMOKING HEMP
CONGO HUT .....
DISPENSARY AT BOMA ....
TYPE OF NATIVE ....
A CORNER OF THE STATION OF NOUVELLE ANVERS
MISSION AT KIMWENZA
MISSION OF EREBU ....
GORILLA KILLED AT STANLEY FALLS
NATIVE KNIVES . ... .
CAMP ON THE CONGO ....
FISHING SETTLEMENT IN THE RAPIDS
METHOD OF FISHING ON THE CONGO .
A LIANA IN THE LAND OF UMANGI
YOUNG COFFEE-TREES SHADED BY BANANAS .
NATIVE BRIDGE . . . . ,
FISHING ON THE CONGO
BRIDGE OVER THE BUNDI . . .
ON THE CONGO ....
FALLS OF THE TCHOPO . . . .
NATIVE CLIMBING PALM TREE
CHAPTEK I
Mr. Stanley's advertisement—I am ordered to Semio—The
journey—Matadi—Lukungu—Leopoldville—The principal
races—Their food—Their dress—The Musserong^s —
Fetish-priests—The Babuendi—The voyage up the river
—The Eoman Catholic Mission—Equator station—The
Ubanghi—We journey in dug-outs—Mokoangai—Banzy-
ville—A native's idea of a flogging—A ransomed slave—
Yakoma—I become a " blood-brother "—The ceremony.
IN June, 1894, hearing that Mr. Stanley had been
asked by the Congo Free State to find a few
English officers for their forces, I placed myself
at his disposal, and set out at once with a letter
of introduction from him to their Secretary of
State, who was then at Brussels. Arrangements
were quickly made, and within a week I was on
board the Konigin Wilhelmma, outward bound
for Boma, knowing nothing of my ultimate des¬
tination, but well satisfied at holding a captain's
commission in the Force Puhlique, and keen for
active service on the Upper Congo.
3
4
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
Hardly had we landed at Boma when I was sent
forward, with several other officers, to Matadi, a
rising station some forty miles higher up the Congo
river, where we found everything in bustle and
confusion. Caravans were arriving from up-country
laden with ivory and rubber, and leaving for
Stanley Pool with bales of cloth, rolls of brass
wire, and other useful merchandise. Eecruits fresh
MATADI (DOWN-STBEAM).
from the West Coast were amusingly at cross-
purposes with their officers, who spoke but little
English; and quarters for new arrivals were so
difficult to find that we were glad to be allowed
a corner for our beds in the mess-room when our
frugal meal was at an end.
Eext day we were so busy arranging our baggage
for the carriers, seven of whom were allotted to
each of us instead of twelve, that time flew fast.
LEOPOLD VILLE.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
7
and the following morning we started along the
caravan road for Stanley Pool, distant about 230
miles. This rough track, which crosses a hilly
district east of Matadi, is mere waste land,
unbroken by any trees or signs of life. Nothing
more dreary can be imagined than its bare rocks
and stony slopes, and scanty blades of a coarse,
ragged grass; nothing more cheerless than the
dull monotony of the surrounding landscape.
At each stage small shelters have been built for
the use of the State agents—poor huts of poles
and grass, too roughly run up to be even weather¬
proof, and miserable makeshifts until the long-
talked-of railway should be made.
Ten days' march brought us to Lukungu, a
station midway between Matadi and the Pool,
where we met Baron Dhanis and Doctor Hinde
making for the coast, homeward bound with flying
colours after their successful raid against Arab
slave-dealers. On September 6th we reached
Leopoldville, a station flrst planted by Mr.
Stanley on a hill which overlooks the great sheet
of water known by his name.
Waiting here for a steamer to take us on to the
Upper Congo, we found ourselves among many
white traders and members of the American and
French Missions, the latter established with a
large and well-built church. The native tribes
in these parts include the Musseronges on the
8
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
islands and river-side from Banana to Matadi;
the Kakongos on the right bank, between the sea
and Boma; the Baoilis along the coast, and the
Mayombes inland.
Speaking generally the people of the Lower
Congo are tall and well built, with supple limbs
formed more for agility than strength, and oval
heads and faces, quick with intelligent vivacity.
Their woinen are larger and stronger than the
men, and they all, in common with other races of
the Congo, are remarkable for their small hands
and feet, on which are bracelets and anklets of a
size that no European could wear.
Tattooing is very general, covering but a small
part of their brown bodies ; and as a rule the hair
is worn short. Families are distinguished by a
singular method of filing the teeth to a point, or
cutting them square, or in regular semicircles.
The Baoilis, a mixed tribe unfriendly to the
whites, live upon oysters, and distil salt from sea
water. The Mayombes, a wilder race, are hand¬
some and robust. The Musseronges hold them¬
selves aloof entirely from the rest, and are so
independent that not even the most imminent
peril will induce them to combine with their
neighbours against a common enemy.
The food of these tribes oh^ the coast is more
varied than that of the natives in the interior of
Africa. Their women do the cooking, grinding
AMEKICAN MISSION SCHOOL, LEOPOLDVILLE.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 11
and sifting the manioc, a flour which forms the
groundwork of their diet, and busy with household
duties, while their children play about the huts,
and babies sleep peacefully, rocked on their
mothers' hips. Over a fire of wood that burns
between three large stones these native cooks
prepare an excellent broth, a hotchpot of odds and
ends stewed with capsicum in palm oil. This
they eat out of wooden basins with wooden
POTTERY OP LOWER UBANGHI.
spoons and knives, drinking from earthenware or
carved wood cups; and though tables are un¬
known to them they have excellent taste in the
manufacture of porous vases and pottery.
In habits of personal cleanliness these African
children of nature are a wholesome example to
many in more civilised life. When they live near
the river, or any water, they bathe several times a
day, and in forests where this is impossible they
smear their bodies with layers of oil and red
powder, which they scrape off frequently. After
each meal they rinse their mouths with water, and
12
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
rub their teeth with the forefinger or with a rude
toothbrush of fibrous wood.
The most popular costume—scanty, but suffi¬
cient for the climate—consists of gaudy stuffs
imported from Europe, which they drape in bold
folds round their hips and loins. Large patterns
and a change of fashion are a delight to them,
while for choice of colours red, white, and black
find special favour; yellow does not come amiss,
blue is tolerated, but green is rejected utterly.
On great occasions their kings and princes
array themselves in grotesque magnificence, dis¬
carding trousers altogether, but otherwise be¬
decked with bright remnants of European uniforms.
Kings in full dress use skins of leopards or wild
cats as aprons, and carry long canes tipped with
an ivory or wooden fetish knob, and they and
their subjects of all ranks and both sexes wear
large earrings.
Most of these people believe in the existence of
a Supreme Being, who lives above the clouds, and
does not trouble Himself about mortals whom He
has created. More attention, however, is paid to
their fetiches, or petty gods, who are thought to
busy themselves with the affairs of men. These,
especially the fetich of death, are addressed through
priests, the ministers of fetich-worship, who consult
the image, or fetich, in cases of crime or injury, in
order to discover who is guilty of the deed.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
15
Crowned with leaves, and decked with tinsel,
carrying in his left hand a bag of eagles' beaks
and jackals' claws, drunk with palm wine, the
priest dances and yells, and ends presently by
declaring the name of the offender. At other
times he will pose as a physician, or medicine-man,
and make himself a terror to the simple folk by his
assumption of supernatural powers, which to their
credulous minds cloak his cruelty and avarice.
We shall form a general idea of the people of
these parts if we picture to ourselves a village in
the Babuendi district, with a cluster of perhaps
three hundred huts perched on the hilltop, clear of
any danger or surprise. These huts are rectangular,
with overhanging gables and verandas, under which
natives of both sexes may be seen smoking clay
pipes with stems of wood or iron. If caravans are
passing porters stop to refresh themselves. If it
is meal time men and women are eating apart from
one another. You may tell the married women by
a covering worn upon their breasts, and natives of
the north bank by their pretty headdresses of
palm fibre. All the women, and some of the chief
men, show an increasing taste for bracelets,
anklets, and collars, and as they move to and
fro in bright sunshine the scene is at once novel
and picturesque.
Our voyage up the river was comparatively un¬
eventful. We started at day-break, keeping close
16
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
to one side or the other, under thickly wooded
banks. There is no life to be seen in this dense
growth of trees, brush, and creepers except an
occasional crocodile, lying like a log at the water's
edge, or a solitary monkey, or a passing flight of
screaming grey parrots. At about five o'clock the
boats usually made fast for the night to the bank,
while the whole of the crew and black passengers
set to work cutting dry wood for the steamer's con¬
sumption next day. Passing the post of Berghe
St. Marie, where stands the Eoman Catholic
Mission and colony for young children, and
Tchumbiri, we reached Lukolela, the post founded
by Glave in 1883. This station, situated in the
midst of some magnificent giant trees, is well
known to every white man in the State because of
the excellent tobacco grown there, and the timber
will be valuable when means are found of convey¬
ing it to the coast, and thence to the European
market.
On September 14th we arrived at the Equator
station, where we enjoyed the delicious luxuries of
fresh bread and vegetables. Eetracing our steps
down the Congo, we ascended the Ubanghi, which
was in full flood, swollen with rains, and flowing
with so strong a current that we could not make
much way against the stream.
On September 23rd we reached Songo, after
passing through rapids which are only possible for
TYPE OF RECTANGULAR HUT.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
19
small steamers. Starting forward again with only
two other white men, I made my first acquaintance
with " dug-out" canoes. There were five rapids
to he tackled on the route, but by keeping close to
the bank, and hauling ourselves along by means of
projecting branches, we came through to Mokoangai
without mishap. Here Captain Tison, the com-
THB " GOODWILL ' STARTING FROM BOPOTO.
mandant, made us most welcome, and did all in his
power for our comfort and amusement, so that,
though sport was impossible owing to the marshy
ground, the time passed pleasantly enough in his
company, and with five other white men, two of
whom were stationed there, and three waiting, as
we were, for the steamer to take them on.
20 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
AYe left Mokoangai on the 8th of October in the
small paddle-steamer En Avant, one of Stanley's
original fleet, but owing to the head of water in
the river we did not reach Banzyville until the
YOUNG GIKL, IIIGHEE UBANGHI
16th. This station is built at the very edge of a
large rapid, and, with its excellent kitchen garden,
is the work of Captain Hermans, an officer of the
Grenadiers. The houses are well built of brick,
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
21
and the garden is stocked with an abundance of
vegetables ; fish, too, caught by the natives in the
rapids, are plentiful. An attack of fever kept me
prisoner here for nearly a fortnight.
It was at this station that I witnessed an amus¬
ing incident, showing the faith of the native chiefs
in the white man's power. The head-man of a
neighbouring village came to complain to Captain
Hermans that several of his men refused to obey
his orders. He requested permission to bring in
the culprits, that Captain Hermans might have a
flogging administered to them. Naturally the
captain was disinclined to interfere with the
domestic policy of the native community, but as
the chief insisted that he was himself powerless
to inflict adequate punishment upon the offenders,
permission was given to bring his men to the
station.
No one thought for a moment that he would
turn up again, but at two o'clock he reappeared
with four men, who came quite willingly and with¬
out the least show of force. On being introduced
to the commandant as the four culprits, they all
smiled and grinned, as though they were enjoying
their share in some great joke. They were asked
if they had been brought there by their chief to
receive punishment. " Oh yes, it was quite true,"
they said, " quite correct—that was precisely what
they had come for." All the time they were
22
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
laughing and smiling in complete unconcern. The
commandant, seeing they evidently did not under¬
stand the meaning of punishment, and after again
appealing to the chief, sent for a corporal and told
him to flog the four men.
Their idea of receiving punishment was peculiar.
NATIVE OF HIGIIEK UBANGIII.
The first man lay down on his stomach, the next
man lay hat on top of him, surmounted hy the
other two. Perhaps they thought the top one
could be thrashed for the whole party, or that it
might make things easier for the corporal. When
it was explained that each was to he beaten
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
23
separately there was a slight discussion as to who
should receive first punishment. Having settled
this delicate point among themselves, the three
stood by to look on while their comrade submitted
to his strokes. With the first blow the gentleman
on the ground began to think things were not quite
so funny. When his half-dozen had been admini¬
stered he rose to his feet, turned round, and
looked at his companions, the expression on his
face a mixture of disgust and humour—disgust at
the pain, humour in his pretence that the operation
was not at all a painful one, so that he might
enjoy its effect on his friends. As they went
away at last the chief alone was laughing; the
faces of the others were serious and composed.
The following fact illustrates the untruth of the
stories of inhumanity with which the Congo
officers are so often charged. While I was at the
station some natives from the neighbourhood
brought in a man whom they had caught. He
was from the interior, and would in the ordinary
course of events have been killed and eaten by his
captors, who had fastened him to a heavy block of
wood, so that he could not escape. Without
hesitation Hermans bought him for fifty pieces of
iron, and after a short time set him free, and sent
him home.
The French have also a station at Banzyville,
standing on the high bank on the opposite side of
24
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
the river to that of the Congo State, which is at
the water's edge.
Embarking from Banzyville in dug-outs, I arrived
at Yakoma on the 2nd of November, the voyage
being made without particular event, except for the
diversion of passing occasional rapids. We found
that the station on the right bank, which had been
given over to the French, was completely sub¬
merged, and that the State station was in course
of construction on the left hank; but, as there was
no house finished, only a few huts were available
for our accommodation.
At Yakoma I found M. Georges le Marinel,
captain of Engineers, and Inspector of State for
the Uhanghi district, the ofiicer who conducted
negotiations with the French diplomatists with
reference to the relative boundaries, and owing to
whose courtesy, tact, and diplomacy, friction be¬
tween France and Belgium was avoided. On the
day that I arrived a French officer from the other
bank had sent over a dozen bottles of wine as a
present—a very welcome addition to our supplies.
Leaving Yakoma on the 9th of November, my
troubles began. Hitherto everything had gone
smoothly and without a check. I was accompanied
by Lieutenant Devenyns of the twelfth line regi¬
ment, and fifty men. We were given two Norden-
feldt seven-pounders with all accessories, and some
fifty cases of shot and shell. These, with our own
CONGO MISSION SCHOOL.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
27
baggage, more than filled the five large canoes
which had been placed at our disposal. For
the first two days the voyage was easy enough,
hindered hy no broken water or very rapid
currents; but difficulties and dangers were soon
to overtake us.
It was on this journey that I first saw the cere¬
mony of blood-brotherhood. A little chief insisted
on becoming my blood-brother, and, anxious to see
how it was done, I consented. The rite was carried
out in the following manner: in the open air, and
in the presence of all the assembled chiefs and
people, I was seated opposite to my prospective
brother. A small incision was made in each of
our forearms, half-way between the hand and elbow,
from which a little blood oozed. The proper
performance would have been for each of us to
lick the blood of the other, but on this occasion we
decided to dispense with that part of the rite,
merely rubbing the cuts one against the other, and
thus commingling our blood. AVhen this was
done the representative of my "brother" got up
and began to beat two pieces of metal together—
a knife and a gun-barrel, I think they happened to
be—keeping up a monotonous tink, tink, tink,
and talking to me as he did so. He recited a sort
of commination service, somewhat to the following-
effect : "If you ever make war on me, if you ever
steal from me, if you ever wound me, &c., &c.,
28
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
may you die! " This is a good opportunity for
him in case he may want to get anything from
you, so his incantation often contains such threats
as, " If you do not give me plenty of guns, may
you die! " After this, a similar performance was
gone through by my representative, whose business
it was to nullify my new brother's subtle demands.
Finally the compact was sealed by an exchange of
small presents.
This custom is not by any means a local one,
but is found among nearly all the tribes that in¬
habit the districts of Central Africa. Stanley
submitted to the operation often enough to have
reason to complain that his arm became quite sore
from the effects of these frequent incisions.
WOODEN SrOONS FROM THE EQUATOR.
IN THE RAPIDS.
CHAPTEE II
A tornado—-Extra paddlemen wanted—Lieutenant Devenyns
obliged to proceed by land—Strike of canoe-men—The
rapids—A canoe sinks—Desertion of the paddlemen—We
surprise a village—A press-gang—Interpretation under
difficulties—A portage—Dahia breaks his promise—I camp
on an island—Canoe-men anxious to work—Konirah—I
learn my destination—Djabbir—M'Bima—The ransom
of a condemned wizard—Arrival at N'Yangara.
ON the 11th of November, on our way to
Djabbir, on the Welle, we were caught in
a tornado, and were obliged to stop at the
nearest village to avoid being swamped. The
first sign of its approach was a strong breeze,
accompanied by a rushing sound like nothing else
in nature, caused by distant rain falling on the
leaves of forest trees. We heard this long before
it reached us. At first a mere rustle, it increased
gradually in volume of sound, till the heavy rain¬
fall was upon us with a roar that was almost
deafening. A wild wind succeeded the breeze,
31
32
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
and the river, placid a few moments before, began
to run in high waves. Lightning followed, with
heavy thunder, louder than any Indian thunder¬
storms of my experience.
The village in which we had taken refuge con¬
sisted of a few wretched mud huts, through the
thatch of which the rain dropped incessantly as
through a sieve. Making the best of a bad case,
we tried to settle down as comfortably as cir¬
cumstances would allow, tormented by mosquitos,
the dripping of the rain, and smoke from the
greenwood fire.
The storm cleared off, and early next morn¬
ing we started in fine weather, arriving at the
village of M'pota. Here we found that several
extra paddlemen would be necessary to enable
us to overcome the difficulties of the rapids higher
up, and as it was no easy matter to secure fresh
canoe-men, I sent Lieutenant Devenyns with
forty men by land to Djabbir, keeping with me
four soldiers as interpreters (the reason four
interpreters were needed will be seen later on)
and six soldiers who were on the sick-list.
Our troubles now began in real bitter earnest.
Having got together, with the aid of the chief,
some seventy men to work the four big canoes, I
started, laden with my own baggage and the
lieutenant's, the two Nordenfeldt guns, and am¬
munition in about fifty cases. At four o'clock
>!W». i
'
m
LULUABOUKG.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
35
we reached the first rapids, where the canoe-men
insisted upon camping for the night, and next
morning they one and all refused to start unless
they received a present of beads. As this was
quite contrary to their agreement, and as I only
possessed about two pounds weight of beads, I
objected, and after much talk through the medium
BANANAS
of my interpreters persuaded the grumblers to
move on.
Leaving at 7.30 a.m., we passed the first rapid
by eleven o'clock. The canoe-men now demanded
food, stating that they had no means of buying
any. Stopping at an island village on the river, I
bought sufficient bananas for every one, but here
36
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
again they were dissatisfied—they did not want
bananas, they wanted beads. Seeing that the
whole thing was simply a device to shirk further
work, I divided the bananas among the four
canoes and placed one soldier in each boat, and
by dint of threats we started again to navigate
the second rapids. Three of the canoes passed
safely through, but the fourth sank, so we were
obliged to return, and with great difficulty man¬
aged to refloat it, ultimately recovering most of
its contents. I camped for the night on a small
island in mid-stream, so that none of the crew
should have an opportunity to bolt, but during
the night they found other canoes hidden on the
banks, and in the morning I awoke to find myself,
my ten soldiers, and four heavily laden canoes
without a single paddleman. Happily we found
a small village at the upper end of the island,
where we succeeded in obtaining a few men.
My difficulties were increased by my ignorance
of the native languages, and I now found the
value of the four interpreters, two of whom were
Houssas, one a Mobanghi, and the fourth a Sierra
Leone. Now to get at the natives I had to tell
the Sierra Leone what I wanted in pidgin-English,
and to make him understand it; he then trans¬
lated my meaning into some West Coast dialect to
one of the Houssas, who put it to the other in his
tongue; this one, in turn, rendered what he
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
37
heard into Bangala—not of the very best—to the
Mobanghi, who finally told it in Zande to the chief.
The possibilities of misconception under'this pro¬
cess are obvious, and I am perfectly certain that
my questions very often reached headquarters in
MOBANGHI NATIVE.
a form quite other than that in which they had
been put.
On the third day, lightening one of the big
canoes,. I sent it up the river to the village of
Dahia, a brother of the Sultan of Djabbir, to
bring back a few more paddlemen, so that I might
move on with the three remaining vessels. I was
38
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
obliged to wait a day before they returned with
some forty or fifty men, when we started again,
and arrived at 1 p.m. just below the rapids,
near to where Dahia's village was situated. Here
the natives absolutely refused to take the boats
over the rapids, declaring that they were far too
dangerous. I was obliged to unload all the canoes,
and leaving a soldier in charge of the baggage I
started for Dahia's village, which was about two
miles off, and was fortunate in finding that M.
Devenyns had been waiting my arrival for two
days. At last I thought my troubles were at an
end. Dahia arrived, promising as many canoes
and men as I chose to ask for, and bringing plenty
of food. He provided also men enough to carry
the whole of the guns and other things unloaded
from the boats below the rapids into the village
where we encamped, and I, relying upon the word
of Dahia, awaited the arrival of my canoes and
men.
In about an hour's time one small canoe arrived,
propelled by two men, who promptly disappeared
after tying it up to the bank, but in less than a
quarter of an hour it had sunk, having sprung a
leak. The whole day was spent in negotiations
with Dahia for more canoes and men. Finally
I managed to get one fair-sized boat and eight
men, with no hope of any further help. I was
compelled to send one canoe on in advance, with
THE SULTAN DJABBLR.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
41
orders to leave its load at the next post, with a
soldier in charge, and to return myself with boat
and men to take along a further portion of the
baggage. By this means I advanced in four days
a distance that under favourable circumstances
might easily be covered in one.
CONGO CANOE.
On the fourth day I embarked with the balance of
the baggage and loads, but did not reach the next
post of Bussendi until nine o'clock at night,
having been wet through since three o'clock in
the afternoon. Here there was nothing left to me
but to have recourse to the same tactics, if we
10
42
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
were to reach the succeeding post. Late on this
day when I left with the last load, after paddling
for hours against a powerful current, I asked how
far we had still to pull, and was met at every
inquiry by the reply, "only a short way."
We continued thus until eight o'clock at night,
when the canoe-men politely informed me that
they did not think they could reach the post that
night. They suggested that they should go ashore
and sleep, leaving me and my two soldiers in the
canoe. Here was an impasse indeed; it required
some nerve to storm the dangerous position, and I
faced it firmly, knowing well that I should never
see them again if they once got ashore. It was
pitch dark, and I had no idea where I was, so,
seeing that they intended to do no more work, I
was compelled to tie up to a clump of trees on a
submerged island, having at least the satisfaction
of knowing that my men could not quit the boat,
and that they would be extremely uncomfortable
during the chilly night. Supperless and cold, we
waited for the first glimpse of dawn, when I found
them anxious enough to push on, as they were cold
and hungry.
Continuing our course up the river, we soon
arrived at Konirah. Here fortunately I found one
of Djabbir's corporals, who was willing and able to
do all that I required. Being an Azande he rapidly
found means of supplying seven canoes, and eighty
SULTAN DJABBIR AND FAMILY.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
45
men to work them. From this point I had no
difficulty, the corporal, who accompanied us to
Djabbir, using his stick freely on the slightest sign
of laziness or disaffection on the part of the
paddlemen. We arrived at Djabbir on the 26th
at eleven o'clock, having taken twenty-three days
to accomplish what is really a nine days' journey,
and found M. Devenyns there waiting for me.
Owing to arrangements that had been made in
the meantime between France and the Congo
State, my destination was here changed from
Semio to N'Yangara, an alteration which I found
later there was no reason to regret, for my original
goal was to have been the deserted, swamp-
surrounded station of Meshr-el-Rek, whence pro¬
bably I should never have returned alive.
On arriving at Djabbir I was agreeably surprised
to find three Englishmen already comfortably
installed—Dr. Small, whom I had left at Leopold-
ville. Captain Salusbury, and the ill-fated Sergeant
Grahame. For the first time since my arrival in
the country I met a really important chief. On ^
entering the mess-room I was formally introduced
to a quiet, shrewd-looking native gentlemen in the
uniform of a captain of the Force Publique. This
was Djabbir, the chief of the Abandjia branch of
the great Azande tribe, who, I found, frequently
came to take his midday meal with the officers of
the station, and appeared quite at ease in European
46
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
surroundings, both at table and elsewhere. He
has always proved himself a staunch friend to the
white man, being far-sighted enough to foresee his
eventual domination in Central Africa.
At Djabbir I found State Inspector Paul le
Marinel, with seven other Europeans, all bound
up the river. After a week occupied in drilling
our men I moved on with Lieutenant Kops and
a hundred men, this time overland, making for
N'Yangara. Marching along the northern hank
of the Welle through forest and occasional open
plains, we arrived on the 26th of December at the
post of M'Bima. Here we crossed to the southern
side, and after a stay of two days we followed
along this bank as far as the native post of
Ciassi. At a small Azande settlement on the
road some of my men came to tell me that the
chief of the village was going to kill one of his
men for witchcraft. The unfortunate fellow, a
small and ugly specimen of his race, had, it appears,
been guilty of an amiable indiscretion with one of
the chief's wives. After some conversation with
the chief I ransomed the prisoner at the price of
two yards of white cloth, on the condition that I
might take him away with me. Needless to say
this victim of circumstances was only too glad to
fall in with my terms; and he remained with me
for some fifteen months in the capacity of a servant,
eventually returning to his village at his owm
request.
FOBT AT DJABBIR.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
49
Crossing the river once more at Ciassi, we
followed the northern bank as far as the post
of Bomokandi, so called
from its being the point
of junction of the Bomo¬
kandi and Welle rivers.
After one day's march
further we again crossed
the river for the last
time to the south side,
reaching the post of
Amadis on the 19 th of
January, and taking again
to canoes arrived at
N'Yangara on the 26th
of the month. During
the whole of tbis march
from Djabbir to Amadas,
about 250 miles, 1 saw
not a single elephant,
although nearly every carrying manioc.
morning, when starting, we came across innumer¬
able traces of them.
11
CHAPTEE III
A punitive expedition—A deserted country^—The column
surprised — The Azand6 charge — Rout of the Sierra
Leone—We fall back to Dongu—I am sent to establish
a new post—I am given charge of the district of the
Upper Welle—Its aspect—Altitude—Navigation—Chmate
—Native names for the months—Tribal divisions—-The
Azand^ — Their origin a mystery — Their country —
Hunters—Pottery—Status of the women among them
—War-dress of the chiefs—Morality—The warriors—
Their weapons—Beer—Their methods of execution —
Superstition—Not nomadic, but absorbing—Their village
—Type of face—Possible Semitic origin—The chiefs—
Crafts, military science, primitive jurisprudence and trial
by ordeal—The oracle of Benge.
At N'Yangara I found the commissioner of
the district making his final preparations
before marching against the Azande chiefs
in the north. On the 2nd of February a column
of 670 rifles, officered by ten white men, the whole
under command of the commissioner, set out from
N'Yangara in a north-easterly direction.
50
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
51
After nine days' inarch through a country
practically uninhabited—for it had been entirely
deserted by the people—on the morning of the
11th of February our three columns were suddenly
confronted by the Azande, and a square, rapidly
formed, was attacked on both flanks, while against
its front face three lines of yelling spearmen
WOMEN CARBYING RICE AFTER THE HARVEST.
charged across the open ground. The Sierra
Leone companies broke and fled, and the Azande
rushed through the square, inflicting a loss of
some sixty killed, including one white man, and
wounding about the same number.
The fugitives had fortunately been stopped by
the company of Mobanghi soldiers at the rear face
52
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
of the square, who thus averted complete and
absolute disaster. As it was impossible to carry
out our original plan, owing to the dejected and
disorganised state of the three Sierra Leone com¬
panies, and the heavy loss sustained by the Houssa
company of thirty-six killed and more than that
MOBANGHI NATIVE.
number wounded, out of a total of a 103, the ex¬
pedition fell back to the fortified station at Dongu,
situated at the junction of the Dongu and Kibah
rivers, where we arrived on the 24th of February.
On the 28th, with two hundred men and Lieut.
Niclot, I was sent to establish a new post in the
territory of the Abangba chief Kabasidu, six
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
53
hours south-west of the Dongu, the main object
to be gained being to supply the garrison at that
place, amounting in all to some 1,200 souls, with
food and grain collected from the Mangbettou
country. This post was eventually handed over
by me, at the latter end of August, to Lieut.
Swinhufvud, a Swedish officer in the service of the
State, when I was called upon to take command of
the Makua district, consisting of the posts N'Yan-
gara, Surnanga, Amadis on the Welle, Pokko on
the Bomokandi river, and the whole country south
to the Rubi and the Nepoko rivers. Over this
tract I constantly journeyed throughout its length
and breadth, visiting every chief of importance,
and securing his adhesion to the Government of
the State. Thus I had ample opportunity to study
the habits, customs, and rites of these peoples, the
Mangbettou, and their kindred tribes.
The district with which I am chiefly concerned
is that of the Upper Welle, which extends from
twenty-three degrees in the west, runs eastward to
the Nile at the most northerly point of the Congo
Free State, and has for its northern boundary
the M'Bomu, stretching five degrees north. The
southern boundary, which cannot be accurately
defined, is the watershed between the Aruwimi
and the Welle.
The country is irrigated by the Eiver Welle,
together with the tributaries Bomokandi, M'Bima,
54
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
Werre, and some lesser afSuents. To the north of
the Welle, in its western portion, the land is covered
to a great extent with thick forest; the central
and easterly parts consist of large open grass
plains, varied by undulating, rocky ground,
sparsely covered with scrub bush. South of the
river the country presents an entirely different
WITCH PEOCESSION ' GIKLS DECOEATED WITH BEADS.
aspect, being dotted over with numerous villages,
which are surrounded by large and thriving plan¬
tations of maize, banana, cassava, millet, sesame,
and maroo. On the northern bank the land is
almost worthless, but below this, where the agri¬
cultural tribes are settled, the country is much
richer and better, and soil is in the highest degree
fitted for agriculture. So fertile is the land, and
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
55
in such abundance does it yield food, that the
natives need work but two months in every twelve.
There is no " agricultural depression " here.
As no free salt is to be found in these regions,
this most necessary condiment has to be produced
artificially, and is extracted by all the tribes in
this neighbourhood from papyrus plants.
The altitude of the district of the Upper Welle,
at twenty-eight and a half degrees east and three
and a half degrees north, is 2,500 feet above the
sea, descending in its western portion at twenty-
four degrees east and four degrees north, to 1,400
feet. The river is navigable almost throughout
its entire course. There are a few rapids, where
portage of goods is necessary, but the boats them¬
selves can travel the whole distance without
difhculty. The rainy season begins about the
middle of July and lasts till about the middle
of December. It does not rain continuously for
two or three days together, but generally in the
afternoons and at night. The shorter rainy
season is from about the 15th of February to
the 15th of March. During the other months
of the year, though the climate is warm, the
temperature rarely exceeds 92 degrees Fahrenheit.
The nights are always cool and fresh, accom¬
panied by heavy dews, but there is much malaria
in the country, owing to the large quantity of
water and marshy tracts.
56
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
By some of the tribesmen names are given to
the months in keeping with what is done in them.
Thus one is named as that in which they sow
maroo, the chief ingredient used in brewing native
beer; another as the season when maroo must be
cut. Following this comes the "bad-water"
month, when the risk of fever is greatest; then
elephant month, when they catch elephants by
burning the grass; and the white-ant month,
during which white ants are collected, and con¬
sidered a great delicacy; and a second maroo
month, when a second crop is sown. The month
next to this has no distinctive name, and is
succeeded by the second maroo harvest month ;
the hungry, or water-month, when provisions are
scarce ; the second ant-gathering month ; a later
sowing month; and, finally, another with no
AZANDE FETICHES.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
57
particular title. This very simple method is a
decided improvement on the scheme set forth in
exquisite elegiacs by Ovid in his "Fasti." Nothing
supernatural is suggested, no names of deities are
introduced, but each month is directly connected
with some current and natural event.
AZANDE NATIVE.
So far as I could gather by inquiry and
observation, the characteristics of each tribe are
constant and continuous. At their head in point
of interest and superiority stand the Azande, who,
according to tradition, came down from the north.
Being now settled north of the Welle, they are
gradually pushing their way southward to the
12
58
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
more fertile land across the river and toward the
north hank of the Congo ; indeed, had not the
white man heen present to check their advance,
it is reasonable to suppose that hy this time they
would have completely absorbed the various other
tribes established south of the Welle. They have
no records of their origin, and possess no
traditional history save a mere genealogy of the
last seven generations of the ruling chief's family.
In this respect they altogether differ from all
Aryan nations, who invariably preserve traditions
of race and origin.
The Azande district stretches from twenty-
three degrees to thirty degrees west, and from
six degrees north to three degrees south; its
people are scattered over the whole country,
and are subdivided into the Ahandjia in the
west, the Avongura in the centre, and the
Makraka in the east. They are a fighting
tribe, using military formations in war, and the
rule of their chiefs is absolutely despotic.
Mighty hunters too, most of their time is spent
during peace in pursuit of the elephant and
antelope, which abound in the bush and plains
of their land. As a rule the women do all house¬
work and cultivate the fields, as in other tribes,
but have no influence in political or outside
matters, as have the Manghettou women. The
whole race are confirmed cannibals, although the
AZANDE EENIBA.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
61
Azande south of the Welle alone allow women
and children to eat human flesh, and the men
eat only those whom they have slain in battle.
The Azande make fairly good pottery of
different shapes, including the three-necked jar,
similar to those of Italian workmanship.
They are very fond of their women, neither
buying nor selling them. Coupled with this
good quality comes their love of music, for these
people are very musical, playing with great skill
a kind of guitar and the Keniba, a sort of
xylophone, made of pieces of wood that vary in
length and shape, mounted on gourds of different
sizes, and struck by hammers tipped with rubber.
The Azande use tobacco, but more sparingly
than other tribes. Their pipes are made of wood,
with a bowl of clay. Corn and cassava are their
principal food; potatoes too are planted, but are
eaten only when they are pressed by hunger.
They are extremely fond of the ground-nut, which
they grow in large quantities. In hunting they
use dogs to drive the game into nets prepared and
spread. These dogs are of a special breed, some¬
thing in the style of a boarhound, only upon a
very reduced scale.
When Azande chiefs go to war they dress
themselves in the most ragged clothes they can
find. Their old caps have holes in them, their
shields are worn and battered, and their knives are
62
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
rusty and chipped. To look at them you would
imagine them to be the poorest of the poor. At
night they lie down among their followers without
any covering, and will not even have a bed to rest
upon, so that they may not be recognised by the
enemy. Indeed, even among his own people in
times of peace the big Azande chief is, as a rule,
quite quietly and simply dressed, much more so
than the people around him, and he wears no
ornaments.
A much higher standard of morality is found
among these natives than in other tribes, and
they show real affection and respect for women,
who as a rule have their quarters in a separate
village in the bush, some two hundred yards from
the hut of the chief, where they are practically
inaccessible to the white man.
One of their principal pleasures is to dance,
moving round and round in a circle, shuffling
their feet, and swaying their heads and hands in
time to the beat of a war-drum.
Very cunning as traders, they will haggle over
a bargain for a long time, and when it is struck
at last they will still hold out importunately for
presents, without the smallest sense of shame.
The men are of medium height, well made, and
darkish red in colour. They have no distinctive
tattoo mark, except among the Western branch of
the Azande, who have adopted the lateral tattoo
NATIVE DANCE.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
65
mark of the race they have conquered, the
Mobanghi. The hair and beard are worn in long
thin plaits, and over the head they very often
throw a loose net made of string, which falls down
on the nape of the neck. They dress in bark
AZANDE WEAPONS.
cloth, pressed and beaten out, like the Mang-
bettou, and wear the same small circular cap of
woven grass. They smear their bodies with oil
and the powdered dust of the camwood-tree, and
in war-time blacken their foreheads and file their
13
66
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
front teeth to points, as a distinguishing mark,
probably another sign of Totemism, or a " throw-
hack " to primitive warfare.
The national Azande weapons are the lance and
shield, and among the AVestern Azande the heavy
hroad-hladed stabbing lance, of which each warrior
carries one. Among the Central and Eastern
people the light-throwing spear is the usual weapon,
of which each man carries four, five, or six. The
Western folk carry a small shield of wicker-work
with an iron boss and spike; those of the Centre
and East carry a large oval shield of similar make.
It is odd to discover our national beverage—
beer—in such parts, but we find these people
making beer from maize. Bitter and thick, hut
very sustaining, it is brewed by fermenting the
grain. Th5 tribe likes it, and, in default of the
products of Bass, Allsopp, and Pilsener, I am
bound to say so did I, and so did my men, another
proof of the oft-noted cosmopolitan character of
beer. The Arabs have taught them how to weave
a coarse, white cloth, which wears well.
The Azande generally kill condemned criminals
with the lance. I remember once an Azande chief
caught one of his wives attempting to run away
with another man. They were both taken and
brought back, and next morning, before an
assembly of the people summoned to witness the
ceremony, they were tied to trees. The chief
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
67
himself, after haranguing the assembled multitude,
at a distance of fifty yards from the prisoners,
began to dance, stopping every now and then to
throw a lance at either the woman or the man.
This he continued to do, approaching nearer and
nearer, until both culprits had been transfixed by
twO' or three lances. A chief would not hesitate
to mutilate his own son for such an outrage,
inflicting the usual penalty by cutting off both
hands at the wrists.
Not nomadic, but always pushing southward,
and essentially a warlike race, the Azande devote
themselves in time of peace to hunting, taking
little trouble about their dwellings or plantations.
Their huts are usually circular in form, and often
so low roofed that an upright position in them is
impossible. These are not grouped together, as is
customary with other tribes of this district, but
the construction of their villages is quite unique.
On a point in a winding path in the bush may be
seen perhaps two or three huts close together;
then, higher up, and most probably round a
corner, or a bend in the path, two or three more.
Higher up still will be found the headquarters of
the chief, containing a few more huts, and beyond
this still more are scattered at irregular intervals.
These, on each side of the village, serve as out¬
posts, to prevent a possibility of surprise by a
hostile ''force. In this matter the primitive
68
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
instincts of defence and fortification are clearly
indicated and enforced.
The type of face seen among the Azande is not
that of the negro at all. Even from a European
point of view one may find men and women who
would pass as very good-looking, for they are light
TYPE OF HUT.
brown in colour, with a clear skin, large eyes, and
not V(;ry thick lips. The hair, which is curly but
not woolly, is worn long by the women, who work
it into shapes, more or less fantastic, on the top of
the head. There is a touch of civilisation in this
custom. Their mouth is totally unlike that of the
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
69
negro ; and some faces differ only in colour from
that of the European Jew. The race as a whole
is well knit, healthy, and extremely independent,
regarding all other tribes as its inferiors.
Above all these people are extremely clannish.
An Azande is an Azande wherever he goes, and no
SECTION OF HUT.
matter where he may turn up he is welcomed by
his own tribe. His nationality franks him, as it
were, and is a sort of masonic badge among his
fellows.
The chiefs of these people have much greater
power than that usually given to Central African
70
THE LAND OF THE FIGMIES
rulers, who are, as a rule, the mere figure-heads of
their tribes. 'An Azande chief is an important
person, both in peace and in war. His rule is
absolute, life and death are in his hands, and he
never neglects the exercise of these prerogatives.
He and his followers are a shy, suspicious race,
and although you may send word to an Azande
DEIsDI AVOMAN, HIGHER UBANGHI.
potentate of an intended visit, you will never find
him at home. As you enter his village you will
probably be met by one of his sons, but although
there will be more than enough food provided for
yourself and your men, you will invariably find the
settlement deserted. When you ask for the chief
you are told that he is about a day's journey off.
and will not be at home until the following day.
POTTERY OF ARUWIMI,
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
73
While you are waiting for him his messengers will
continue to arrive about once in every two hours
to tell you that their chief will be back to-morrow,
though in reality he is some two hundred yards
away with his wives in the women's village all the
time.
We have seen that, as a rule, the men do no
work, all manual labour being left to the women.
The exception is the armourer or blacksmith,
whose occupation is hereditary, who is generally
attached to some chief, and who makes arms,
lances, and shields for the whole tribe. These
weapons, as a rule, do not belong to those who
carry them, but are given out for the time by the
chief whose property they are.
The warriors possess considerable knowledge of
military tactics, and when fighting charge either
in column or in crescent form, as do the Zulus.
Their courage and pluck are admirable ; their con¬
tempt for death is supreme. They will stand a
fire that is dropping them by dozens, charging
time after time until absolutely compelled to retire.
Coming upon seven or eight men armed with rifles,
they will throw away their own arms and rush
their opponents, though they may lose twenty or
thirty men in the attempt, knowing that ultimately
the rifles will be theirs.
A fixed method of trial among the Azande is the
ordeal by poison. The accused, brought before the
14
74
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
chief, is made to drink a cup of poison, a con¬
coction the ingredients of which are kept secret,
and he is considered not guilty if the poison fails
to kill him, but it has nearly always a fatal effect.
The man receives and drinks the poison; he stands
still for a minute in silence, all watching him.
Then his hands begin to quiver, not from fear, but
by reason of the poison's action, which contracts
the muscles, and presently he becomes quite rigid
and falls down dead without a sound. We may
reasonably assume that a chief would not sanction
so risky an ordeal except on those whom he
intended to despatch.
Another interesting custom of this tribe is their
method of forecasting events, known as the invoca¬
tion of Benge. Their faith in this peculiar system
NATIVE OF THE EQUATOR.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
75
of augury is implicit, and shows a belief in some
supreme being. Tbey consult it on every occasion
of doubt; " Befige cannot lie—I will consult
Belige," tbey say. Tbeir mode of consulting this
oracle is as follows : the chief, perhaps, desires to
know if a certain road is safe for him to travel by
on the morrow. Accordingly be selects two young
fowls, and as " Benge" can only be invoked in
quietude, be repairs with two assistants into the
bush, where a small clearing is made. Here tbey
sit down; the assistants, opposite to one another,
bold the fowls by the legs, and draw down the
pinion feathers into the band, so that the bird is
unable to struggle. By means of a feather an
equal quantity of the poison, a red composition,
made by mixing water with the scraped bark of a
certain root (Strychnos icliaja), is put into each
chicken's throat. Then the man who is invoking
the oracle makes an incantation somewhat to the
following effect: "Benge, tell me, tell me true!
If this one die and this one live the road is safe."
Then be talks to the fowls. "You die, and you
live," be says. If the result is contrary to bis
desire be postpones bis project - or takes another
path". The Azande have no other creed or religion,
but in Benge tbey have absolute and unshaken
faith.
Such is the Azande in bis native state. Brave,
intrepid, and unflinching, yet shy and suspicious.
76
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
with a faith in augury almost amounting to
fatalism, his qualities are of a higher order than
those of the surrounding tribes, whom, in the
natural order of the survival of the fittest, he was
absorbing on his way southward when checked by
the advent of the civilising white man.
DEUMS FEOM THE EQUATOB.
CHAPTEE IV
The Mang-bettou tribe—The conqueror and vanquished—
Modern Mang-bettous—Villages—Good husbandmen—
Skilful craftsmen— Aristocracy—Chieftain—Cannibals—
The war-drum—The mapingo—The women—Giving paint
—No divorce—Arms—Tobacco and pipes—Smoking cus¬
toms—The beer—Drinking customs of the Mang-bettou—
Harvest—Mang-bettou " gold cure "—No knowledge of
tactics—Huts—Intermarriage—Head-dress of the men—
The chief's "ball" — Their religious superstitions —
Spiritualists — Funeral customs—The attaro — Funeral
customs of the chiefs—Morality non-existent — Nick¬
names—Mourning.
Next in importance to the Azande comes the
Mang-bettou, or what at present passes as the
Mang-bettou tribe. Some fifteen years ago the
original Mang-bettou were masters of the district
south of the Welle"; but between the treachery of
the Egyptian officers of Emin's troops on the one
hand, and the attacks of the Azande on the other,
coupled with the pressure of the Abangba tribe in
the north-west, and of the Niapu from the south,
77
78
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
these Mang-bettou were dispersed, and their rem¬
nant was merged in other tribes. But their
customs, their language, their fashions, and their
arts remain among the present race of Mang-
bettou, the conquerors thus assuming the habits
and tongue of the vanquished, much as " captive
Greece made captive her rude conqueror."
MANG-BETTOU NATIVE.
The villages of the Mang-bettou are in every
respect superior to those of the Azande, except
from a tactical standpoint. In form they are
sometimes rectangular, sometimes circular, occa¬
sionally some two hundred yards across; hut is
built next to hut at fairly regular intervals, the
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
79
centre being kept quite clear, and swept twice a
day by the women.
In these villages women live as well as men,
and, unlike the Azande, are visible to strangers;
indeed, when a white man visits the chief, all the
wives will come to look at him without any pro¬
test on the part of their lord and master. These
Mang-bettou women are very good cultivators of
THROWING-KNIVES.
the extensive plantations that usually surround a
native village. In working ivory and iron they are
very skilful, the latter being wrought entirely with
the hammer. They also make a curious kind of
cloth, for which the bark of a certain fig-tree is
beaten out with ivory mallets on a smooth wooden
block; it is then buried in mud on the bank of
a stream, and when taken up again and cleansed
80
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
is ready for use. Tiie Mang-bettou wear it be¬
tween the legs, and fastened round the waist with
a rope of grass or a belt of antelope or zebra hide.
When the cloth is new it is so stiff as to make
walking difficult, but after a little use it becomes
soft and pliable.
Unlike other races of the Welle, the Mang-bettou
have an aristocracy—freed men who do not engage
in manual labour of any kind. Not that those
below them are slaves; they are equally free, but
have not the same hereditary rank as the so-called
freemen, who are usually relations of the chief,
or connected in some way with him. If you want
porters, and apply to a chief for them, he may
have sixty or seventy men around him not one
of whom he can lend. " They do not work," he
says, implying that as free-born they would not
thus demean themselves.
The office of chieftain is not always hereditary.
Generally, it is true, the eldest son follows his
father, or the chief may have named as his suc¬
cessor one of his sons renowned among the tribe
as a big fighting-man. But this by no means
ensures his acceptance by the rest, who meet in
council, and whose decision is final. This race
is far more under the rule of the white man than
the Azande, and lacks their independence and
courage, though it excels in hospitality.
An exceedingly abstemious community in
INTERMENT OF A CHIEF.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
83
general, occasionally their big chiefs give way
to drink; and, although the presence of the white
man has tended to check the practice among them,
they are still cannibals, and will eat human flesh
if they can get it without his knowledge. If we
could only check intemperance as easily as we do
cannibalism we might raise these brave fellows to
a higher level. Like the Azande, they have no
distinguishing tattoo mark.
The Mang-bettou are not a musical race, their
only instruments being the big war-drum and
the tusk trumpet. The war-drum answers the
purpose of a national telegraph, and one of these
instruments may be found in almost every village.
It consists of a piece of wood about four feet long,
cut from the stem of a tree, and hollowed out from
a long narrow hole in the top. It stands on four
legs, and has usually a figure-head of some animal
carved in wood. Beaten with short sticks on each
side of the opening, it gives out a resounding noise
that will carry for miles. This drumming is taken
up from village to village. Various codes of signals
are understood, and are thus the means of trans¬
mitting messages, both for purposes of peace and
for alarm of war.
Their trumpets are made of ivory, and are very
difficult to blow, being simply tusks with a hole at
the thin end. These are used for signalling in
battle, to indicate positions, to notify danger in
84
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
certain quarters, or to sound a retreat. They fight
by ambuscade, have no knowledge of tactics such
as are used by the Azande, and never venture to
charge their enemies at all.
Their method of forecasting the future is dis¬
tinctive ; it is performed by a professional, and is
known as the mapingo. A banana is peeled and
balanced horizontally on two upright pegs, not an
easy feat considering the smoothness of its peeled
stem. On this are placed thirty-nine heaps of
short sticks, beautifully polished and oiled, each
heap being composed of one stick resting upon
two. The seer begins to walk round these, talking
to them and clapping his hands, until one of them
slips away; and it is on the movement of these
little sticks that he will rely for an omen.
The clothing of a woman consists of a little
square of cloth about two feet by eighteen inches,
worn as an apron, and a tail made of cocoanut
fibres. She carries a little stool wherever she
goes, and generally enters a hut backwards. She
wears both anklets and armlets, made of iron,
brass, copper, or beads. Her hair is plaited into
a sort of crown or halo, and it is a good morning's
work to build up this structure in all its glory.
The great ladies wear the nails of the last three
fingers of the left hand very long, to show that
they do no manual labour—a custom which,
curiously enough, is found at the present day
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
85
in South-western Europe and in China, due to
a similar motive.
The whole of their body is usually covered with
designs when they are in full dress. These are
painted on with lampblack and gardenia juice in
rings, hoops, spots, circles, and other patterns,
according to taste and fashion. The paint lasts
A DANCING-WOMAN.
for three or four days, when they vary the
design.
It is almost a crime for a woman who is married
to give paint to a man. To give a man colour
implies undue familiarity, and is certain to bring
down the wrath of an offended husband upon the
imprudent pair.
86
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
Morality amongst these women is at a very low
ebb. The Mang-bettou families, except those of
the chiefs, are not usually large. The death-rate
among children is very high, as they are left to
look after themselves at about two or three years
of age.
These women are not good-looking as a rule, but
are well built and strong; and, as they do all
manual labour, as well as the house duties, a man
buys his wife more for her physical strength than
for her looks. Bought for hoes, spearheads, knives,
and pieces of unwrought iron, they become the
absolute property of their husbands and can be
sold or given away at will.
There is no divorce among the Mang-bettou.
A man simply takes another wife when he is tired
of the first. They all live together and do not
quarrel, the former wife being generally consoled
by the fact that her eldest son, if she has one, will
take precedence of her rival's children. The
daughters of big chiefs can only marry chiefs; while
unmarried they remain in the village and do just
as they please until some suitor of the required
rank turns up.
The arms of the Mang-bettou are the lance, or
throwing-spear," and a shield four feet high and
twenty-five inches across, made out of one solid
piece of uncaria-wood, slightly curved, and with
square corners. The strip along the top is orna-
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
87
merited with wicker squares, alternately plain
black, and white with black designs. This shield
is held by a small grip, and in this is fastened a
loop of fibrous tape into which spare spears are
slung. In fighting the warrior is able to cover
himself completely behind his shield. The tape
WAR MASKS AND THEOWING-SPEAES.
forming the loop is made in endless rings worked
on a circle of sticks.
The Mang-bettou do not file their teeth. This
custom, so common in many savage tribes,
obviously arose from a desire to produce fanged or
88
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
canine teeth, such as those of the wolf or fox, with
which, when all weapons had been exhausted or
none were at hand, they literally sprang at each
other's throats, fighting " tooth and nail." With
the introduction of iron-tipped weapons this
primitive practice died out. In some tribes, as we
have seen, it survives as a form of decoration or
distinction.
There is a plantation of tobacco near every
village, though the natives have no ideas of pre¬
paring it. They simply take out the centre stalk
of the tobacco leaf, which is shredded and dried in
the sun; this is sometimes mixed with red pepper,
and is moulded hy the aid of oil into the shape,
and nearly to the hardness, of a brick. Their
pipes are generally the centre fibres of banana
leaves, through which they hore holes at the larger
ends, into which they fit leaves curled up to take
the place of bowls.
In smoking they only take two or three whiffs
of the pipe, inhaling the smoke, and coughing
violently always. When the chief sneezes it is
customary for all those around him to pretend to
sneeze also, just as we may say " God bless you ! "
or an Italian " Viva! " When a chief smokes
the whole crowd standing round him clap their
hands in unison until he has finished.
The chiefs and their intimate friends are the
only people who really drink in the country. They
TOBACCO PLANTATION.
THE LAND OF TEE PIGMIES
91
enjoy large bowls of beer, made from maroo, light
brown in colour, and not unpleasant to the taste.
The first sensation to the palate is one of sweet¬
ness, the after-taste rather bitter. This beverage
can only be used when new, as in two or three days
it becomes acid and undrinkable. Women always
brew it, and pride themselves on the accomplish¬
ment. When a chief drinks strict ceremonial is
observed, each having his own custom. One will
have a drum beaten from the time he raises the
bowl to his lips until he puts it down again;
another will have a man behind him whose business
it is to attract people's attention while his master
drinks by uttering some cry, or noise, or shout;
another will have bells rung ; another used to have
a forked stick placed on the back of his neck while
he swallowed the beer. When a man makes up
his mind for a first-class bout the racket is con¬
tinuous and distracting while he is " making a
night of it."
The women as a rule do not drink except at the
maroo harvest festivals, when there is always a
great function, and other head-men and relations
are asked from the whole district round, with whom
they drink and dance, and dance and drink, for
forty-eight hours on end.
All the Mang-bettou chiefs, and people of the
better class, carry a piece of kola nut, which they
chew when they are beginning to feel tipsy, and
92
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
which they declare has the power of making them
sober. This "kola cocktail "is their equivalent
for the American " gold cure."
Freemen are armed with lance and shield, the
lower classes with bow and arrow. They paint
their faces in war-time white and black, a white
line across the black face, drawn diagonally, or
adopt some other pattern, such as a white eye—
prototype of the White-eyed Kaffir of our music-
halls-—and cover their heads with grass and creepers.
Altogether they make a terrific noise, but are not
dangerous.
Their arrows, which they do not poison, are
heavier and bigger than those of other tribes, hut
they are not good marksmen. They are not a fight¬
ing tribe; when a chief calls on his men to go with
him to war they are all supposed to go under dread
of severe punishment, but they cannot for a moment
withstand the plucky onset of the Azande.
Their huts, rectangular or circular, are far
superior to those of any other tribes in the Welle
district as regards their size, height, and cleanli¬
ness. The round ones have walls of clay mixed
with chopped grass, and conical roofs of grass-
thatch. The rectangular are framed of sticks of
the rafia palm, which is smoother than the bamboo,
and has no knots, interwoven with the bark of trees.
The thatched roof of these is covered with an
enormous mat, tied down at the four corners, and
WEESTLING MATCH ON THE CONGO.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
95
made of plaited cane. These houses are very neat,
and as they have no chimneys, the smoke finds its
way out through the roof. Their doors are only
about three feet six to four feet in height, but this
is higher than is usual with the neighbouring
tribes. The entrance is closed by a sliding panel,
made, as a rule, of one piece of wood. These huts
are rain-proof, and the walls are decorated with geo¬
metrical patterns drawn in black, white, or red, the
only three pigments for which they have names in
their vocabulary.
The head-dress of the men is distinctive and
curious. String is wound round the forehead
behind the ears, and the hair is drawn back and
tied into a sort of chignon on the top of the head.
On this is fixed a round hat with square top, kept
in position by an ivory hat-pin, and made of plaited
grass woven into patterns. Chiefs and high people
decorate their head-dress still further by the
addition of bunches of red feathers from the tail
of the grey parrot.
When the children of chiefs are young string is
wound round their heads, which are gradually
compressed into a shape that will allow of the
longest head-dress. The skull thus treated in
childhood takes the appearance of an elongated egg.
The Mang-bettou delight to exhibit their skill as
dancers in honour of their guests. Invariably on
your arrival at the village of a Mang-bettou chief
96
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
he will begin to make preparations for a big dance
in the evening or the afternoon. In our language
he "gives a ball," at which he is the sole
performer.
Drums are beaten to warn the natives of the
chief's household that he intends to dance, and at
the appointed hour most of his wives assemble in
a large open space set apart for this purpose, the
head wife seated in the centre, and the others in
order of precedence to right and left, thus forming
an enormous semicircle. Each woman brings
with her a round stool, about a foot high, cut out
of a solid piece of wood, and on these they sit with
their knees together and toes turned in. The
orchestra is placed behind the head wife, in the
centre of the semicircle, and is composed of drums,
horns, and native bells, which are tied together on
a stick and shaken till they sound "like sweet
bells jangled out of tune."
The chief in the meantime has been putting on
the ornaments and insignia due to the solemnity
of the occasion, and during the wait a few
picked warriors give a performance illustrating a
fight.
The chief arrives. He has put on, besides his
usual dress, a number of small skins attached to
his belt in front and behind—not in a row, but
three or four in a heap on top of one another, with
the tails hanging loose. Similar skins adorn his
NATIVE AXES.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
99
arms, and a large giraffe's tail is fixed behind, with
hunches of parrots' red tail-feathers at its end.
He wears an enormous head-dress, and round his
ankles are rings with bells attached. As soon as
he steps into the circle a great shout is raised by
the women present. He selects his dance, and as
the orchestra strikes up he prances round and
about this large circle, now stooping on one side,
now upon the other, until he is out of breath.
TYPES OF CHIEFS.
invariably ending opposite to -his head wife, whom
he salutes at the finish. He then refreshes him¬
self by big draughts of beer, while fanned by two
young women. When rested he begins a new
dance, and very often between the figures he
will make a speech. If he is tired his place is
taken by one of his sons, and so the proceedings
often last for five or six hours. The Mang-bettou
women during the dances sway their heads and
100
THE LAND OF TEE PIGMIES
wave their hands in perfect time, the chief wife
leading them. They do not dance with the men,
but have a dance of their own to close the
ball.
The Mang-bettou believe vaguely in a supreme
being, but they have no name for him. Their
nearest name is Kilima. The thunder is Kilima
speaking when he is angry. Thunderbolts are the
stones he throws down. By a charming poetical
fiction the rainbow is the actual embodiment of
Kilima. If you ask them to describe him, they
will tell you he is "a large animal with a curved
red back." A shadow is Kilima ; the reflection in
water is Kilima; anything they do not understand
is Kilima. Some of the tribes I met have neither
religion nor superstition, nor do they practise any
occult or fetich rites. Others, such as those now
described, have a vivid belief in the unseen world,
in a god, and in spirits of the departed, and so
are higher in the scale of civilisation than their
more agnostic neighbours.
If any head of a family dies he is biiried in the
centre of his hut, in a hole about six feet deep, in
a sitting position, and is covered over with layers
of earth and sticks, till the hole is filled right up,
and the floor is beaten down again, so that it shows
no sign of disturbance.
Outside the door they will build a little attaro,
or hut. This is made with three sticks, painted
ABAKAMBO WOMAN AND MAN.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
103
black and white, with a conical thatch of grass.
A similar hut is built right away in the bush.
After the man is buried cooked food and oil are
left at the attaro in the forest, so that the spirit of
this dead man shall not return to his house, but
shall find food at his other attaro should he want
it. This custom is frequently found among North
American Indians, and was also an Egyptian
practice.
In proof that these people believe that the
spirits of dead folk will return to their old
habitations, and can communicate with the living,
the following incident came under my personal
notice:—
One evening I heard a tremendous noise outside
my door. Eunning out to see what it was all
about, I found a native woman in hysterics. She
was lying on the ground, two women kneeling on
each side of her, holding her down with grass
mats, with the apparent intention of smothering
the poor soul. I asked what they were doing.
They told me that the spirit of her father had
come back to call her, and that she must go to
him. They really believed this, and were very
much disgusted when I threw a bucket of cold
water over her. In ten minutes she was asleep,
and next morning was perfectly well.
They believe, too, in a god whom they call
Ara, a name derived from Allah through the
104
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
Arabs. They say he will punish them for doing
wrong. "Will he punish them for murder?" I
once asked. " Oh no; it is Ara who makes a
man murder." " Then how and for what will he
punish man?" "He will punish a man for
neglecting to make provision for himself and his
family." "How?" "By making him suffer
hunger." So it seemed that their god was simply
Nature, and no more definite explanation could
I get.
When a big chief dies a new hut is built away in
the bush on the banks of a stream. A hole is dug
in the centre, as described previously, into which
he is placed, always in a sitting posture, and
covered over with sticks and earth. Five women,
selected from amongst his widows, are first
strangled outside the hut, and then their dead
bodies are laid on the surface of the ground, with
the feet towards the central tomb. Then they all
are covered over with several layers of bark cloth,
on top of which are poured large chauldrons of
palm oil. Another layer of cloth is added, and
more oil poured over it, until the whole structure
is about two feet high. After this it is absolute
death for any native, except the ruling chief and
one other man selected for the purpose, generally a
brother, to be found even upon the road to the
hut, which every week is visited by one of these
two men.
NATIVES OF THE UPPEB CONGO.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
107
When the cloth and oil have rotted away new
layers are spread there, till all signs except the
bones are gone. The hut itself is never repaired,
hut is allowed to decay and fall to pieces until it
eventually disappears.
The succeeding chief is very careful to supply
every possible want of his predecessor. If he
dreams during the night that the spirit of the
departed has come to him and has told him to do
this or that, a new chief will follow the advice
thus given. If beer is wanted he will have two
or three jars brewed next morning, which he takes
himself to the tomb and breaks them there in
front of the hut door. It is a favourite trick of a
new chief to bid for popularity by working upon
the people's feelings in this way, pretending to
have been visited by the late chief, who has warned
him that unless his followers behave better trouble
will surely ensue.
Burials usually take place at night. On the
death of a great chief everything belonging to
him except the cloth, which is too valuable, is
broken into small pieces and thrown away.
Being unable to pronounce the name of a white
man, these folk have recourse to nicknames, which
they derive from any personal peculiarity they may
perceive, and at noticing which they are very keen.
Once named, a man will go by his nickname among
the people, his white name being disregarded.
108
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
Even other whites are bound to mention him
solely by this. One was called a locust; another
the bad-tempered man; another was the strong
man, not because he was physically strong, but
because he was firm, severe, and hard; another
was called the " White Liar," from his habit of not
fulfilling promises made to the natives; a great
hunter was the ten-animals-man, another the
mongoose. A man with a beard is the hairy man,
and a short man is " Tikitik," the native word for
dwarf.
The women, when they go into mourning, take
off all their trinkets, bangles, armlets, and neck¬
laces, and cut their long nails. They take their
hair out of the shape of a crown, a task of half a
day, and wear it simply unconfined, replacing
their ornaments with bangles of wickerwork, and
staining the upper part of their faces black,
but they make no difference in their mode of
living.
A widow, being a chattel of the late chief,
becomes the property of his successor. The head
wife retains much of her former authority, but
remains with the other wives, and generally has a
voice in the government. She does not paint her
body at all during the time of mourning, as is
customary with the great Mang-bettou ladies at
other times.
The men for mourning blacken the whole of
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
109
their faces with soot, mixed with the juice of the
gardenia, a stain which lasts three or four days,
but make, no difference in their usual orna¬
ments.
WAR DRUM.
CHAPTEE V
I visit the Mabod6 country—Eeturn to Pokko—Attacked by
fever—The Meg6 — Their country and customs — The
Niapu—A buffer state—No interest taken in the white
man—The mule a fabulous animal—The " lucundoo "—
Poison resorted to—The methods of working witchcraft—
Cleanliness of the Meg6—I interview a tribe previously
unvisited by the white man—Good reception spoilt by an
accident—I take the initiative—Eout of the Mabod6—I
turn off eastward—Fresh attacks by the Mabod^—Cross
the Nava—Attack and capture of the zareba—Nineteen
men of my party are wounded—Eelief by Lieutenant
Laplume—The Mabod6 villages—Cannibalism rampant
among them—The undergi-ound rivers — Dances—The
Momvus tribe—Their customs—Equality of the sexes—
Eeturn to N'Yangara.
IN March, 1895, I re-established an old post in
the Mabode country, ruled by the Mang-bettou
chief M'Belia, which had been abandoned by
the State, two days' march north of the Nepoko.
It was then I took the opportunity of pushing
south to the banks of the Nepoko, the extreme
point in that direction reached by Junker in his
many wanderings in the region of the Welle.
no
COFFEE PLANTATION, STANLEY FALLS.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
113
Eeturning from the Nepoko to my headquarters
at N'Yangara, after a short stay I went down
the river to visit the posts of Suruanga, Amadis,
and Pokko, a very paradise for the naturalist,
situated just helow the confluence of the Pokko
and the Bomokandi at the foot of Mount Madjema,
and a grand field for elephant-shooting.
Here on the 1st of July I was laid up with my
first attack of bilious hematuric fever. In spite of
the absence of a medical man, with the aid of
Lieutenant Boone, commandant of the post, I
managed to pull through, but owing to consequent
weakness I was unable to leave till the beginning
of August, when I returned to N'Yangara.
South of the Bomokandi dwell the Mege, a
race closely allied to the Maigo, who dwell further
south. They resemble in many points their
neighbours the Mang-bettou, and, like other
tribes, they have adopted the language and
customs of their conquerors. They are skilled
hunters, and, living as they do in a w^oodland
country, use neither lance nor shield, confining
themselves entirely to the use of the bow and
arrow, with which they are extremely expert.
Their country is rich in foods of all kinds. The
villages consist of loosely connected groups of
huts, well concealed in the thick undergrowth.
Prom time immemorial they have been at feud
with their Azande neighbours; but this warfare,
19
114
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
since the arrival of the white man on the scene,
has been limited to small frontier raids and
skirmishes, with the result that a broad belt
of neutral ground has been created between the
territories of the two tribes.
Knowing the natural fertility of the land, a small
group of Niapu or Amadis promptly turned the
mutual hostility of these two tribes to advantage by
taking possession of the disputed strip. Here they
have settled down, refusing allegiance to either
DISH FKOM THE EQUATOR.
Azande or Mege, and thus creating an almost
model buffer state. Wild and lawless, this
small band has become a power in itself, repulsing
the encroachments of their neighbours, and some¬
times more than holding their own against them.
It was while passing through these villages, on
my return from the Mabode country, that I first
came across a people in whom the presence of a
white man aroused no feelings of curiosity. I was
riding a mule, and these people had never seen a
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
115
beast of the equine species, although they had
heard that this (to them) fabulous animal existed
in the white man's quarters, and that it was used
for the purpose of carrying him from one place
to another. The villages were deserted for the
moment as I passed through with my people,
but I heard afterwards that immediately after
we had gone by the Niapu crowded back, and
were busily occupied in examining the ground.
My informant, a small Mang-bettou chief who
had accompanied me on the journey, was a little
in the rear, and came suddenly upon the villagers
whilst they were thus employed.
Wondering what might be their object in thus
scrutinising the ground, he asked them what they
were looking for so busily, suggesting that they
should accompany him to see the white man
himself, who would most certainly give them
cloth and beads and other trifles dear to the
Niapu heart. But the proposition was received
with scorn. "We don't want to see the white
man," was the reply; " we want to see the ' spoor '
of the white man's beast."
These people hold themselves entirely aloof from
the surrounding tribes, preferring independence to
the doubtful blessings of an acquaintance with the
white man and his many wiles.
Amongst the Mege, Mang-bettou, and all neigh¬
bouring tribes witchcraft is implicitly believed in.
116
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
AVhen a chief dies his death is immediately as-
crihed to "lucundoo," and suspicion usually points
to his successor as its author. Poison is very
frequently used hy the sons of a chief to remove
any possible competitor from their path who is
likely to stand in the way of their succession to
the throne. Sometimes also the ancient tragedy
of David and Uriah the Hittite is played, but with
a poisoned dinner in place of the " forefront of the
battle."
" Lucundoo " can he made to work in various
ways ; one of the commonest in use is as follows :
The person who wishes to do harm to his enemy
goes in the dusk to the neighbourhood of his
victim's village. The only appliance necessary to,
conjure up the dread powers of darkness is a
simple whistle made of wood, hollowed out from
one end, and blown as a schoolboy whistles with
a key. Provided with this seemingly harmless
weapon the sorcerer walks along each path leading
into his victim's village, blowing lustily on his
whistle as he goes. This done, his vengeance is
complete, for it is only necessary to inforrn his
enemy that he has made "lucundoo" round his
village to keep him from using the bewitched
paths. New roads must be made, and until this
is done the victim of this magic rite will not dare
to stir abroad.
In their personal habits these people are very
GROUP OF YOUNG GrRLS.
TEE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
119
cleanly; they wash two or three times a day, and
when engaged in work constantly adjourn to a
neighbouring stream to cleanse themselves. They
wash their hands before and after meals, and
invariably rinse out the mouth with water after
having partaken of food. The meat may be either
roasted or boiled, but I have noticed that the
vegetables are always steamed.
In October I went south to the previously un-
visited Mabode tribes to see the underground
streams called Obe, mentioned by Junker and
Casati. At first we were well received by the
chiefs and people, but an accident, through the
inadvertence of a servant boy, turned their trust
into suspicion, and I found myself enclosed on
every side by the Mege, Maigo, and Mabode tribes.
I made useless attempts to conciliate their chiefs,
who became the bolder after each attempt to
pacify them, the more so as not long before they
had defeated four hundred soldiers of the Arabs
armed with guns and supported by their Azande
neighbours. Seeing our weakness—my force
numbered about sixty-five men—they hoped to
repeat their success.
Finding remonstrance useless, I gave the chief
warning that unless he would come and meet me
within a quarter of an hour, when we could explain
matters, I should take my own course, and the
consequences would be on his head. He did not
120
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
answer to the summons, and at the end of a
quarter of an hour I moved out of the zareba to
fight our way through the encircling hordes; but
these crowds of gesticulating, noisy warriors, when
they saw their leader fly were only too glad to
follow his example.
The following day a neighbouring chief, Mas-
COUNCIL OF WAK, BOFOTO.
singkanda, a cousin of the man who had attacked
me, came into the camp, offering any assistance
in his power. In the meantime the hostile natives
endeayoured to raise the tribes in my rear, inciting
them to cut the road to the Bomokandi, so as to
prevent my return to the banks of the Welle.
Unwilling to come to blows with the tribes
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
121
through whose country I had already passed, I
pushed on eastward to visit the Obe, attacked
on my way by the Mabode. I was obliged in
self-defence to capture the stockade of their most
important village, held by their chief, N'Dabone,
situated on a hill some three hundred feet high.
Starting at half-past ten in the evening, I marched
through the night, crossing the swollen Nava, here
about one hundred yards broad, and at seven in
the morning I found myself about a mile from
the hill upon which this stockade and village
stood.
My force consisted of sixty men, the others
having been left behind with the women and
baggage. Dividing these into two parties, I
attacked the Mabode in the zareba from two
points. In twenty minutes after our arrival at
the stockade we were inside, the enemy dis¬
appearing instantly on our entrance. We had
one man killed and nine wounded with poisoned
arrows.
Having destroyed the stockade, I returned to my
old camping-ground, where I was detained by the
wounded for several days. Meantime the natives,
whose loss had been slight on the taking of their
village, had re-assembled, and having called in the
aid of the neighbouring Mabode sent word that
they were going to attack me. Finding that they
had assembled south of the Nava, near a stream
20
122
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
about fifty feet wide, with marshy banks, I started
in the afternoon to attack them in their village,
where their numbers would not be of much
avail.
Here my men, advancing up the hill, were con¬
siderably disconcerted by the showers of arrows
MASOMA, SOUTH OF NAVA.
shot down upon them from little stages or refuges
built high up m the trees. Besides this form of
attack, the Mabode had scooped out shelters in the
counterscarp of the trench, and had filled them
with spearmen, who, rushing out from their places
of concealment, thrust their spears in the faces of
the soldiers lying on the bank. After half an hour.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
123
having nineteen men wounded, we had to retire
to our camping-ground amid the jeers of the
Mabode.
With nearly half my men on the sick-list or
temporarily disabled, with ammunition running
short, and surrounded on all sides by the enemy,
I was obliged to send for men and ammunition
to the station at headquarters, five or six days'
march distant. Until the arrival of these rein¬
forcements I had nothing else to do but to look
after my sick followers and close up as much as
possible the gaps in the zareba.
Like the other tribes, the Mabode do not
attack by night, and they were afraid to storm
the stockade in daytime; but under cover of
darkness they would creep up and fire their
poisoned arrows into our camp, taking as mark
any light or fire they saw.
On the arrival of Lieutenant Laplume from
N'Yangara with men and ammunition, we again
started to pay a surprise visit to our late hosts,
who by this time imagined themselves to be all-
powerful. We attacked from another point this
time, and in a quarter of an hour we were inside,
when, as usual, the defenders disappeared in an
opposite direction. From here our progress to
the Obe was easy—a matter of about three hours'
march.
These Mabode live on the banks of the Eubi,
124
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
in large villages surrounded by stockades and
ditches, often to the .number of three or four
thousand together. As the country is fertile, they
are an agricultural people, and the land is rich in
the oil palm and in all kinds of grain.
Their weapons are spear and shield, hows and
poisoned arrows, which they shoot down, as we
have seen, from shelters in the trees upon their
enemies.
The Mabode are confirmed cannibals, the
presence of a white man having had little re¬
straining influence over them. They are not
/
MABODE TATTOOING (BACK VIEW).
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
125
allowed to eat a blood-relation, though he be
killed in war; this, however, does not prevent
them from cutting up and cooking the body and
selling the flesh thus prepared to others for food;
in short, it is considered quite lawful and proper
to kill an uncle or an aunt, but having done so it
lb-- — "]
MABODE TATTOOING (FRONT VIEW).
is polite to go round to the neighbours and say,
"We killed old uncle to-day; he was in fine
condition. What special joint would you like?"
These people tattoo themselves, not as we
understand tattooing, but by the excision and
removal of little triangular pieces of skin, the
126 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
healed wound leaving permanent scars in quaint
symmetrical designs, both back and front being
subject to this process.
It is chiefly amongst these Mabode that the
Pigmies now live. The Mabode themselves are
smaller in size than the other races around them,
especially the women, who are also darker than
the generality of their coloured cousins.
The country south of the Welle, down to the
Ituri, is an enormous plain, broken here and there
by volcanic hills, from whose summit a view
extending many miles may be obtained. This
plain is rich is all kinds of grain, and of course
the banana flourishes there, the soil being excel¬
lent for purposes of agriculture.
On the eastern limit of the Mabode country
occur the Obe, as the extraordinary underground
rivers are called. This cluster of streams runs in
a south-westerly direction, effecting a junction
with the Nepoko at the point where the latter
river turns southward on its way to join the Ituri.
An Obe is indicated by the marshy texture and
appearance of the ground, which is motionless
when let alone, but rises and falls under tread of
foot. In the rainy season the surface is almost
a swamp, not utterly impassable, but extremely
dangerous. The natives sometimes cross on their
faces, crawling along as best they may. Such is
the rapidity of the hidden stream that a pole
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
127
driven into the ground that covers these subter¬
ranean rivers will be actually snatched away and
borne along in the rushing water. In the dry
season the surface of the swamp hardens, and is
quite safe.
There is no salt in the country of the Upper
Welle. The natives make a kind of saltpetre,
which they use as a substitute, from a peculiar
grass that is always found where there is any¬
thing like an Obe.
They are very fond of a black hairy caterpillar,
which they cook and smoke and dry at certain
seasons. In their country the zebra is found, in
the forests upon the banks of the Nava ; though
the natives fear them they occasionally trap them
for the sake of their hides, which are greatly
valued by the chiefs.
The large fish-eagle is a domestic pet. They
are caught and tamed, and kept about the place,
but are put to no practical use.
Their language is quite different from that of
the Mang-bettou, who cannot understand them.
They speak not merely in a different dialect, but
in quite another tongue.
The Mabode do not dance, but they are fond
of singing. They h ive no musical instruments ;
in place of these they take two sticks of dry wood,
one as thick as the finger, and the other twice as
thick, which they beat together. One sings, and
128
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
all take up the chorus, time being kept hy the
beating together of these sticks. This is their
sole idea of music and melody.
I once asked them for a translation of a song
they had been singing. It was—
" They kill us all with the gun.
They killed my father with the gun ;
They killed my mother with the gun ;
They killed my brother with the gun ;
They kill us all with the gun."
These Yocalists were porters, and not men I
had been fighting with at all. They had, how¬
ever, been raided three or four times of old by
Arab soldiers, to whom this ding-dong dirge most
probably referred.
The Momvus tribe are scattered about among
the Mabode, running south-east on the other side
of the Bomokandi. Differing from the rest both
in appearance and language, they are said to have
come from the south-east. But they themselves
have no very clear idea of their original home.
The women are on a footing of equality with
the men, and go hunting with them, and accom¬
pany them to the w^ars, taking their part in the
combat. The result of this is that the Momvus
are looked down upon by all the other tribes, and,
not being regarded as a warlike people, are hunted
by the surrounding cannibals, to be cooked and
eaten. They are a lower type than the others.
NATIVE WITH TATTOO MARKS.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
131
both men and women being shorter, and they
dififer also in colour from the rest. As a race
in all probability they will gradually become
extinct.
Their arms, too, are quite peculiar. Their
spears, which are heavy, are fitted with an iron
head, and are shod with a long solid iron heel.
Properly speaking they are an agricultural people,
possessing large flocks of goats, but they have no
cattle. When fighting they will often take refuge
in caves, from which it is impossible to dislodge
them, and where they will starve to death rather
ENSIGN OP CHIEF.
than surrender. They rarely attack, preferring to
hinder their enemies by blocking their path with
trees and other obstacles, which hamper their
advance. They sell their ivory to the chiefs of
other tribes for ridiculous prices, and these re-sell
it to better advantage when dealing with the
white man.
The Momvus are a subject race, split up, and
under the rule of other chiefs. A few of them
retain their independence, living on the southern'
bank of the Bomokandi. On the march through
their country I wanted to know the way to my
132
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
next halting-place, and, sighting a native in the
bush, called to him to come out. He refused at
first, but afterwards he came, halting about twenty
yards away. Then he asked if I was a white
man, and called to me to take my hat off, that
he might convince himself. Satisfied that I was,
he joined me, and agreed to show us the way.
FETICH
He became more communicative as we proceeded,
walking by my side and chatting. Presently he
told me he was a chief, and noticing that I
looked doubtfully at his wretched appearance he
said he would prove it. Off he went into the
bush, soon to re-appear higher up, bringing with
him a tusk of ivory as an offering. He received
BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION ON THE INKISSI,
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
135
a present in exchange, and immediately disap¬
peared again into the dense bush.
The Momvus use a different method from that
of other tribes in making their beer from the
palm-tree. The ordinary plan is to tap the tree
near its crown of leaves, and to fasten a wide-
mouthed earthenware jar under the wound to
catch the exuding sap. But the Momvus adopt
a more destructive system, the Palma Elais being
common in their country. The native brewer
first selects a palm, not too young or too old;
this he cuts down, and, stripping off the foliage
from the crown of the tree, he makes a rectangular
hole just where the leaves begin to sprout from
the trunk, about a foot long, four inches wide,
and four deep. Having carefully cleaned this
hole, he covers it with bark and leaves, and it is
thus left for twenty-four hours. By that time it
will be filled with juicy sap, which, when fresh,
makes a very pleasant beverage, but rapidly turns
sour. A tree thus treated will yield sap for three
days.
The Momvus are also noted for their skill in
extracting and clarifying the oil from the Palma
Elais. This is done by boiling the fruit, and
straining the oil thus obtained through a kind of
sieve made of fibres or grass. They are also very
skilful in working iron, making arrow and spear¬
heads of various graceful designs. Their shields
136
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
(lifier in form from those of any other tribe, being
shaped very much like a boy's kite. At the lower
end is a sort of basket, to enable them to carry
with ease their heavy spears, by resting the butts
in this receptacle.
Keturning from the Obe, I passed into the
territory of Kanna, the big Azande chief, where
we were received with great hospitality, quantities
of eggs, fowls, beer, cassava, and bananas having
MAVIMBA, LOWER CONGO.
been prepared for our refreshment. As usual with
Azande chiefs, I did not see Kanna until the day
after my arrival. We interchanged presents, but
he disappeared next day with his followers, thus
affording fresh proof of the unfriendly and sus¬
picious character of the tribe.
Passing on, I came up through the old villages
of Assanga, Casati's host, crossing the Bomokandi
and returning to N'Yangara.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 137
Being ordered home by a doctor, after black-
water fever and malaria, I left N'Yangara on the
30th of December, and reached Djabbir on the 28th
of January; stopping on my way down to shoot
hippopotami, geese, water-buck, and elephants.
On the journey down the river I shot two
elephants at midnight, four hippopotami, one
water-buck, six red geese, a couple of duck,
twenty-eight cranes, and various other birds.
22
CHAPTEE VI
Cannibalism—Its possible origin discussed—Livingstone and
the Manyema—The question never properly discussed—
Prehistoric cannibalism—Superstition or choice—Canni¬
bals not necessarily degraded—Pigmies not cannibals—
Body - snatching — The Bangala — The Batekd — The
Mabod6 made no secret of it—The way it is done—
Among the Bangala—Among the other tribes.
IN the main my observations upon the degrading
vice of cannibalism agree with those of other
explorers. Livingstone for a long time refused
to believe in the practice, until the inexorable logic
of facts forced conviction on him when he came
in contact with the Manyema. Both Mr. Herbert
Ward, the author of a note on " The Origin and
Distribution of Cannibalism," and Mr. S. L.
Hinde, author of " The Fall of the Congo Arabs,"
allude to it.
In noting the various theories we must remem¬
ber that, with few exceptions, the lower animals
will not devour their own kind. " Dog will not
138
FIEST BRICK STATION BUILT ON THE HIGHER CONGO.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
141
eat dog "is an old saying, but we know that if
one wolf falls in a pack pursuing a sleigh the rest
of the pack will stop to eat him, and that certain
snakes will devour each other.
Fierce hunger has driven men of our own race,
as a last resource in the pinch of hunger, to
satisfy their craving in this terrible way. Sailors
in a boat or on a raft have killed their fellows for
food, and it is a sailor's gruesome tradition that
the liver alone in such case should he eaten, as
being the most digestible.
This theory came out with horrible vividness in
the trial of the men of the Mignonette, who were
indicted and convicted of manslaughter for the
slaying of a boy, who was the youngest in the
boat. Our laws lay it down that under no circum¬
stances is it lawful to take a fellow-creature's life ;
but hunger and the dread of death will override
all law and induce such fearful tragedies.
In the practices I am about to describe, how¬
ever, hunger is not a factor, superstition and
depraved appetite being the sole incentives.
There is an extraordinary religious sentiment
connected with this custom. As we have said,
the flesh of relatives is never eaten, and some
tribes forbid the use of human flesh to all women.
That a cannibal can be kind and affectionate I
and others have observed, and no evil results seem
to follow from the habit; indeed from sanitary and
142
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
scientific points of view there seems to be no
reason why the flesh of man, properly cooked,
should not be nutritious. The wonder comes in
when we find, as did Livingstone, that in coun¬
tries rich in foods, animal and farinaceous, the
horrid custom is continued.
Food superstitions are many and mysterious,
but they will all give way under pressure of
hunger; thus a good Jew will never, if he can
help it, eat the flesh of pig or blood; but if he
were so driven by force of circumstances that
he had nothing else to eat, he assuredly would
devour them sooner than starve. So, too, a good
Roman Catholic eats no meat on a Friday; but
such fasting would be foolish and impossible if hfe
itself were at stake.
These and other considerations — such, for
instance as the love of the Red Indian for a
"rib-roast" of dog—seem to show that the real
origin of cannibalism was hunger, and that by
a process of heredity and warlike proclivities
it grew into a cult. The people who practise
it see in it no wrong; so that nothing but
punishment and the gradual progress of civilisa¬
tion can be expected to eradicate the habit.
Happily it is now slowly disappearing, and the
natives are beginning to he ashamed ot a prac¬
tice which degrades them in the eyes of those
with whom they desire to stand well.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
143
Notwithstanding its obvious and vital interest,
writers on Equatorial Africa, who must of neces¬
sity have encountered races among whom this
practice was a part of every-day life, seem,
intentionally or otherwise, either to have misled
their readers, or to have slurred over all unplea-
FALLS ON THE CONGO
sant details. None seem to have gone to any
pains in order to establish the accuracy of the
statements they put forward, or to confirm bare
assertions founded either upon hearsay or con¬
jecture. On the plea of wishing to avoid a dis¬
tasteful subject, and quite ignoring its social and
144
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
scientific aspect and value, many travellers
have deliberately suppressed their notes, or still
worse, have gone out of their way to give false
information—fearful lest the truth should offend.
Much has, however, been said by various writers
on what may be called the theoretical side of
cannibalism; by which I mean speculation as
to its origin, its history, and its effects upon the
people who practise it. In a geographical journal
for July, 1893, we find the following words:
" Cannibalism seems to have prevailed to a con¬
siderable extent among the primitive inhabitants
of Europe, and still more in America. The fact
that no traces of it have been found dating back
to paleolithic times, while the lower animals
rarely devour their own species, seems to show
that a certain degree of intelligence was first
attained." With this may he compared the
remark of Peschel that the custom is most
prevalent among tribes distinguished by a certain
social advance.
While instances of resort to human flesh as
food in times of famine are widely diffused, the
most common cause seems to be the well-known
superstition that by eating the heart or other
part of an enemy, to which the practice is often
restricted, his prowess is assimilated and acquired.
A true note is struck when the writer we have
quoted from says that this habit, begun from some
HUMAN SACRIFICE.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
147
necessity, is "afterwards persisted in frora choice."
In Many em aland and other districts of the Congo
Free State human sacrifices and religious rites are
wholly distinct from cannibalism, which is per¬
sisted in deliberately.
Livingstone, who was the first Englishman to
cross the Manyema country, travelled through the
district in company with a party of Arab slave-
traders, under whose protection he placed himself
in 1869—not from choice, but as the only means
by which it was possible for him to penetrate into
those dangerous parts. The journey was pro¬
tracted ; halts were long and frequent; and so
he was enabled to watch closely the habits,
haunts, and customs of the Manyema people.
Very slowly and with great reluctance Living¬
stone became convinced that from whatever cause
their cannibalism might have originated, it had
then nothing whatever to do with superstition or
religious rites. The natives made no endeavour
to conceal their liking for human flesh, and the
great traveller could no longer close his eyes to
a self-evident fact. Since the country was full
of animal and vegetable food, and starvation
was an impossible plea, cannibalism could alone
be accounted for by the assumption that it was
the result of a depraved appetite, or the outcome
of greediness. "Yet," said Livingstone, "they
are a fine-looking race; I would back a company
148
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
of Manyemamen to be far superior in shape of
head, and generally in physical form, to the
whole Anthropological Society."
This unnatural practice stands by itself, seeming
not in any way to affect or retard the development
of the better emotions. Thus, tribes to whom
cannibalism is quite foreign are in many cases
more bloodthirsty, and far less advanced, both
morally and socially, than others openl}' addicted
to it. It does not follow at all that because the
natives of the interior evince a liking for human
flesh, they are, on the whole, inferior to those who
treat the practice with contempt and abhorrence.
On this subject Mr. Herbert Ward, author of
"Five Years Among the Congo Cannibals," makes
the following statement: "It must not be sup¬
posed that the cannibal tribes of the interior are
altogether brutal in every action of life. On the
contrary, I have observed more frequent traits of
affection for wife and children than are exhibited
in the conduct of domestic affairs among the
people of the lower or Ba Congo country, who
are not cannibals." This remark coincides so
exactly with my own observations that I am glad
to quote it in full.
The same argument applies also to the dwarfs or
Pigmy races of Central Africa, who are of a very
low type. They build the worst huts of any
people in the district; they have no arts, nor do
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
149
they till the soil. Nomadic to the utmost degree,
they subsist almost solely by hunting, trapping,
and fishing. Yet they will starve sooner than eat
human flesh. In this I am confirmed by Casati,
who, in his " Ten Years in Equatorial Africa,"
gives ample testimony, instancing a fight, and the
revelling of the victors as they feasted on the
bodies of the slain, while their allies, the Pigmies,
weary as they were from fighting, scoured the
country round searching for vegetable food.
Dr. Parke, by the way, in his book, "Experiences
in Equatorial Africa," inclines to the opinion that
cannibalism among the dwarfs does exist, though
they do not make a general practice of it. "My
Pigmy," he says, " tells me that the people of her
tribe rarely eat human flesh, and are ashamed
of doing so." The doctor, however, made no
attempt to verify this assertion, and frankly I
do not believe it is at all reliable. I have lived
among the Pigmies at various times, and have
had excellent opportunity for studying their cha¬
racter and customs, but I have never encountered
a single case of cannibalism among them, nor
did I ever hear of one. If an isolated instance
should have occurred I have no hesitation in
saying that it was the result of imitation, for the
Pigmies are very prone to imitate their neigh¬
bours both in peace and war.
It is a nice literary question as to how Shake-
150
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
speare gained his knowledge of " the anthropo¬
phagi, and men whose heads do grow beneath
their shoulders." Did he mean cannibals and
stunted dwarfs? We shall never get to the root
of his shrewd omniscience.
The practice of body-snatching from the ceme¬
teries is frequently resorted to in the Bangala
AXES, KASSAI.
country, where the inhabitants are habitual can¬
nibals. As a consequence Leopoldville, the chief
station on the Upper Congo, is obliged to keep a
regular guard at the cemetery, as the Bangala are
constantly coming and going, against whom several
cases of body-snatching have been proved. This
practice became at one time so common that
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
151
nothing short of capital punishment had any effect
in putting a stop to it<
The Bangala, besides feasting on the bodies of
those slain in battle, are also in the habit of killing
men for food Their method of preparation is
a cruel one, but it is curious, and one is inclined
to think there must be some hidden origin and
AXES, KASSAI.
history behind it. The prisoner or slave who is
to grace the feast is not killed outright. Three
days beforehand his limbs are broken, after which
he is placed chin-deep in a pool of water, his head
being fastened to a log so that he may not be
drowned. On the third day he is taken out and
killed. This process is supposed to make his
152
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
flesh more tender, but it is difficult to see how
the Bangala can have arrived at this conclusion.
Mr. S. L. Hinde tells the following story, which
will serve to illustrate the man-eating propensities
of the Bangala ; " When I was returning from
Stanley Falls on my homeward journey six of
the crew were in irons on board ship, whom the
captain delivered up to justice at Bangala for
having eaten two of their number during the
voyage up to the falls. I was not at the trial,
but the captain told me that two of the crew had
fallen ill on the upward voyage, and had been
allowed to rest for a short time. On the next
ration day these two men were missing, and,
upon making inquiries, the captain was informed
that they had died in the night, and had been
buried on shore. This, however, did not satisfy
him, and having his own suspicions he searched
the ship and discovered parts of the men, smoke-
dried and hidden away in the lockers of the six
Bangala, whom he was then handing over to the
authorities."
The ordinary native preparation of human flesh
for food is not so elaborate as that observed by
the Bangalas, but is nevertheless carried out
with great care. The body is first decapitated
and cleaned out, after which it is held over an
ember fire and thoroughly singed, until every
trace of hair has been removed. Then it is
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
153
carefully cut up into joints, and is cooked—as
much as is wanted for immediate consumption—
in large pots, the rest being thoroughly smoke-
dried over a greenwood fire. But the natives
will eat as much as possible while they can,
for they are improvident in everything, taking
no thought for the morrow, and being ignorant
of the most elementary principles of domestic
economy.
When prisoners are taken it is very unusual
to kill the women for food; though if a woman
is unable to keep up with the tribe on a march
she is shown no mercy, but is killed and cut up
for food on the spot. This, bad as it is, may
be kinder than leaving her to die slowly of
starvation in the bush, or to become the prey
of wild animals that infest the forest; and the
blacks never encumber themselves with sick or
lame on their march. It is the same on man-
hunting expeditions among tribes that hunt men
for food. The women are not sought after at
such times, but I have no doubt that if a woman
were shot by accident, she would be presently
devoured.
The heads of those killed for food, as I have
already said, are rejected, but the teeth are
extracted and serve to make ornaments, such as
necklaces and armbands, which are worn by the
women. The hair too, when it is not the thick
24
154
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
wool of the negro, is used for plaiting into
ornamental strips. Yery ' often the skin is re-
* moved from the body of the victim, and is made
into drum-heads. In this fashion they are, if
report true, followed by the ladies of Paris, who,
according to the Idtest fad, are said to carry
books or purses bound in a strip of human skin.
The skulls are stuck up on posts around the
village. These Central African cannibals have
not the belief which is held by others that to
eat the heart of an enemy will give them his
courage, or that by eating his arms they receive
his strength.
While I was conducting a punitive expedition
against the Mabode, I saw a boy hit in the
shoulder by a bullet from one of the muzzle-
loading guns that are used by the natives, such
as they receive in bartering with the traders.
Looking supremely unconcerned and apathetic
about the whole affair, he was carried to one
side by the men nearest to him. I called the
men up and told them off to take him up to the
camp where the other wounded were lying. They
objected that he was only a boy and it did not
matter. I rated them for their insubordination
and saw my order carried through. But for
some time afterwards the men continued to
grumble, saying I might just as well let them have
the boy for killing when the work of the fight
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
155
was done. The boy recovered, and remained
with me for a considerable time; but the two
men, as well as many of the others who had
heard of the circumstance, were highly disgusted
with me, and laboured long under a sense of
having been the victims of gross injustice.
BOY, LEOPOLDVILLE.
I saw another side of cannibalism during the
same campaign. I was sitting outside my tent
in the cool of the evening, after camp had been
pitched, watching the men get their food ready.
The day's work had been a hard one, and a good
many on both sides had been left dead on the
scene of the fight; there were also a large number
156
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
of wounded, and fewer men to get through the
camp fatigue work, so we were not clear until
nearly dark. Presently in the deepening gloom
a man passed me, with a packet on his shoulders,
neatly done up in banana leaves. I asked him
what he was carrying. "Food," he said; "food
for the men." I asked what food it was, and
he replied that it was banana food. As a matter
of fact he and several of the other men were
going continually to and fro from the scene of
the fight, cutting up the bodies and bringing
them down in small parcels so as not to attract
my notice as they passed my tent.
In reality most of them are ashamed of being
cannibals, and are much . confused if interrupted
in their gruesome work. Nearly always after
a fight, when they have cut up the fallen and
are bringing in the flesh, they will carefully
conceal their tracks, so that if you wish to pass
through in the same direction they will pretend
to tell you of a much better way. " This is a
bad path, infested with snakes and wild beasts.
It is quite dangerous, and you must cross a
wide river, &c., &c. But over there, there is a
very fine, clear, easy path," and so on. But they
will never let you pass the place where they
are cutting up the bodies, if they can possibly
prevent you by guile or force.
The Bateke tribe, whose home is in the neigh-
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
157
bourhood of Stanley Pool, are not as a rule to be
considered cannibals; but the allied tribes, the
Apforu, and the Bateke of the French Congo,
follow this practice to some degree, as do a section
of the Balolo, whose dwelling is on the banks
of the Euki river, and among the swamps of
Malinga, Other branches of the same tribe show
no signs of it, and deny all connection with the
custom.
The whole question is wrapped in mystery, but
the authorities I have quoted, and my own per¬
sonal observations, practically cover all that is
known on this matter in Central Africa.
CHAPTEE VII
Returning down the Welih—The name of the hippopotamus—
I shoot one—The scenery of a Congo river—Elephants'
playground—A night expedition—A chance shot—The
second elephant—We follow the wounded elephant into
the bush—Ammunition expended—A further supply
obtained—The delighted natives—Elephant shooting by
daylight — The Mobanghi paddlemen — The dug-out—I
miss—The first elephant killed—The second afraid—Bull
elephants travel in couples—A "picture puzzle"—An
elephant's gentle shuffle.
ON the return journey down the Welle one day
I came across a family of hippopotami in the
water a short distance ahead. It had always
puzzled me to think how this unwieldy inhabitant of
tropical rivers received the name of "river horse."
To look at a hippopotamus as he moves his bulky
frame along the sandbanks any connection even
with a heavy plough horse seems absurdly remote.
But the nose and ears, seen protruding above the
surface, when the rest of the body is completely
hidden under Water, have a distinctly equine
158
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
159
appearance, which quite accounts for the origin
of the name.
My paddlemen stopped rowing as we came up
with the first beast, a big cow. I fired ; the shot
was clean, and I had the satisfaction of seeing the
animal turn over on her back and sink. A hippo¬
potamus when hit will remain down for any period
varying from three to thirty hours, and may come
up anywhere within half a mile of the place where
he goes under. It was already late in the after¬
noon, and our halting-place for the night was a
village about half a mile down-stream. When my
shot hippo came up she would be bound to pass
the village, so, deeming it easier to secure her
there, where she was certain to be noticed
sooner or later by the natives or my own men, I
resumed my journey.
The scenery of a Congo river is practically the
same in all parts of the country. High banks rise
on either side, densely wooded with big trees and
thick undergrowth, closely set, and almost im¬
penetrable. So monotonous does this aspect
become that the slightest variation is observed
immediately. Such a difference forced itself on
my notice as we swung down the stream towards
our night quarters. The river curved round a
projecting rock, just above which there was a
gap in the bush where the undergrowth had been
trodden down. An uprooted tree lay across the
160
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
opening, which had been stamped and trodden
quite bare. Evidently it was a place where
elephants came to let loose the exuberance of
their spirits during the night, for the clay banks
and the adjacent forest both gave abundant
evidence of. having been the scene of that riotous
devilment that is peculiar to elephantine sport.
•Arriving at the village I sent for the chief or
head-man. " Yes, elephants often come there,"
he said; " they come mostly at night, and as
likely as not will return again to-night." That
was good enough.
Leaving one canoe in the village I set out late
to the scene of the elephants' playground, accom¬
panied by two of my men. It was a fine night;
a clear moon shone high in the starlit sky, tinting
the trees with silver, and playing across the
stream in a thin line of wavering ripples, with
the dark expanse, of water in the background.
Silence was broken only by the soft plashing of
the paddles and the rush of water against the
bows of our canoe. The jutting rock loomed
ahead as we shot out from the bank.
• " Stamp, squelch ! Stamp, squelch ! " Sound
travels easily over water, and we could hear the
elephants enjoying a high old time as they
stamped their solid feet into the soft soil. As we
rounded the point in the shadow cast by the rock
we could see two big bull elephants pounding the
VILLAGE ON THE CONGO.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 163
clay, or boring into it with their gleaming tusks.
As we drew nearer to the open space the brutes
ceased their stamping in the mud, standing for a
moment quite motionless. Elephants cannot see
very far with their little pig-like eyes, but their
scent and hearing are keen ; and it was by these
that they were warned of our approach. We were
now within range, and broadside on to the nearest
one ; by clutching the overhanging branches my
men held the boat still, and I raised my rifle.
As it is impossible to sight a rifle properly in
the semi-gloom of moonlight, the effect of the
shot rests between chance and judgment. I did
my best, and with fortune on my side the bullet
reached the fatal spot between the ear and eye
of elephant number one. An elephant, I have
noticed, if mortally wounded, always falls to the
side on which the ball enters, and it was therefore
with intense satisfaction that I saw him slowly
collapse towards me on the soft clay, as his com¬
panion, startled by the report, made off in the
direction of the rocky point. This was well, for
had he headed straight into the bush sport would
have been over for the evening. The monster
skipped over a fallen tree-trunk as a man might
clear an impediment a foot high, and followed the
bank, not, however, before I had had time to place
a bullet behind his ear.
After my shot the boat drifted back some yards.
164
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
bringing us opposite to him when he came round
the rock. My rifle rang again, but this time the
bullet flew winged with less judgment than
chance. The elephant may have been hit in the
hind quarters, though to hit an elephant in any
part but his head is generally about as effectual
as sticking pins into his hide. He pushed on
unchecked, rounding the point on the sludgy bank,
and made at once for the bush beyond.
A cynical philosopher has said we are all
madmen, with lucid intervals of longer or shorter
duration. I and my natives must have come just
then to the end of a lucid interval, for with one
accord we beached the canoe and followed that
wounded elephant into the bush! Fortunately
for us he had not gone far, but stood grunting a
few yards inside the brushwood. He was evidently
distressed, my first snap-shot having taken more
effect than had appeared at the time. I crept up
cautiously through the undergrowth till I could
see my quarry standing in the low bush, flapping
his ears and swinging his trunk. The natives
followed behind me with their guns, and within
some ten yards we took aim at haphazard, and
fired together. Again the elephant grunted and
moved forward. Pell-mell we dashed back to the
boat, and waited to hear him crash away through
the forest.
Slowly we crept out again, stole up the bank
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
165
and plugged three more bullets into him. Then
we bolted back to the dug-out. This time we
could hear him flapping his ears and grunting, but
he held his ground. Back again we sneaked, close
AMAKYLLIS.
up to him. " Bang ! " went the three guns again,
and the poor brute, majestic to the last, dropped
to his knees, his ears still flapping.
By this time our ammunition was expended, for
166
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
I had only brought half a dozen cartridges, never
expecting to see an elephant at all, much less two
old hulls. So I sent one of my men back to the
village for a fresh supply while I waited with the
other. The flapping of the elephant's ears ceased
gradually, and presently absolute stillness hung
over the surrounding hush.
My man soon returned accompanied by some
more of my followers and some village folk.
Loading again, I and the two men who had
accompanied me followed up to the spot where
the elephant had dropped. He was lying on his
knees, and with the grey moonlight upon him
looked like some huge graven image. I fired a
shot into his head, but he did not stir. In falling
he had driven his tusks, each three feet long, right
up to the gums into the hard ground. In a quarter
of an hour a couple of hundred yelling and de¬
lighted natives were busily at work cutting up the
two carcases.
It was on the same river that my next encounter
with elephants took place—this time in daylight.
We were coining down a reach of the river that
stretched straight ahead for a considerable dis¬
tance, in fact almost as far as the eye could see.
I was sitting in the middle of the leading canoe
half asleep under the native awning; the crew,
men of the Mobanghi tribe, were paddling gently,
singing some boating-song of their own, as they
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
167
invariably do when rowing. One man takes the
lead with a ditty of purely tribal interest, the text
of which he often composes as he goes along; the
others take up the refrain in a chorus at the end
of each verse.
I noticed suddenly that they had ceased singing,
an indication that something had attracted their
attention; the native is keen-sighted as a hawk,
and reads the signs of the river like large print.
Nobody spoke; so, knowing their peculiarity of
never volunteering information, or giving any hint
save in reply to a direct question, I asked the
nearest man if they had seen anything. " Yes, they
had." I asked what it was, and he told me there
were two elephants standing in the water some
way down the reach. I looked ahead, and at first
could discern nothing. Presently, as the canoe
proceeded, I managed to make out the elephants
that my men had spotted a hundred yards back.
I loaded my rifle, and cautioning the men waited
anxiously till we should come within range.
A native canoe, or dug-out, is of course entirely
without a keel, and consequently answers with a
roll to the slightest movement of the body, or even
of the head. Therefore when one is firing it is
absolutely necessary that each person shall sit
perfectly still, or the chances of an accurate shot
are very remote. But this time it looked easy
enough. The elephants were standing in the
168
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
water at a half-right turn, facing the river, with
their hind-quarters to the ten-feet-high bank,
which was covered with thick, high grass. I
aimed at the nearer one, sighting as much as
possible between the eye and the ear, as the canoe
swung down. But as I fired one of the men in
front moved slightly; the canoe rolled, not very
much, but sufficient to render my shot useless.
Frightened by the report, the animals turned
quickly round, dashing down the stream and
following the bank. I hurriedly reloaded, but the
elephants had already turned. They were trying
to climb the bank, and I thought all was lost.
Once on the summit of the ridge they were as
good as gone, for before I could have landed they
would have disappeared into the thick bush. I
fired at the leader the moment he reached the top ;
to my delight he slowly raised himself and rolled
backwards down the bank, striking the water with
a loud splash. The other might at that moment
have gained his freedom; but seeing his com¬
panion fall in this unaccountable manner, he
turned (probably thinking the ground treacherous)
and headed back to cross the river, thus placing
himself at my mercy. A couple of shots sufficed
to cut short his career.
My only other elephant was shot in a different
manner, but one so curious as to be worth relating.
Bull elephants frequently travel in pairs, and on
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
169
this occasion we sighted them at the mouth of a
small stream that discharged its waters into the
main river. The banks of the streamlet were
thickly covered with hush and trees, if possible
even denser than the thick brush that edged the
river. As we came to the place where we had
seen the elephants standing, we found they had
gone away up the rivulet. Turning the canoe, we
attempted to follow, but the little stream had
not sufficient depth to permit of oui; passage.
Scrambling on to the bank we started to pick our
way through the bush to see if by any chance the
animals had not gone off into the forest, as they
generally do when scared.
A Mobanghi led the way; I was following close
behind him, creeping along as noiselessly as
possible through the tangled undergrowth, while
doing my best to keep up with him. Suddenly he
raised his hand, a sign that the elephants were
there. I looked, but in spite of the gesticulations
of the native could see nothing—nothing but the
dense forest, thickly covered with a tangle of
brown creepers, festooned among the dark tree
stems. As I peered into the dim light that
struggled through the overhanging foliage some¬
thing moved. It was the flickering of an ear.
There stood the elephants scarcely five yards
away !
Then of course I could see them. It reminded
26
170
TEE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
me of a picture-puzzle, once you can see the out¬
line sought for you are surprised that it ever
escaped your notice. I could now trace the huge
bulk of the elephant's body, and could see a little
pig-like eye blinking. I fired, and with a rush
they both made off; the one that was not hit got
SAKGO TYPE.
away across the stream, the other turned sharp
round to the left and came back in a circle,
standing still a few yards from us. I shot him
where he stood.
These five were the only elephants I ever killed,
but in extenuation it may be mentioned that they
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
171
were the only five I ever shot at. To go out
elephant-shooting through the high grass or the
bush is vanity and vexation, with the smallest
possible chance of sport. An elephant can move
through the densest forest as we walk across a
lawn; to keep up with his "gentle shuffle" is
almost impossible in the open, and quite so in the
bush ; while to follow behind him in the path that
he clears is equally futile,' for the obvious reason
that it is only by shooting him broadside on that
your bullet is likely to have the slightest effect.
CHAPTER VIII
Early traces of the Pigmies—Possible relation to the people of
fairy legends—The Akka—Division—Tribe mark—Villages
—Mental state—Physical state—Instruments—Dancing
—Hunting—Weapons—Bananas—Purchase their instru¬
ments— Chiefs — Nominal protection — The Albino —
Nomads — Burial rites—Under white influence — Their
language—Making fire.
IX the course of my travels I came more than
once across the Pigmies, and had every chance
of studying the make and manners of these
queer little freaks, whose history has ever had a
strange attraction for ethnologists. Stanley saw
and took stock of them, and succeeded in inter¬
viewing one of their princesses, who, with her
people, lived in the gloom of the great Central
African forest. But long before Mr. Stanley's time
Herodotus recorded their existence and customs.
He tells us, in his own half-serious, half-humorous
fashion, of a certain ill-fated warrior who sailed
through the Pillars of Hercules, and after failing to
172
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
173
double the Cape of Lybia, then supposed to be sur¬
rounded by water, returned to Egypt, and thence to
the court of Xerxes, where, in detailing his adven¬
tures, he spoke of "a nation of little men who
wore garments made of palm-leaves, and who left
their cities and fled to the mountains on the
approach of the invaders." The "Father of
History " is quite concise on this point, speaking
with more authority than he does concerning the
TRIBE FROM UPPER MONGALA RIVER.
Troglodytes, who could only " screech like bats,"
or the fabled Phoenix he so quaintly mocks at.
Eelics and stories of these mannikins are to be
found in all countries: witness the Dwarfs of the
German mountains, the Scandinavian Trolls, and
the Irish Leprechauns. True, these small folk are
now legendary and belong to the enchanted realm
of Fairyland; but I have no doubt that at one time
they flourished on the face of the earth in the flesh,
being ultimately killed off to allow the survival of
the fittest; consequently it was of the highest
174 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
interest to tind some of them in their primitive
and aboriginal state.
While we know that once upon a time " there
were giants in the land," we have no record to
show that they were tribal; but all dwarf history
points to a family form, their weapons, customs,
and habits being but slightly varied. No nation of
giants now exists on the face of the earth ; perhaps
King Arthur and his knights slew the last of the
British variety, and if any specimens remain they
are either attached to a travelling circus or killed
by Jack the Giantkiller at Christmas-time. The
giant, in short, is either a myth or a monstrosity,
but the pigmy is still a living and interesting fact.
I came across them in the land of the Mabode, to
whom they are much attached, and had exceptional
opportunities of making a study of the Akka, as
these wee people are called by the klang-bettou.
They are chiefly found amongst the Mabode and
Maigo tribes or among the Momvus, their district
being roughly between two and three degrees north.
The Mabode call them Balia, the Azande Tikki-
tikki..
The term Akka, by which the Pigmies are
known amongst the tribes speaking the Mang-
bettou language, is a corrupt form of Achua or
Wochua, the name by which the people call
themselves, the prefix W indicating the plural,
and being common to other Bantu languages.
PIGMY.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
177
They are known by different names according
to the language of the people in whose territory
they happen to have made their temporary settle¬
ment—Watwa in the basin of the Lunglulu, Balia
by the Mabode, and Batwa (singular Mutua, from
the root Tua, Twa) in many districts of Central
Africa.
Mr. Stanley classes them as kinsmen of the Cape
Bushmen, and indeed there are many external
evidences in support of this theory. Weismann
considers the connection between the two races to
be unquestionable; and the few deviations in their
physical appearance are no doubt to be attributed
to the influence of climate or the difference of
environment. If we compare Fritch's observations
on the Bushmen with those of other travellers on
the Akka, we cannot fail to attach considerable
credence to the theory of their relationship.
Their height brings them to about the shoulder
of a man of average stature, but they are by no
means uniform in size. Some are not higher than
the chest, while I have found others as tall as a
negro of medium height; but they differ from the
negroes in many points. They are lighter in com¬
plexion, and while the hair of the negro, be he
never so fair in complexion, is invariably curly and
black of the deepest hue, among the Akka it is not
unfrequently a dark rusty brown. Nor are they so
hairy as most negroes. The black Pigmies, it is
27
178
THE LAND OF THE PIGMTES
true, are covered with down, but the red have
seldom very hirsute bodies. They are a well-
proportioned race, and, with the exception of their
remarkably short stature, may be regarded as
normal and well developed, not degenerate, as has
often been stated, though socially inferior to other
tribes.
Nomads by nature, the communities of the Akka
are at home in no particular country, but wander
from place to place, supporting life by hunting.
Though one place seems to be much the same as
another to them and to be valued only according
to its possibilities as a hunting-ground, these little
people have a marked preference for the territories
of certain tribes and an aversion to others, within
whose confines they are seldom seen. They avoid
the Mege, for instance, and show a predilection for
living in the neighbourhood of the Mabode or
Momvus settlements, where they are treated with
something more than mere toleration.
They are, indeed, considered as valuable allies
whose assistance is worth having against an out¬
side foe ; and, in spite of their small numbers, they
are feared as well as respected from their revenge¬
ful nature and their hardihood in war. They on -
their part are quite willing to fight loyally for the
chief under whose nominal rule they lead their
gipsy life, and will remain in his district on these
terms as long as relations between themselves and
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
179
the chief are friendly. Otherwise they abandon
their huts and move off at once to the neighbour¬
hood of another chief, where they settle afresh
and continue to live under a similar tacit agree¬
ment.
They are, however, quite independent, and con¬
sider themselves under no obligation to the people
of the tribe they may for the time be associated
with. Thus they preserve their freedom, of which
they are intensely jealous, and hold themselves
entirely aloof from other natives, among whom
they neither marry nor are given in marriage.
Dr. Junker, in his travels in Africa, has alluded
to the Pigmies as being "thievish." This, how¬
ever, is unsupported by evidence, the doctor having
none at his disposal, and is altogether incorrect.
The Pigmy will scorn theft, and whatever may be
his failings and natural shortcomings, he ranks far
above the negro in this respect. He will lie,
deceive, and trick as much as the worst of them,
and often with a great deal more astuteness ; he is
cunning, revengeful, and suspicious, but he will
never steal.
The Pigmy is an excellent archer. In this
accomplishment he stands far ahead of his negro
neighbours, and can perform feats of marksman¬
ship with his little bow and arrows that are really
marvellous. He will shoot three or four arrows
J
one after the other, with such rapidity that the
180
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
last will have left the bow before the first has
reached its goal. When an arrow misses its mark
he will fly into a violent passion, breaking his bow
and arrows in his rage.
Fear of their vengeance causes them to be held
in awe by other tribes. For instance, a Pigmy will
mark out a bunch of bananas in a plantation by
shooting an arrow into the stalk, thus signifying
his wish for them when sufficiently ripe. The
owner of the tree, in dread of their displeasure,
would never dream of removing the fruit or the
arrow, but would leave it there until the Pigmy
should come for both.
Their power of observation, as may be readily
understood, is wonderfully keen. Accustomed to
depend upon keenness of sight for his daily food,
and by his hunter's life brought into close contact
with the dangers of the bush, it is not surprising
that the Pigmy should have cultivated quickness
of sight and keenness of perception to a degree
found among no other race of human beings.
Mimicry, too, plays a large part in the formation
and development of his character, evincing itself
not only in his droll humour, but also in the
serious facts of his everyday life, for he copies the
weapons of his neighbours, and even their habits
and customs, where these do not clash with his
own.
Ilis mimicry is aided by a good memory, capable
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
181
of retaining the most insignificant details for long
periods. Dr. Junker tells a story of how he met
an Akka at a camp whom he had measured for
anthropometric purposes four years previously at
Kumbek. " His comical ways," he says, " and
quick, nimble movements made this little fellow
the clown of our society. . . . His imitations of
Hawash Effendi in a towering rage, storming and
abusing everybody, were a great success; and he
took me off to the life, reproducing after four
years, down to the minutest details and with
surprising accuracy, my movements when measur¬
ing his body in Eumbek."
There are two tribes, distinguished as the black
and the red Akka. The black Pigmies are two or
three inches taller than the red, but they are
obviously an inferior race, not so well formed nor
so intelligent - looking as their ruddy kinsmen.
These two distinct tribes, who do not live together
or apparently assimilate in any way, have in com¬
mon a heavy overhanging upper lip, and do not
tattoo. Extremely exclusive, shy, and wary when
in the bush, when taken prisoners they become
fearless and defiant. Very vindictive when they
think themselves unjustly treated, they are other¬
wise faithful. As an example of their natural
qualities I noted that they are remarkably jealous
of one another; they make no friends of their own
kind when among other tribes, but will become
182
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
very friendly with the other natives. A parallel
to this quality we find in the animal world, for
wild birds will kill their tame kindred, and the
wild mouse will, if he can get at them, kill his
caged and delicate white brothers.
Pigmies have apparently no ties of family affec¬
tion, such as those of mother to son, or sister to
brother, and seem to be wanting in all social
qualities, asking nothing more than to be let
alone, to "live and let live."
Theh villages, if such they can be called, consist
of groups of perhaps thirty small beehive-shaped
huts, each about four feet high; the entrance is
a small opening a foot and a half high, allowing
just room enough for them to creep through.
They make their beds of sticks driven into the
ground at four corners, with other sticks placed
across, the whole being raised a few inches from
the floor. Each village is under the leadership of
a head-man or chief.
The low state of their mental development is
shown by the following facts. They have no
regard for time, nor have they any records or
traditions of the past; no religion is known among
them, nor have they any fetich rights ; they do
not seek to know the future by occult means, as
do their neighbours; in short, they are, to my
thinking, the closest link with the original Dar¬
winian anthropoid ape extant.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
183
Pigmies are strong, sinewy, and muscular, fear¬
less and daring. They have a dislike for water,
and are not cleanly in their habits as are other
tribes. Very few of them can swim, and probably
they know nothing of the art, living, as they do,
chiefly on dry land.
The dress of the Pigmies is very simple. The
men wear a plain strip of cloth round the loins, the
women simply a bunch of leaves. They have no
ornaments of any kind—a fact which shows their
low development, for women as a rule use orna¬
ments as attractions in savage life as well as
in civilised. Possibly when the New Pigmy
\yoman arrives she will introduce necklaces and
earrings.
Musical instruments are unknown to them ; even
their dancing is conducted without any sweeter
sound than the rhythmical tapping of a bow with
an arrow. Their whole idea of dancing is to strut
round in a circle, with their legs quite stiff, beating
time with bow and arrow, as just mentioned, and
adding absurd emphasis to the general effect by
their set and solemn countenances.
Having no religion, no family ties, no joy in
sports or games, and no fixed home, their one
object and occupation is hunting, at which they
are such adepts that it is a sight, as has been said
before, to see them handle their small bows and
arrows. They also carry a short, light spear, a
184
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
weapon they have copied from other tribes, but no
shield, nor do they poison their arrows, which are
not tipped with flint, as has been asserted.
The Beiige poison is erroneously described by Dr.
Parke, Medical Officer of the Emin Pasha Belief
Expedition, as the arrow-poison of the Pigmies,
and is thus alluded to under article iv. in the
doctor's paper on the poisons of Central Africa.
There are, however, several discrepancies in his
account of the plant and poison, which I have no
difficulty in recognising by the diagrams and
illustrations that accompany his article.
First I will quote Dr. Parke's delineation, in
wBich I recognise the Beiige poison plant:—
" Green Stem.—This is obtained from a branch¬
ing shrub which is very common in the forest. It
grows to a height of ten or twelve feet, and the
stem in the thickest part is not more than two
inches in diameter. It is of a dark green colour
at the upper part of the plant. The leaves are
dark green on the upper surface and a paler tint
below; there are three principal veins or orbs;
and the lateral veins are given off at an acute
angle from each of these. The leaf is from three
to six or even eight inches long and about half as
broad, the large veins being depressed upon the
upper and prominent on the lower surface of the
leaf. The scrapings only of the bark are used, to
the amount of a dessert-spoonful in preparing a tea-
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
185
cupful of poison. The plant had neither flowers
nor leaves when I saw it."
Writing in conjunction with Dr. Park^, Mr.
E. L. Holmes, F.L.S., identifies this as follows :
" Judging from the structure of the stem, and the
character of the single imperfect leaf brought home
by Surgeon Parke, this ingredient is composed of
the stems of a species of Strychnos, probably S.
Icaja, Baillon. The scars on the stem are opposite,
and indicate opposite leaves, and the venation of the
leaf is characteristic of the genus Strychnos. Of
this there are several African species known, but
only two of these have leaves as large as the
one under consideration. The 8. Icaja, Baill.
(S. M'Boundou, of Heckel) is known to be used
in the Gaboon as an arrow-poison, and by the
Pigmies.
"In the Hanbury Herbarium there is a speci¬
men of this plant, and on seeing Surgeon Parke's
leaf I at once recognised the strong resemblance
to this which it possessed. On showing the Han¬
bury specimen to Surgeon Parke he pointed out
the acuminate apex of the leaf as having par¬
ticularly attracted his attention in the growing
plant, and expressed assurance as to their identity."
All these details given by Dr. Parke as to the
appearance and structure of the plant agree entirely
with my own observations. We differ, however, in
one important respect. The poison is obtained not
28
186
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
from the bark, but from the root of the plant,
which is scraped to obtain the ingredient; and
although I cannot say anything about the poisonous
property of the stem, I can assert that the natives
invariably use the root, and never, to my knowledge,
the green bark. The root, of course, is solid
throughout, while the green stem is hollow; and I
was fortunately able to bring hack with me several
specimens of it, with a view to going deeper into
the matter. The wood is hard, yellow, and fibrous;
the root, when first pulled up, is of a bright red
hue, the stem above ground being green. It is
from this red coating that the poison is obtained ;
the stem is scraped, and the poison made after the
manner described by Dr. Parke.
For the rest, his description of the plant agrees
with my own observation of it, and I am able to
confirm what he says as to its barren nature. The
plant has neither flower nor fruit—I have seen it
at all seasons, and never yet observed the appear¬
ance of one or the other. The sketch accompany¬
ing Dr. Parke's article shows only the leaf and the
hollow stem.
On my return from Africa I sent the specimens
to Mr. Holmes at the Pharmaceutical Society's
Museum. He very kindly examined them, and
thus was able to reassert his opinion that they
belong to the genus Strj'chnos, and are in all
probability the S. Icaja already indicated.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
187
Fully occupied in hunting, Pigmies do not culti¬
vate the soil, and for this reason, among others, as
is the case with the Eskimo, they stand low in the
scale of civilisation. Skilful trappers and hunters,
they can kill even elephants with their little bows
and arrows, blinding the animal first by shooting
at his eyes. Once he is blind, they never leave him
They are remarkably clever fishermen. With a
morsel of meat tied to a piece of string, and with¬
out the aid of a hook, they will succeed in landing
heavy fish, while less-skilled fishermen, with hooks
and lines, may not be able to secure one.
As a rule the Pigmies take up their abode near
a village of some big chief, where they are sure of
finding large banana plantations. Though they
till he falls.
METHOD OF FISHING ON THE CONGO.
188
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
grow no food of any kind on their own account,
they are extremely fond of the unripe long banana,
and their method of obtaining this delicacy is
simple. On returning from a day's hunting the
Pigmy carefully wraps up several small pieces of
meat in grass or leaves, betakes himself to the
nearest banana plantation, and, having selected
the bunches of bananas he requires, shins up the
tree, cuts down the bunches selected, and in pay¬
ment affixes one of the small packets of meat to
the stem by a little wooden skewer. By this
means he satisfies his conscience, and can declare
that he has not stolen the bananas, but only
bought them, for the Pigmy, as we have seen, is
very angry at the merest suggestion of theft.
Pigmies do no work of any sort or kind, pur¬
chasing their arrow-heads, knives, and spears from
the neighbouring tribes in exchange for meat, or
for women whom they have seized in the bush.
Each village has a chief, but there are no grada¬
tions of rank among the people. Every man
fights for his own chief, and has no knowledge of
combination, only fighting when necessity demands
it. When they attack strangers in the bush they
keep so close that nothing is seen of them except
their arrows, but in the open they are very plucky.
Owning no territory, and having nothing to make
war for on their own account, they squat among
this tribe or that, according to convenience, but
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 189
they show no particular attachment to any one
spot, wandering wee Ishmaelites as they are!
Native chiefs often try to get hold of Pigmy boys,
whom they adopt, and who become a sort of body¬
guard to them, and spies on their own people.
A striking instance of their disregard for home
A BAS-CONGO CAUIUEIl.
and its memories was afforded when I had occasion
to revisit the birthplace of my Pigmy boy as I
returned through the Mabode country. He was
with me at the time, but as we approached the
village—they were still on the same encampment
ground, or very near it—he showed not the least
pleasure at the sight of the place. It might have
190
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
been his first visit to the district to judge by the
absence of any display of emotion, or outward sign
that the settlement had once been the scene of his
daily life. However, as he had served me very
well, apart from the natural laziness of his kind,
I thought I might do him a good turn by offering
him freedom to return to his people.
To my surprise he besought me to tell him what
wrong he had done, to be discharged like this. I
explained that, so far from having done wrong, he
had pleased me so well that if he liked he might
go back to his own people. He looked at me for
a moment in bewilderment; then he threw up his
head with a proud gesture and walked away, thus
intimating that he had not a very high opinion
of the manner in which I proposed to reward
faithful service.
I called him back.
" You may stay if you like," I said ; " but bear
in mind that you may go if you like, and that if
you don't go now it may be impossible to do so
later, even if you wish."
" But I don't want to go," he protested.
I accepted this, and he went out.
A few minutes later he returned. Evidently he
had thought me angry with him, and it puzzled
him to fit a cause for this, and so, in default of
satisfactory explanation, he thought it best to
propitiate me.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
191
"I'll tell you what I'll do," he said. "If you
will lend me five soldiers I'll place two there and
two over there (indicating positions), and I'll go
over there with the other. Then I'll call my
father and mother into the ring, and we will
capture them and bring them to you."
I think he was disappointed that I did not
accept this curious proposition, which shed a clear
light on his ideas of the fifth commandment.
While I was staying at Nigangara Station
Du Brency came in to spend a few days. He
also had a Pigmy boy in his service, being content
like myself to suffer the troubles he caused for the
sake of having such a good servant. But two
Pigmies in the same station were productive of
more excitement than was pleasant. At first they
regarded one another somewhat shyly, not to say
with suspicion, and would have nothing to do with
each other. From severe neutrality it came to
defensive hostility, and before long to open war¬
fare. Both were vindictive little wretches, never
so happy as when quarrelling. As it was policy
to be on good terms with the soldiers and "food-
servants," they reserved their spite for their own
kind, and were at one another's throats all day
long, and on the most trivial grounds. One would
get a little more food than the other ; there would
be sufficient reason for a fight, and they would
race each other in bolting their bananas in order
192
fHE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
to get in the first blow; but fighting was always
subservient to feeding. When they bad battered
each other's little beads with their puny fists,
a Houssa, or perhaps a white officer, would come
out to see what the din was about, and would
separate the combatants.
"Well, why should be have more food than
I bad ? " would be the proud explanation. " After
all he's only a Pigmy ! " This with great scorn,
and the necessary vows of vengeance from the
victim of outraged dignity.
They bad no objection to being scolded in
genuine anger, and took a rating manfully; but
to be treated as children, or, worst of all, to be
laughed at, was more than they would stand.
A soldier was looking on amusedly at one of
their mimic battles one afternoon in the drill-yard ;
the cause of war was a battered helmet that one
of us bad discarded. My Pigmy bad it on, and
was defending bis nine points of the law against
bis fellow Pigmy. The soldier made a jeering
comment on my boy, who left bis own quarrel and
without a moment's hesitation threw half a brick
at the bead of the soldier with all the force of
which bis little arm and big rage were capable.
It would have hurt the Houssa more if it bad bit
bim on the shins; as it was it merely stunned
him. Then the young rascal resumed bis defence
of the helmet.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
193
One of the most astonishing characteristics of
these strange little people is their abnormal appe¬
tite for all sorts of food. Bananas are their chief
•delight. A Pigmy, I have no hesitation in saying,
^ats as a rule twice as much as will suffice a full-
A BAS-CONGO CARRIER.
grown man. He will take a stalk containing
about sixty bananas, seat himself and eat them
all at a meal—besides other food. Then he will
lie and groan throughout the night, until morning
-comes, when he is ready to repeat the operation,
A consequent and characteristic feature of his race
29
194
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
is the distended abdomen; but, that considered,
it is difficult to imagine where he manages to stow
the enormous quantity of food he can consume at
a meal. ' Occasionally, when I have expressed sur¬
prise—when, for instance, he has surpassed even
himself—he has assumed an uninterested air, as
though the matter were merely the most common¬
place occurrence in the world, and the question
one to be waived.
"Yes," he has said carelessly; "there were
a few bananas there on a bunch, and I ate them. = -
I suppose that is what they were there for.
There's nothing to be surprised about. I should
like some more if there are any to be had."
As they have no cooking utensils, all their food
is roasted or smoked.
The Albino, while very frequently met with
among the Azande,and one or two other tribes,
is very rarely seen among the Pigmies. I have
met very few travellers in Central Africa who have
ever seen the phenomenon of an Albino Pigmy, and
have only once met one myself during the whole
period of my travels among the little race. This
one was a character in his way. He was dead-
white, without a vestige of colour in his skin,
about four feet high and with all the charac¬
teristics of his kind. The amusing part of it was
that he insisted on claiming kinship with the
Mabode, among whom he lived. Nothing could
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
195
convey to him a deeper insult than to say that he
was a Pigmy ; he roundly denied the impeachment
and proceeded to avenge the stain on his character
with truly Pigmean vengeance. Ordinarily he
spoke of the Pigmies with the greatest scorn as
a race far inferior to the Mabode, to whom he
belonged. The pity was that his upper lip over¬
hung to an unusual degree, so that my friend the
Albino's story was effectually contradicted by his
personal appearance.
The Pigmies have a curious method of fighting
which I have had occasion to observe several
times. A stranger passing through the bush
along a track is fair game to them, and they
therefore conceal themselves when they hear foot¬
steps approaching. It does not take much covert
to hide a Pigmy. As the unsuspecting victim goes
by they send their little arrows at him, and, if the
shot has told, the Pigmy who has fired jumps up,
utters a little cry, and pats his right arm with his
left, immediately afterwards diving behind a bush
plant or tree trunk. The Pigmies do the same
when they are fighting against numbers in regular
bush warfare.
One gentle art employed against the stranger
who comes by their way is amusing in its display
of cunning. The Pigmy fastens a cord to his foot
at one end, affixing the other to the bough of
a tree that may stretch across the forest path.
196
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
Then concealing himself a few yards off he waits
till he hears some one coming, when he gently
agitates the string so as to shake the bough.
Now the least thing of this kind, the slightest
rustle or noise attracts the attention of the native,
who, from motives of self-preservation, is brought
up to notice all the signs of the bush. Accord¬
ingly he stands still to see what is coming, and
while he watches the curiously moving branch, is
promptly shot in the back by the concealed Pigmy.
" But," said the Pigmy, when rebuked for such
treachery, " he was a stranger. He had no
business to be there." It is the old story of
Leech's over again; "A stranger! 'Eave 'arf
a brick at 'im! "
A certain chief of the Momvus was literally
a "big" chief, one of the fattest and most
unwieldy of men it has ever been my lot to see.
So corpulent had he become that he had long
given up the practice of walking, always allowing
himself to be carried about on a litter borne by
four of his men. So he became fatter still. His
head wife was a massive matron, who added
to her corpulency by like laziness.
This big chief, in spite of his inability to walk,
insisted on accompanying his men on all fighting
expeditions, and personally directed their attacks
from the elevation of his stretcher. On a certain
occasion I have in my mind he was going down
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
197
with his warriors to fight a neighbouring Mabode
chief, and on his way unwittingly passed close to
a Pigmy encampment whose inhabitants he had
offended some time before. A flight of little
arrows from an invisible foe was the first intima¬
tion he had of any danger; he could not get down,
nor would it have served any practical purpose,
because he would not have been able to run away.
So he dropped back from his sitting posture and
turned over on his face, calling to his wife to
do the same, as he urged his bearers forward.
Presently a Pigmy darted out from behind a tiny
bush and shot off two arrows in quick succession,
then he patted his right arm with his left hand,
uttered the peculiar little cry that signifies gratifi¬
cation for the effect of the shot, and disappeared
again behind the bush. I looked and saw that
both the chief and his wife, while lying face down¬
ward on their litters, had been shot in that part
which thus naturally presented itself as a tempting
target.
Where one of their number dies he is buried,
and there is an end to him and his memory. They
wear no mourning, nor do they erect any memorials
over the graves of their dead.
Excellent servants, they are very fond of decking
themselves out in the old clothes of their masters,
no matter what the fit may be. They will strut
about with an old hat, several sizes too large.
198
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
coming down over their eyes, or augment their
scanty costume by the addition of a tie, not in fun,
but in the most serious manner possible, the
nearest approach to the decorative instinct I
observed.
As their only object in hunting is to obtain food,
when they kill an elephant they consider the tusks
BOY AND GIKL .WEABING METAL RINGS.
as valueless, and do not even trouble to take them
away.
As might he expected, they keep no domestic
animals.
It is very difficult to say anything about their
language, as an interpreter is rarely met with. I
trust the next explorer who comes across them will
make some effort to get at their " roots." ISlo
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
199
doubt there are latent words and symbols in their
utterances, which I regret to say I had not time to
solve.
In the South they are called the Wombutti, but
are the same people.
They keep fire alight perpetually, starting it in
some large tree, which goes on smouldering for
months at a time.
So much for my friends the Pigmies, who on the
whole live decently and well up to their lights, and
are in many ways less offensive than their neigh¬
bours, though they may seem to be of lower grade.
CHAPTEE IX
The Ababwa people—Fictitious reports bad reached me con¬
cerning them—The reasons for this—The middlemen—
The deference paid by the Ababwa to the Azandd—The
country—Customs of the Ababwa—Language—I arrive at
Djabbir—An expedition against the murderers of Grabame
—The doctor—Wild firing—Terror of the doctor—Volleys
beard—No trace of the other column—Attacked by the
Azandb—The men demoralised—I form a square—AzandA
driven back—The doctor's idea of warfare—Deserted by
the other two columns—We return to the station—The
chief Djabbir—The corporal promoted—News of Dbanis's
disaster—Eecruiting—The Mobangbi—Their tribal cus¬
toms—Make the best soldiers—Frank criticism—Hunters
and watermen—Eeading the river—The mission station
at Upoto—Arrival at Boma.
SOUTH of the Welle I found the Ahabwa,.
a large trihe who had never heen visited
hy a white man until two years ago, when
a traveller passed through the centre of their
country from the south-west, and found them a
populous, peaceful, and agricultural people ready
to make him in every way welcome.
200
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
201
For years these Ababwa bad been spoken of as a
race of savages living in a land where no white man
could penetrate. The Azande chiefs, who held
the whole length of the river, were responsible
for these sinister rumours and false reports, and
purposely kept them afloat for their own ends,
as they were in the habit of purchasing all the
VILLAGE OF KUNZI.
ivory collected by the Ababwa at an absurdly
cheap rate, and selling it to the white traders at
different stations in the neighbourhood at a large
profit, so that they held entire control of the
ivory market in that district.
At the same time they were careful to impress
upon the Ababwa chiefs that the white man was
a living terror, and that any Ababwa who should
30
202
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
venture to approach a white man's station would
undoubtedly be hanged, and that all his followers
would be made slaves. By this means the Azande,
as middlemen, controlled the ivory market to his
own advantage. So great was the dread in which
the Ababwa held the Azande that they never once
dared either to come themselves to a white settle¬
ment, or to send a messenger, to find out the true
state of the facts.
When I passed through their country a big
Ababwa chief came to see me, and I asked him
to sit down in a chair—a European chair—to him
a great honour. While he was sitting there a
small Azande chief entered. The Ababwa chief
immediately vacated his seat, offering it to the
Azande with the greatest deference and humility,
while the Azande calmly took it as his right.
The Ababwa chief's face was a study when I
kicked the Azande out of the chair, and told my
first visitor to resume his seat, as he was a much
more important personage than the petty chief to
whom he had given up that symbol of sovereignty.
As a race the Ababwa are tall, well-set up
and handsome. They are strictly sober, though
they have learnt from their neighbours to make
maize beer; but in point of morality they are lax,
and polygamy is an established custom.
Their land is rich in plantations of bananas
and grain, and rubber vine, kola, and various
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
203
kinds of gum. Their chief article of barter is
copper, which is formed into bracelets and heavy
rings. Living in villages surrounded by a large
stockade, almost hidden in the bush, they handle
with dexterity the how and arrow and the long,
narrow, wooden shield, and use also very heavy
shafted spears, and knives with long leaf-shaped
blades.
Akin to the tribes in the south-west, on the
Itimhiri or Kuhi, these Ahabwa speak quite a
different language from that of the Mang-hettou or
Azande. They tattoo themselves across their
foreheads with many little lines or dots.
On my arrival at the Djabbir station on the
28th of January, I found the commandant of the
district, Mr. Verstraeten, laid up from the results
of malaria, and scarcely able to walk. As he was
extremely anxious to go down country, and had no
one to whom he could hand over command of the
district, he persuaded me to take charge of it, so
that he might return to Boma. As the doctor
whom I found at Djabbir reported favourably upon
the state of my health, I decided to remain.
Mr. Verstraeten, I found, had just arranged a
little campaign against the Zande chief Unguettra,
the murderer in January 1895 of the Englishman
G-rahame; and as everything had been already
organised, I had only to carry out the plans of my
predecessor.
204
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
Had I known as much as I learnt afterwards, I
should never have ventured into such a hornet's
nest with the soldiers who made up my attacking
force. It had been arranged that three columns
should march from the north, west, and south,
converging upon the head village of Unguettra.
Mr. Verstraeten's design was that the three
columns should reach that spot almost at the
same moment. Unfortunately the western and
southern columns did not put in an appearance
when they were most wanted, but of that more
hereafter.
Leaving Djabbir on the 16th of February
with 159 men, with Mr. Sillye and the doctor,
the latter overflowing with martial ardour, I
disembarked on the southern bank of the Welle,
at a point just north of the point to be attacked.
As we were uncertain of the whereabouts of Un¬
guettra, it was necessary to proceed with caution
through the thick forest. Marching all night, we
arrived next morning at daybreak at a small village
of one of his lesser chiefs. Here we were obliged to
remain a whole day, for the men were too fatigued
to march further. During the night we were
aroused by the sound of rapid firing. Hurrying
from the hut in which I had been sleeping, I found
one face of our square firing as fast as the men
could load, straight to the front.
When I had checked the fusillade, I found upon
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
205
inquiry that our gallant friend the doctor, scorning
anything so effeminate as a night under cover, had
placed his chair in the open space between my own
and Mr. Sillye's hut. Here he composed himself
to sleep, evidently forgetting the Azande habit of
shooting poisoned arrows into the camp at night.
The moon being about full, every object in the
square was distinctly visible to any one concealed
in the neighbouring bush. Evidently a body of
Azande prowling round the camp had noted all his
movements, and when once he had settled down
comfortably, they began to shoot at him.
The doctor, suddenly aroused to a sense of his
danger by arrows dropping all around him, had
sprung to his feet, had aroused the sleeping men
in front of him by his yells of terror, and had given
them the order to commence firing. The men,
suddenly startled from their sleep, obeyed the
order too literally, forgetting at the moment that
our sentries had been posted in the bush to their
front. The doctor, not waiting to see the effect
of his order, had taken rapid refuge in the nearest
hut. By marvellous luck the sentries had not
been hit, as on hearing the sound of the first shot
they had fallen flat on their stomachs, in which
position they remained long after the danger had
passed.
On the following day we continued our advance
until noon, when, hearing the sound of volleys
206 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
which we knew must come from one of our other
columns, we halted and sent out patrols, in the
attempt to get into touch with our allies. These
scouts returned later in the afternoon without
having succeeded in their quest.
Starting at daybreak next morning, we continued
our march through the forest, and at about eleven
o'clock the advance guard was suddenly attacked
by a strong body of Azande. At the same time we
heard the report of rapid and evidently uncontrolled
firing from the rear guard, where the martial doctor
was in charge. After my former experience of him
I left him to his own devices, and went forward to
support the advance guard. On coming up with
them I found they had been thrown into utter
disorder by the charge of the enemy's column. To
make matters worse Mr. Sillye had been severely
wounded by a lance-thrust in the leg—a mischance
which completed the utter demoralisation of his
men. Forming a square as nearly as was possible
in the thick bush, we pushed on with difficulty.
Suddenly, without the slightest warning, the
Azande returned to the charge, coming up to
within a few yards of our square, but the rifle
fire was too hot for them to face, and they again
retreated. Beaten in their attempts to repeat the
tactics which they had carried out successfully
against the advance guard, they presently broke
and fled.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
207
Shortly afterwards the doctor arrived without
his men. It appeared that he also had been at¬
tacked by a small body of Azande, whose intention
had been loot. On my asking the doctor where
his men and baggage were, he replied that he did
not know, asking me at the same time whether it
was very disgraceful at a moment of sudden risk
to hide behind a tree and lie flat on his stomach.
I replied that this was merely a matter of taste
and opinion. Sending back a native sergeant and
twenty men to look after the baggage and collect
the porters, we discovered that the rear guard,
following the line given them by their white man,
had also run away, throwing their loads to the
ground.
Having collected such remnants as the Azande
had not had time to carry off and our wounded, we
pushed forward until we reached a small Azande
village. Here we halted, to enable the doctor
to attend to Sillye's injuries and the other
wounded. This, however, he was utterly in¬
capable of doing, his courage, together with his
martial instincts, having apparently disappeared
with the baggage.
After a halt of about three and a half hours,
receiving no news of the other two columns, and
encumbered with one wounded white man who was
unable to walk, and some twenty-five wounded
soldiers, most of whom also had to be carried.
208
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
we moved in a southerly direction, trying to
communicate with the column of whose where¬
abouts we had some rough idea from the firing-
heard on the previous day. After three hours'
march, finding no traces of their passage, and
hearing nothing further to indicate their where¬
abouts, we turned to the west, hoping to fall in
DANCING-VOMAN AND ATTENDANTS.
with them. Being without food, as well as
hampered by the wounded, advance was out of
the question, and we were obliged to make our
way through the forest by the aid of the compass
to the nearest post, from whence the western
column had set out.
After two days' march through the forest we
arrived at the station, to find that the second
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
209
column had already returned, the two officers
in charge calmly stating that they had heard
one column had been engaged, from which they
took occasion to infer that their prompt retirement
was necessary, instead of advancing to the support
of their comrades. The third column had not put
in an appearance at all, its commander giving
A DANCING-WOMAN.
various and apparently very good reasons for its
absence.
Had it not been for the aid I received from Mr.
Sillye, badly wounded though he was, I shudder to
think of the fate that might have overtaken our
little company. However, in spite of want of food
and bad roads, we managed to bring in all our
wounded. Shortly afterwards Unguettra, who had
31
210
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
lost heavily in the engagement, sent in messengers
to arrange terms of peace, and before long I found
that five of the soldiers who had been following the
doctor had already come in to the station.
Djabbir, the chief of the Abundja Azande, is
a man of considerable intelligence, and with some
knowledge of the ways of civilised people. In his
youth he had been at Khartoum, where he had
served under Gordon. Eeturning from Khartoum
by way of the Bahr-el-Gazelle, he, with the aid
of his brothers, made himself master of the terri¬
tory which he at present rules, subduing the
original inhabitants, the Mobanghi, who now form
the greater part of his people. Since 1891,
from which year his first acquaintance with the
State officials dates, he has always proved himself
a good friend and firm ally of the Congo Free
State. His importance may be gauged by the
fact that he himself sells on an average about
a ton and a half of ivory per month to the head¬
man of the station. More civilised than his brother
chiefs, he is accustomed to use many of the con¬
veniences of European refinement.
As an honorary captain - commandant in the
State service, he dons the uniform belonging to
that rank on all State occasions. I have already
recorded my introduction to him in the mess-room
of the station when thus arrayed in European
dress. He knows how to conduct himself in
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
211
polite society, and, unlike other natives, he is
not addicted to lying. When he says he will
do a thing he does it, and when he tells you he
cannot, you know it is out of his power.
It was at Djabbir's station that I again met the
corporal who had so efficiently assisted me in my
journey from Yakoma in 1894. I was glad to see
he had received the promotion he certainly merited,
and was acting in a confidential position under
Djabbir.*
At this time I received the first news of the
revolt of Baron Dhanis's advance guard. At once
the whole of our efforts were directed to obtaining
recruits to be sent down to Stanley Falls,who should
fill up the gaps made by the mutiny of the Batatela.
As recruiting in these districts had become popular
among the natives, we experienced very little diffi¬
culty in finding our complement of five hundred
men within a month of receiving a request for
their enrolment. In the meantime I had been
to Ibembo on the Eubi, to superintend the de¬
parture of troops down the river.
The Mobanghi, whom Djabbir had reduced to
submission on his return from Khartoum, are a
fighting race, and make the best soldiers on the
Upper Welle.
* It will be noticed that an African station is commonly
known by the name of the district chief, so that the same
word is used indifferently for the man or place.
212
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
They live in small huts and scattered villages,
hating their conquerors with an undying hate,
and ever ready to fight against them on hehalf
of the white man. The river-end portion of this
tribe wear a tattoo mark vertically down the centre
of the face. Those of the interior wear the mark
across their foreheads. They are extremely good-
FUXEEAL DANCE, BOPOTO.
tempered, faithful, and honest to those with whom
they are dealing, but they will steal from others,
and are inveterate cannibals.
Great hunters, they will creep up to an elephant
until they are close enough to put a gun within a
foot or two of his ribs. Their weapons of war are
the shield and lance ; they do not use the how and
arrow except as a toy for children.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
213
A very hardy race, they will go for seven days
without food when on the march. Not shy, but of
a very frank, open disposition, the Mobanghi never
bear malice; once corrected for a fault, it is all
over and done with, the offence and its punishment
being alike forgotten.
Their burial customs are peculiar. Wben a man
FUNERAL DANCE, BOPOTO.
dies in war all his tribesmen who are present will
attend his funeral. The body is sewn up in a piece
of bark cloth, and a long piece of grass, or cane, or
string is attached to the little finger of the left
hand. The grave is then filled in, the string being
brought up through the earth to the surface. The
mourners form a ring hand-in-hand, one of them
214
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
holding this string. A funeral oration is made,
bidding farewell to the deceased, to whom they
talk as though he were still living. Then they
move and turn together, still holding hands, the
man who has the string swinging it as they circle
round and round.
The only reason given to me for this mystic
piece of string was that the spirit of the dead man
should be able to shoot straight where he was
going, and should be able to find food for himself,
by thus keeping some sort of touch with the upper
air.
They are extremely fond of dancing. Their
capers differ from those of the Mang-bettou or
the Azande in that they are much more lively.
Singing while they dance, and making up their
songs as they move, generally upon topical subjects,
tney laugh and are merry at such times, and are
never so serious as other tribes.
Always in hopes of throwing off the Azande yoke,
and again establishing the old Wobanghi kingdom,
these natives are perfectly fearless ; and enlisted in
the white service, fitted out with rifle and uniform,
they will go anywhere, looking down upon all other
Africans. They never lose an opportunity of killing
an Azande, and when sent off to arrest one will be
certain to shoot him, if they can only manage it
without the knowledge of their officers.
Here is an illustration of their frankness. A
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
215
white man one evening had heen talking to the
Mohanghi around him, trying his hest to explain
the steam-engine and steam-ship to them. He
drew pictures on the sand to illustrate what he
said; they listened with intense interest as he went
on. At last, tired of talking, he ceased explaining,
and asked them if they had understood. "Yes,
they thought they had." There was deep silence
for some time, and then a voice in the centre of
the crowd expressed the unspoken sentiments of
the whole assembly in one emphatic word, uttered
in a tone of the deepest conviction—" Liar ! "
These people hunt hoth the hippopotamus and
the elephant with success. They pursue the
former in canoes, attacking them with lances.
As soon as the animal turns upon them they dive
under water, being excellent swimmers. When,
wounded with half a dozen spear thrusts, the
hippopotamus is getting weak, a man will catch
it by the tail, and while its attention is attracted
in front by the movements of the canoes, he will
kill it by stabbing it in the ribs with a big knife.
The riverside Mobaughi is an excellent waterman.
The paddles of a native canoe on the Welle are
small and short, fashioned like a leaf-shaped spear¬
head, and not more than four feet long. The
paddleman uses them sitting on the edge of
the dug - out, facing forward, and without a
tholepin. On the Congo the paddle is seven or
216
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
eight feet long, and is used standing up. The
boat in both cases is steered with a paddle by one
man sitting right at the stern.
Native riverside men are wonderfully clever
pilots, even on streams where they have never
been before. What appears to be their intuition
or instinct is really due to close observation. By
a ripple on the surface the native steersman will
locate the safe course for a boat in an intricate
A MISSION CANOE.
passage, and many other signs of nature are
at hand to help him in his craft. He reads the
river as we read a book, and is as keen and quick
as a Mississippi pilot on the look-out for " snags."
On the 5th of May I was again attacked by
fever, and becoming convalescent on the 7th of
July I left by the steamer Florida to return to
Stanley Pool, my three years' agreement with the
State having expired. On my way down to the
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 217
coast I visited the mission station at Upoto, but
was disappointed to find that the Eev. William
Forfeit had gone home on leave. However, his
locum-te7iens, Mr. Smith, who had not been long
in Africa, received me with open hospitality, such
as is only known in countries where the passage
of a white man through a lonely station is a great
event in the life of those settled there.
Touching at different stations on my way
down, I had the opportunity of seeing the boys'
colony at Houvelle Anvers, a settlement under
Roman Catholic direction, where some five
hundred boys of all ages are educated and taught
a trade. Their training is carried on under a
system of military discipline ; I saw them on
parade one morning, being put through their drill
exercise, and the way in which they went through
their facings did great credit to their instructors
and to themselves.
Leaving Bangala, I was attacked by dysentery,
the discomforts of which were increased by my
confinement to the narrow limits of a small and
overcrowded steamer. At Bolobo the Eev. Mr.
Grenfell, one of the oldest missionaries on the
Congo, with Mr. Clarke, whom I had met at
Lukolela three years previously, came on board
to see me.
Reaching Stanley Pool on the 21st, after a delay
of five days, occasioned by our having to wait for
32
218 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
carriers, we started down the caravan road to
reach the then terminus of the railway, which
was open as far as Inkissi Eiver. On my arrival
at Boma, Mr. Underwood, Acting British Vice-
Consul, hearing of my arrival, insisted that I
should he his guest while I remained there, and
would take no denial. His solicitude for my com¬
fort was only equalled by his personal kindness,
for which I would here pay a tribute of most
grateful thanks.
BANGALA NATIVE SMOKING HEMP.
CHAPTER X
The Government of the Congo Free State—Local Administra¬
tion at Boma—The Consultative Committee—The State
Officers — Districts and their commissioners — Native
Headships — Department of Justice — Coinage — War
Office—Native Service—Eegulations the same as in the
Belgian Army—The medical service—Powers of the State
medical officers—The Bed Cross Society—The Missions—
The Scheut Fathers—Missionary newspapers—Methods
of the workers—Probationary period—Protestant Missions
wealthier than the Eoman Catholic—English taught to
the natives—Publication of native grammars.
SO far I have endeavoured to describe as fully
as possible my personal experiences and
observations in Equatorial Africa, hoping
to interest my readers in those outlandish places
and strange races by depicting, with a free use
of local colour, some of the most remarkable scenes
and scenery of so-called savage life.
We find in these remote regions native warriors
loyal to their chiefs, cannibals far less cruel than
the name suggests. Pigmies who are mighty
219
220
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
hunters, and honest according to their lights;
while danger as a rule is disregarded, and the
unwritten laws of hospitality are in full force
among the aborigines.
We move, in short, in a land of wonders, and
it is but natural that we should desire some know¬
ledge of its present connection with the white
man, into whose control the country of the Congo
and its people have passed. Let me, then, supple¬
ment my story with a few statistics which may he
relied upon as authentic.
In close connection with the Central Govern¬
ment, which has its seat at Brussels, and acting
under its orders, is the Local Government, whose
administrative centre is at Boma. At the head
of this is the Governor-General, who represents
the sovereign authority within the State, and is
charged with the execution of such measures as
are decreed by the Central Authority.
The Governor-General is assisted by a Deputy-
Governor-General, a State Inspector, a Secretary-
General, and one or more directors. These,
together with the Judge of Appeal, the Commis¬
sioner of Landed Estates, and a certain number
of members, not exceeding five, form a Committee,
whose opinion is taken by the Governor-General'
on all matters of public interest which it is pro¬
posed to introduce, or adopt, or to lay before the
Central Government.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 221
The Governor-General resides at Boma. In
case of his absence or indisposition, he is replaced
by the Deputy-Governor, the State Inspector, or
a locuvi-tenens appointed by the Sovereign; or in
a case where no locum-tenens has been appointed,
the functions of a Governor-General are exercised
by an Executive Committee, consisting of the
Secre'tary-General, the directors, the Head of the
War Office, and members elected by the Sovereign.
The various Government offices are :—
1. The Department of Justice.
2. The Department of Koads, Marine, and Public
Works.
3. The Commissariat Department, for the veri¬
fication of accounts, the administrative control of
stores, &c.
4. The Board of Agriculture and Industry.
5. The Department of Defensive Works.
6. The War Office.
7. The Department of Finance.
The territory is divided into districts, each
under a commissioner; some of the outlying
districts are subdivided into zones, under heads
of zones, who in certain cases report directly to
the Governor, but send duplicates of their corre¬
spondence to the district commissioners, under
whose authority they remain.
222
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
The decree of the 6th of October 1891, recog¬
nised the validity of the native chieftainships,
placed under the control of the district commis¬
sioners or their delegates. Certain of these chiefs
have residents appointed to them, invested with
diplomatic powers.
It is interesting to note that in 1896 the white
population numbered 1,325, including 839 Belgians,
88 English, 83 Portuguese, 79 Scandinavians, 49
Italians, 45 Americans, 42 French, 39 Dutch, 21
Germans, 12 Danes, 3 Swiss, 2 Austrians, 2
Spaniards, and 21 persons of other nationalities.
Candidates for the Civil Service are nominated
either by the Sovereign, the Secretary of State,
or the Governor-General, after a medical examina¬
tion by Government physicians.
In connection with the Congo Free State,
various medals and decorations have been issued
for services rendered both in Africa and in Europe.
The Department of Justice consists of a Court of
First Instance, with jurisdiction over the whole of
the Lower Congo. Crimes committed in the
Upper Congo by Europeans of a nature punishable
with death are also brought before this tribunal.
The Court of Appeal sits at Boma; and besides
these there are a number of territorial or district
tribunals. Over all is the Supreme Council,
sitting at Brussels.
The coinage is similar to the Belgian, with this
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
223
exception, that the bronze coins, pieces of ten, five,
two, and one centimes, are pierced in the centre,
to facilitate their transport by the natives, to whom
pockets are unknown. The postal service is similar
to our own, the Congo State forming part of the
Universal Postal Union,
The War Ofiice controls the army, which is
now a purely national one. At first the Govern¬
ment were obliged to recruit black troops outside
the limits of the State, from Zanzibar, Lagos,
Sierra Leone, Accra, Elmina, &c. These were
generally enlisted for three years, and were paid
a franc and a quarter a day, in addition to their
food, medical treatment, and free journeys to and
from their homes. A Eoyal decree of the 30th of
July, 1891, determined that the national army
should be recruited, apart from volunteered ser¬
vices, by annual levies, within the limits fixed by
the Sovereign; the Governor-General marks out
the districts where the levy shall be made, as well
as the proportion of men to be furnished by each
locality, while details are arranged by the district
commissioner, in consultation with native chiefs.
The time of active service is five years, and for
two years more the men are in the reserve. Their
equipment and keep is provided by the State ; the
pay is twenty-one centimes a day, and besides
this the married men receive food rations for their
wives. At the end of their time of service the
224
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
men and their families are entitled to be sent home
at the cost of the State, and receive special pro¬
tection from the authorities.
The volunteers recruited in each district for a
term of less than four years are at once attached
to the company in garrison in their particular
district, except when the Governor-General directs
CONGO HUT.
otherwise. Eecruits enrolled in accordance with
the decree of 1891, as well as volunteers enlisted
for more than four years, are sent into camps for
instruction, where they are drilled before being
added to the strength of the existing companies.
These camps are controlled by an officer appointed
by the Government to inspect them.
The regulations in the drilling of the Congo
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
225
troops are the same as those prevailing in the
Belgian army. The word of command is given
in French. Special attention is devoted to rifle
practice, and prizes are given for proficiency in
target-shooting. The Albini rifle and its short
bayonet are in use among the black soldiers; a
certain number of the 1889 Mauser rifles have
been allotted to the Europeans.
Soldiers build their own huts. In many places
these are now made of brick, instead of mud as
was formerly the case. The married men occupy
special quarters.
The mess system was tried among the troops
of the Congo Free State,' but experience proved
it to be unpractical. The black soldier prefers to
cook his own food, or to have it cooked by his
wife if he is married ; so that the system of
supplying the men with their rations separately
has now become general.
Lately military bands have been introduced, and
the natives have displayed considerable proficiency
upon brass instruments, fife, flute, and drum.
The medical service has been reorganised.
Doctors of the second class now rank as lieu¬
tenants, and doctors of the first class as captains.
The State medical officers have to give their
services without fee to the officials of the Govern¬
ment and to natives. To private individuals, and
to Europeans foreign to the administration, the
33
226
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
charge is one pound sterling a visit, this being the
fee that rules throughout the West Coast of Africa.
There are now fourteen doctors in the Govern¬
ment service, and besides these, the railway has
its own medical staff. The Government medical
officers have very considerable powers. There is
no limit to the quantity of drugs which they are
allowed to order from Brussels ; they practice with
DISPENSARY AT BOilA.
complete liberty upon their own responsibility, and
are quite independent of the station or district
commissioner, except from a disciplinary or depart¬
mental point of view. Moreover, the doctor is the
final judge for exemption from service or furlough;
and he alone decides whether an official is to be
sent to the coast to recruit his health.
In addition to drugs and medical stores, every
doctor has at his disposal a certain quantity
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
Til
of claret, port, madeira, champagne, preserves,
biscuits, essence of beef, arrowroot, &c., which he
distributes among the sick according to their needs.
These provisions are known in the Congo by the
name of "medical comforts." Except at Boma,
which maintains a pharmacy with a properly
qualified chemist, the doctors are also dispensers.
The Society of the Congo Bed Cross was founded
in January 1889, for the relief of the sick and
wounded, both European and native, in times of
peace and war. It has four bungalows at Boma,
very comfortably furnished and fitted up, and
others are being prepared at various stations.
These bungalows, which have a very neat and home¬
like appearance, are fitted for two persons, and each
contains two rooms. At Boma there is also a
military hospital, resembling in every respect the
most modern and best appointed sanitary institu¬
tions in Europe.
The first Belgian Roman Catholic Mission dates
from the end of 1888. At present a hundred and
thirty-seven missionaries of both sexes are preach¬
ing the gospel to the blacks. At the head of these
are two bishops, one of whom acts as vicar-apostolic.
These missionaries, at the lowest computation,
minister to fifty thousand neophytes, catechumens,
and aspirants, in at least sixteen villages formed
entirely of Christians. There are nearly forty
schools, in addition to an orphanage, where more
•228
TEE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
than five thousand children receive a technical
education.
The Scheut Fathers have a steamer, the Notre
Dame du Perpetitel Secours, which serves their
missions on the upper river; while the Tanganika
Fathers own two sailing vessels.
Each congregation possesses and publishes a
review in which the letters and reports of the
missionaries are printed. The periodical of the
Jesuit Fathers, the Pregis Historiques, has been
some time in existence, having been founded some
forty years hgo by the Bollandists. It issues an
edition in Flemish under the title of Congo-Indie,
which is published at Louvain. The Scheut
Fathers own the Missions en Chine et au Congo,
published in Flemish and French; the Mechlin
White Friars have their Missions d'Afrique, also
published in both languages ; the Trappists have
the Messager. The Missions and the Pregis also
publish letters from the Sisters.
The missionaries' first work is to instil a love of
labour into the negroes, for they very properly
maintain that work imparts a humanising influence
essential to Christianity. The natives thus acquire
some sense of human dignity and responsibility,
and when by this means they have been made
ashamed of their former idleness, savagery, and
ignorance, and their understanding opens, the
first seeds of religion are ready to be sown.
TYPE OF NATIVE.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
231
The State hands over to the missionaries large
numbers of abandoned and vagabond children and
others rescued from slavery, who are all sent to
technical schools. Natives who are Christians
generally marry and settle in the neighbourhood of
the missions, thus forming the nucleus of some
exclusively Christian villages. The future of the
A CORNER OP THE STATION OF NOUVEELE ANVERS.
Congo missions really lies in the education of the
young natives; it is these, the missionaries say,
who will regenerate Central Africa. The adult
black is very difficult to convert. The animal,
bestial nature of his fetichism appeals to him in
the highest degree; and above all he cannot be
brought to admit the truth of monogamous
232
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
principles. His womankind, kept in a subject
condition as instruments of pleasure and toil,
represent to him a source of work and conse¬
quent profit, so that to renounce his right of
ownership in them all seems to him equivalent
to ruin.
Those who are converted are carefully watched,
and kept closely in hand, by their spiritual fathers,
who only admit adults among their neophytes
after extreme precautions. They have to undergo
a probationary period of not less than four years,
and, like the catechumens of the first centuries of
the Church, they are not allowed to enter the
chapel during this preliminary term; they may
only kneel down outside during Mass, and are
entrusted to catechists, who instruct them inces¬
santly. Above all, they are not permitted to be
idle.
The aim of the missionaries is not to turn these
negroes into imitation white men, but into native
Christians. They are not loaded with over-much
learning, but are brought up to a trade, and are
able just to read and write. Married couples are
taught agriculture, but it is hard work to induce
the man to till the soil, imbued as he is with
the traditional sentiment which prescribes that
all the hard work of his tribe shall be done by
women.
The first Protestant Mission was established in
MISSION AT KIMWBNZA.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
235
1877 by English Baptists. Two years later the
Livingstone Inland Mission took root, and these
were followed by the London Missionary Society,
which had two stations on the Tanganika, now
transferred to British territory. Afterwards came
the Swedish Lutheran Mission (1881) ; the
American Baptist Missionary Union (1883); Bishop
Taylor's Self-supporting Mission (1886); the Congo
Balolo Mission (1889); the International Mis¬
sionary Alliance (1889); the American Southern
Presbyterian Mission; Arnot's Scotch Presbyterian
Mission (1891); and the Seventh-Day Baptists
(1893).
In all, the Protestant Missions occupy fifty-six
stations, served by two hundred and twenty-one
persons of both sexes. Their means are far greater
than those of the Eoman Catholic establishments.
Dr. Guinness's little Congo Mission at Balolo alone
has an income of T10,644 per annum, and supports
thirty-one missionaries.
These Protestant missionaries teach their people
to read and write, and have established a printing
press, which publishes a newspaper in the Congo
language. A few of the schools now teach French,
but the only European language generally taught
is English, not one of the Protestant Missions
being of Belgian origin. The Protestant Missions
have three steamers—the Goodwill, belonging to
English Baptists; the Henry Reed, the property
236
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
of American Baptists ; and the Pioneer, belonging
to the Congo Balolo Mission.
The missionaries apply themselves zealously to
the study of native languages, and have published
a number of Congolese grammars.
MISSION OF EKEBU.
CHAPTEE XI
The geology of the Congo—Prehistoric axe-heads—Fauna—
The gorilla and the chimpanzee—African elephant—
State decrees regarding elephant-shooting—The tusks—
Ehinoceros—Birds of prey—Eeptiles—Domestic animals
—Fish—Methods of the natives in catching fish—Flora
—Equatorial vegetation—The hanana—Manioc introduced
from America—Other edible vegetables—Tinctorial plants
— Eubber—Textile plants — Cocoa-trees — A relic of
Stanley's experiments—Tobacco, and smoking customs—
Barter.
The geology of the Congo is not without
interest. Its chief metals, found on the
surface, are lead, zinc, mercury, platinum,
iron, including many ferruginous minerals, and
sometimes gold. Of the last it is said with truth
that this has not yet been found with absolute
certainty ; but explorers have often seen it in the
hands of natives, especially on the Katanga. The
resemblance of the geological formation of certain
regions of the Congo to that of the gold-bearing
districts of South Africa lead me to believe that
237
238
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
gold mines will sooner or later be discovered. The
districts that give most promise in this direction
are the Katanga and the neighbourhood of the
Tanganika.
North of the Momvus country, on the right hank
of the Bomokandi, rises Mount Tena, a huge rock
of volcanic origin. Around this mountain are
found prehistoric axe-heads, made of pure, polished
hematite iron. The natives find them just below
the surface of the soil, and think them to be
charms of great value. They have a widespread
belief in their healing virtue, and rub with them
any part of the body afiected by illness, regarding
them as magic talismans that have dropped at
some time from the skies. Curiously enough, I
was unable to find any trace of these or similar
relics in any other part of the whole of the Welle
district. Dr. Junker mentions them in his
" Travels in Africa," and suggests that in remote
times workshops existed at Mount Tena, where
these axe-heads were manufactured, and whence
they were distributed to the surrounding parts.
Most mammals are found in the Congo. The
monkey tribe is represented by many varieties, the
anthropoid class being the most interesting. As a
rule monkeys are graminivorous, hut they some¬
times feast upon flesh, and play havoc with the
birds' nests ; while baboons vary their diet with
animal, vegetable, and even insect food.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
241
The gorilla inhabits the forest regions of Western
Africa; his haunts are between two degrees north
and five degrees south. This ape, a wanderer by
choice and habit, never attacks man without
provocation, though certainly one of the most
savage of his kind. The chimpanzee, which has
often been confused with the gorilla but is not so
large, has been seen in almost every part of the
Congo—in the Mayombe, on the banks of the
Welle, in the Manyema where it is called the so/co,
and round the region of the Equator. Among
natives in its neighbourhood the existence of this
ape has given rise to many legends. They assert
that the chimpanzee is a very wild man, that it
builds huts, and that it is to be found in great
herds between the Congo and Ngiri rivers.
I am told that the brain of the chimpanzee is
the one seat of thought among the brute creation
which most nearly resembles that of man. From
actual observation I can say that I have found the
chimpanzee by far the most intelligent and most
sociable of apes.
The African elephant is larger and more massive
than his Indian cousin. His head is flatter, his
ears are much bigger, his teeth more developed,
his withers further from the ground. This majestic
animal abounds everywhere, but they congregate
especially towards the north. At one time, it is
said, elephants were distributed from the Mediter-
35
242
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
ranean to the Cape, but they have been gradually
driven hack from the Sahara in a southerly
direction for the past two thousand years, while
at the Cape they have been exterminated more
recently.
In the Congo they still exist in their thousands ;
but, breeding slowly, they would soon die out if
energetic measures had not been taken for their
preservation. Yet, although natural and artificial
preserves exist in great numbers, by far the most
efificacious method of ensuring their survival
would be to domesticate them. The fact that the
African elephant is to be found, and will thrive,
in nearly all the great zoological gardens suffices
to show that this is possible; and I would
strongly recommend the importation of elephants
from India, such as are trained in capturing their
fellows, and also of the mahouts who are expert in
driving them.
The average weight of the tusk of an African
elephant is about sixty-five pounds, although many
of them are much smaller. Lieutenant Hanolet,
for instance (now Commissioner-General Hanolet),
killed five elephants some years ago in one day's
hunting at Zongo on the Ubanghi. The aggregate
weight of ivory carried by these five amounted to
no more than twenty-two pounds! It is only fair
to add that the explorer killed these brutes merely
with the object of suppressing a herd which had
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
243
been in the habit of trooping down every night
and ravaging the plantations around the station.
There is no immediate danger of the extirpation
of the elephant. One must have travelled in
Africa to realise the enormous herds of these
NATIVE KNIVES.
animals which have their home in equatorial
forests. The woods in every direction show tracks
marking their pathways with signs of their
turbulence, and several explorers have seen large
troops of them thronging the bush in every part
244
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
of the Congo territory. Moreover, as I have said,
these elephants are very strictly preserved. A
royal decree of the 25th of July, 1889, forbids
elephant-shooting in any part of the State without
a license or special permission; and in addition to
this there are close districts and close seasons,
fixed by the Governor-General and enforced by
the district commissioners. Although this cannot
affect the hunters among natives of more distant
regions, the primitive nature of their weapons
precludes the possibility of anything like wholesale
slaughter, while the actual number of elephants
killed by white sportsmen does not amount to more
than one hundred head in a year. On the other
hand, there is always a danger that the timid beasts
may be pursued until they are frightened into seek¬
ing a more remote refuge in less accessible lands.
The African rhinoceros, clumsy and uncouth,
has two horns, differing in this particular from the
Asiatic, which carries but a single horn, and his
front weapon of offence is sometimes as much
as twenty-eight inches long. This huge beast
frequents marshy jungles, and is met with in pairs
or small companies on the Katanga, Manyema,
and M'Bomu. Like the elephant, and second only
to it in size among land animals, the rhinoceros
marks the distinction between the fauna of the
forest region and of the grass plains surrounding
it on the north, east, and south, in which countries
CAMP ON THE CONGO.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES 247
are found the lion, giraffe, zebra, and other
creatures unknown in the woods and forests of
Western Africa.
The birds of prey include the eagle, vulture,
and hawk; and the falcon and owl, which are the
worst enemies of smaller beasts and birds; besides
these the parrot, heron, crane, ibis, sparrow,
pelican, duck, and many gorgeously feathered birds
whose names I do not know are to be found in all
parts of the country.
Among the reptiles the most remarkable are
the boas and pythons, whose bite is not
poisonous; the long green river-snakes; the
spitting snake, whose saliva, if it reaches the
eye endangers the sight; and a most repulsive
serpent known as the two-headed snake, which
resembles a gigantic earthworm, in that it is
difficult to distinguish between its head and tail.
Crocodiles are met with in great numbers in nearly
every river. Natives are very fond of their flesh,
though they can seldom taste it, as a crocodile will
sink if mortally wounded ; and they have no
effective way of killing him on land, unless they
happen to catch him napping on the bank and
succeed in spearing him. In place of a tongue
his mouth is furnished with a small valve, which
just shuts up with the gullet. Frogs and toads,
the latter of great size, are among the useful
insect-eaters of the Congo basin.
248 THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
Domestic animals are for the most part imported.
The horse is of little use, especially in up-country
districts, where there is little fodder, and where
the bush is so thick as to render riding rather a
trouble than a pleasure. Asses are taken over
generally from the Canary Isles, and are found
more serviceable, though the same problem of
finding food for them presents itself. There are
very few head of cattle in the district, a fact
ascribed to the presence of the tsetse fly, whose
bite is death to them. But on this point I must
most emphatically differ, for I have never seen or
heard of a tsetse fly in the whole region. Quite
another reason, simple and sufficient, decides that
it cannot he a stock-rearing country, a reason
which is the practical answer to the old question,
" Where can fodder be found ? " Other domestic
animals are the goat, sheep, dog, and cat; and
there is quite a large stock of poultry.
Mention should also be made of the jigger, an
insect that was no doubt imported from Brazil in
the old slave-trading days. It creeps under the
skin, generally at the nail, and is hardly noticeable
except for the irritation it causes. There it lays
its eggs, and, if not taken in time, causes blood-
poisoning. At first the natives, not under¬
standing the nature of this pest, died by scores,
and so the jigger was established, and spread
across the continent as far as Lake Nyassa,
PISHING SETTLEMENT IN THE EAPIDS,
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
251
whence it may reach Zanzibar, and even pass
over to India.
Fish of all kinds abound in the rivers, and the
natives show great ingenuity in their methods of
catching them. To kill large fish they sometimes
employ harpoons, or even arrows, and their skill in
spearing them is most remarkable. They seldom
METHOD OF FISHING ON THE CONGO.
fish with a line, but frequently spread various
kinds of nets, stretching these right across the
river, suspended on stakes driven into the mud.
On the Kwango, where spearing is in high favour,
ingenious triple-headed or two-headed arrows are
often to be met with, made for the special purpose
of spearing fish.
252
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
The barbarous process of poisoning the water is
not unknown to natives of the Congo. To this
end tbey employ different vegetable juices, which
have the effect of stupefying the fish, so that tbey
rise to the surface and float down upon the stream
to be caught with ease by those who are too lazy
to angle for them. In the case of small streams
these natural poachers sometimes construct two
dams, divert the course of the stream above the
upper dam, and let it run off through the lower,
capturing the flsh in the drained space between.
There are also certain fish that lie low in the mud
of dried lagoons, awaiting the return of the rainy
season. These are dug out by the natives, and
when cleansed and cooked make good food.
Near the Equator vegetation does not undergo
a period of regular repose, as it does in more
temperate climes where the effect of the seasons
is felt. Tropical growth is uninterrupted, and few
of the forest plants lose their leaves.
Among food-producing plants the banana de¬
serves special notice. The banana-tree reaches to
a height of twelve to fifteen feet, unfolding its
magnificent pale green leaves, to be perhaps ruth¬
lessly torn to shreds by the forest storm and
replaced at once by new shoots. The flower
appears at the end of eight or nine months, and
resembles a long-shaped red cabbage, the stalk of
which, as the leaves and bracts drop off, often
A LIANA IN THE LAND OF UMANGI.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
255
carries as many as a hundred bananas, while the
stem bends under their weight. When the fruit
ripens the tree dies, being at once replaced by a
number of offshoots, which in their turn develop
into fruit-bearing trees.
The cultivation of the banana is easier than
that of the manioc, for the tree requires very little
attention beyond the cutting of the fruit when it
is ripe. Its value as food is appreciated not less
by the Europeans than by the natives. A banana
orchard is at once planted in every new station,
and the shoots, roughly torn off and topped, take
root as soon as they are set, and give very little
trouble till it is time to gather the fruit.
In the Congo the plantain banana is preferred to
the silver sort. The first is a vegetable, and is
eaten green, either fried or boiled ; the second is a
dessert fruit, eaten only at a certain stage of ripe¬
ness. Excellent cider may be made from bananas.
The manioc was introduced by American traders
perhaps as long ago as two centuries. The natives
of the coast made it their favourite food, and
carried it eastward with them. It does not require
great labour in its cultivation, but the first neces¬
sity towards a good crop is a rich soil, such as is
often found in the fresh clearings of forests. It is
eaten raw, after the husks have been removed, or it
may be boiled, and when thus treated resembles
the turnip.
256
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
Other edible vegetables are the sweet potato,
beans, arrowroot, tapioca, Indian corn, millet,
other farinaceous plants or products, and the
sugar-cane in small quantities.
Oranges, lemons, and pineapples are found in
plenty, and the papaw, a fruit that was also intro¬
duced from America. The trunk of this tree
sometimes reaches a height of thirty-six feet.
The fruit, which resembles a small melon, is
esteemed a very valuable food, especially for in¬
valids. Its leaves can be used as soap.
As this is in no way intended to be an exhaus¬
tive scientific work, a full catalogue of all the
produce of this fertile country would encroach
upon space reserved for other matter. I there¬
fore briefly record the existence of such condi¬
ments as red pepper, ginger, and varieties of
vanilla; also of medicinal plants, such as chin-
chona and eucalyptus, the former largely ex¬
ported to Dutch settlements. Palm oil and
cocoanut oil are to be obtained in quantities,
and are much used by the natives for cooking
purposes.
It is found that nearly all tropical plants yield
colour in a lesser or greater degree. The usual
tints thus extracted are yellow, fawn, or red, which
explains the rarity of hlue or green in native dress
and ornaments, to which I have already referred.
Indigo is an exception to this rule, but it is seldom
YOUNG COFFEE-TKEES SHADED BY BANANAS.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
259
put to any home use by those who cultivate the
plant for the European market.
Caoutchouc, or india-ruhher, is a fruitful source
of income. It is collected from the natives in
large quantities, and is sent to Europe to be
manufactured, chiefly in Antwerp.
Of the textile plants the veritable giant of the
grove is the baobab. The widest tree in the world,
it is indigenous to tropical West Africa; in the
Congo it is met with in large groves at certain
places, such as Boma and Kinchasa, but it dis¬
appears beyond the Kassai. Its wood is soft, and
useless for any practical purposes, but the bark
contains fibres that are valuable for making rope
and paper, and also yields an antifebrile drug.
The flower is very handsome; the long-shaped
fruit, which rather reminds one of a rat hung up
by its tail, serves for several purposes; it contains
a sort of acidulated pulp, which is employed in
cases of fever; dried, it burns like tinder, while
its shells serve for the manufacture of various
utensils.
African forests are of great value as a supple¬
ment to the woods of Europe. Only those who
have seen them can imagine the appearance of
these tracts of trees, abandoned to the exuberance
of torrid intertropical nature. Many sorts grow
in a very intermingled state; some dominate
others, but these master-growths are rarely found
260
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
grouped in one place. The result is that in order
to cut down a number of trunks of the same kind
one must cover a very wide area. This fact is
perhaps one of the best safeguards against a
wholesale destruction of African timber.
Three good things come from the Congo—coffee,
cocoa, and tobacco. The Belgian Government
has established vast coffee plantations, and the
commerce in this article now takes a high place in
the returns of the country, having worked its way
into the markets of the chief trading ports.
An interesting story is told of the introduction
of cocoa into the Congo. In 1887 Lieutenant
Liebrechts, then commanding the station at Leo-
poldville, one day saw a shrub which attracted his
attention, as differing from the surrounding plants.
Having cleared away all encroaching growth, he
discovered to his surprise a largo fruit growing
straight out of the trunk. The shrub was a cocoa-
tree, which, together with some coffee plants and
fruit-trees in its vicinity, was a remnant of some
experiments made in the time of Stanley's early
expedition. The fruit was carefully gathered, the
plant jealously watched, and the seed sown; the
results of this chance experiment may be seen
in quite 80,000 full-grown cocoa-trees at present
flourishing in the plantations of the Upper Congo.
Elsewhere I have made mention of the smoking
customs and the methods of preparing tobacco
NATIVE BRIDGE.
THE LAND OF TEE PIGMIES
263
among various tribes. These differ with the
several localities, and I have not space to dilate
upon them all. Everything is used on the Congo
for making a pipe that can possibly suggest itself,
such as antelope horns, ivory, calabashes. To
make a pipe out of a calabash, however large it
may be, holes are bored at the two ends. In one
is fixed a little clay cone, which serves as a bowl,
and the smoke is drawn through the other end of
the fruit without any stem. These pipes, when
they belong to a negro of quality, are decorated
with brass-headed nails. When an antelope horn
is used for smoking purposes, the wide end is
applied to the mouth, and the operation of smoking
through one of these is more productive of energy
than of elegance.
The natives do not smoke their pipes through;
that would be too laborious and painful an opera¬
tion. As a rule the chief lights the tobacco at a
glowing brazier, takes a few puffs, and the pipe is
then passed sound the circle in order of prece¬
dence. The consequent spectacle is amusing.
The man whose turn it is to take a draw is eager
to lose none of his rights; with surprising vigour
he expands his lungs to their greatest extent, and
fills his nose and eyes with the powerful fumes,
which make him cough till the tears run down his
cheeks, as his neighbour holds out both hands
anxious to lose none of his share. While all this
264
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
takes place with ceremonious formality, the
smoking party seem as serious as if they weer
celebrating some mysterious rites, so that the
impassiveness of their faces adds to the absurdity
of the scene.
I did not hear of any natives who chew tobacco.
In Sankuru, at Stanley Pool, and in the Lower
Congo there are some who take snuff; their snuff¬
boxes are tiny calabashes, or little caskets of wood
or ivory.
The chief articles of exchange are imitation
pearls, imported from Italy, Bohemia, Bavaria,
and France. Other articles of barter include tin¬
ware, cutlery, salt, brass, copper pipes, buttons,
needles, thread, cotton vests, tin whistles, musical-
Doxes, trumpets, old-fashioned rifles, blank cart¬
ridges for use at festivals and funerals, umbrellas,
pottery, matches, candles, and all kinds of clothes
except trousers. British uniforms are in great
demand. Up-country a traveller pays his way
with common red or other coloured handkerchiefs,
while in some of the more remote places cowries
have been known to form a sort of currency.
CHAPTER XII
The transport of goods on the Congo—Native deserters—
Railways in Africa—A wonderful piece of engineering—
Railway lines in prospect—The schemes of the Congo
Government—An express from Alexandria to the Cape.
Anew colony, however bright and promising
its prospects, can only be started and built
up by degrees on such foundations as exist
and with the materials that are at band for its
establishment, and it necessarily follows that
progress during the early years of its history can
be but slow and gradual.
The first condition of success in such an under¬
taking is the provision of ample and adequate
means of transport. When goods have to be
carried for hundreds of miles on the beads of
porters, along bad bush-tracks, and when it is
quite impossible to guarantee their ultimate
arrival and probable condition, it will be easily
267
268
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
realised that a great proportion of the profits
that should find their way into the pockets of
the trader are consumed in the expenses of
native transport and by damage to goods. Of
course where water - ways are available, this
difficulty is in part already overcome, and in
this respect the Congo Free State is fortunately
constituted by nature, some of the up-country
districts having a network of navigable streams.
Unfortunately, however, this advantage is greatly
discounted by the fact that the six thousand odd
miles of rivers and streams discharge their waters
into the sea over a series of cataracts between
Matadi and Stanley Pool, or Leopoldville, where
the nature of the river renders all navigation
quite impossible for many miles; while from
Matadi to Boma, where the ocean steamers
discharge their cargo, there is again clear passage
for vessels of large draught.
This series of cataracts, as may readily be
understood, was a constant impediment, hamper¬
ing the work of the State, and a serious hindrance
to the commercial interests of the traders; and to
this drawback may be ascribed the comparatively
slow development of the country in the early days
of its colonisation.
The district thus rendered unnavigable—and
which was for a long period almost untraversed
—is a stretch of wild, mountainous highland.
BRIDGE OVER THE BUXDT.
THE LAND OF THE FIGMJES
271
From the river banks on either side these
mountains rise sheer; while the whole neighbour¬
hood is covered with dense forests of enormous
trees, and very heavily overshadowed by thick
tropical vegetation, and tangled undergrowth.
Perilous descents and ascents had to be made,
and streams had to be forded, for often in the
height of rainy seasons the rush of a mountain
torrent played havoc with the rude bridges con¬
trived by the natives. Often too a difficulty has
been experienced along the route in getting food
for the bearers, who think nothing of throwing
away their loads and bolting through the forests
to their villages many miles distant, if the food
available is not to their liking, or the work
becomes at all irksome. Once he is in the bush,
you have little chance of catching the recalcitrant
native, and may think yourself fortunate if he
does not steal the load he was entrusted with
into the bargain. The tracks by which these
goods had to he carried were no better than
indistinct native pathways, so that the trading
overseer usually stood the double chance of
missing his way in the bush and of losing his
men by desertion. Altogether the difficulties to
be contended against in the transport of merchan¬
dise were so great that we cannot wonder at the
Government deciding, at all costs, to build a
railway between the points hitherto connected
272
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
only by such uncertain links as these caravans
of porters. By this means they hoped to develop
traffic along the rivers, and, one may say, the
lakes, for the effect and result of this two hundred
miles of railway was intended to be far-reaching
and substantial.
I remember coming across an odd copy of the
Geographical Journal one afternoon, when a
welcome batch of newspapers had turned up to
cheer my solitude and to raise my spirits, that
were dejected by a perpetual downpour of rain.
In this particular number I found an article on
"Bailways in Africa," by Major Darwin, which,
though written on general lines, had a particular
bearing on existing needs and circumstances. In
one short paragraph the author so aptly summed
up the Eailway Question of Africa, that I cannot
refrain from quoting it. I copied it out at the
time, but I regret not being able to give an exact
reference, as the paper disappeared among other
filched baggage. Major Darwin's remarks ran
thus: "To develop the traffic along the rivers
and on the lakes is the first stage of commercial
evolution in a continent like Africa. But it
cannot carry us very far. Africa is badly supplied
with navigable rivers, chiefly as a natural result
of the general formation of the land. The con¬
tinent consists, broadly speaking, oi a huge
plateau, and the rivers flowing off this plateau
OOKOO aHi NO
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
275
are obstructed by cataracts in exactly the places
where we most want to use them—that is, when
approaching the coasts. The second stage in the
commercial evolution will therefore be the con¬
struction of railways with a view to supplement
this river traffic. Finally, no doubt, a further
stage will be reached, when railways will cut out
the rivers altogether. This last stage is, however,
so far off that we may neglect it for the present.
... In going up this great stream (the Congo)
from the coast, we first traverse about 150 miles
of navigable water-way, and afterwards come to
some 200 miles of cataracts, through which
steamers cannot pass. Bound this impediment
a railway is now being pushed. Then we enter
Stanley Pool, and from this poiut we have open
before us 7,000 miles of navigable water-way.
If this fact is correct, and if the population is
accurately marked on our maps, then there is no
place in all Africa where 200 miles of railway may
he expected to produce such marked results.^' The
italics are mine, and I use them to draw special
attention to this most important statement.
The necessity for such a railway became more
and more obvious, quite apart from the fact that
Stanley, with his customary far-sightedness in
matters pertaining to colonial welfare, alluded to
the railway as a sine qua non in his report to the
Belgian Government, but the lack of adequate
276
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
funds delayed all further negotiations for some
time.
Meanwhile a syndicate was formed of Man¬
chester merchants, who decided to huild the
railway at their own expense, to be worked for
their own profit, if Stanley could get them a
concession from the State. This would not at
the time have presented any serious difficulties;
but, fortunately for the State, the syndicate
collapsed on technical grounds, and further work
in this matter was then carried on by the Belgian
Government and people. A survey party was sent
out under command of Captain Camhier, in 1887,
having as its object the plotting of the route and
the triangulation of the country along which it
was to pass. The party met with serious difld-
culties and obstructions; the most trifling details
were wanting, and had to he determined, for at
that time far less was known about the country
through which the line was to pass than we know
now. The engineers had to make their own
geological observations, even the latitude and
longitude of the terminal stations was unrecorded,
and all the information gleaned from natives was
of very little practical value.
But Captain Camhier and his brigade of
engineers stuck to their work, with the gratif3dng
result that within a year of starting the route
was mapped out and another route surveyed.
FALLS OF THE TCHOPO.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
119
After this the completion of the project was
merely a matter of time and money. The latter
was raised by a limited company, State-organised,
in Brussels, the necessary capital being readily
subscribed; and the shares having risen in value
during the years of construction from thirty to
forty-seven francs, the investment was considered a
sound one on all sides. The story of the practical
work, and the putting into effect of the surveyors'
projections, would make a fair-sized volume. I
have only to say that it was carried out by the
brigade of engineers of the Congo Company with
all possible speed. July last year (1897) saw their
efforts crowned with the first measure of success,
when the railway was formally opened for traffic as
far as the Inkissi River.
On my return journey I travelled over this
district by the new line, and, while I cannot
speak from the point of view taken by a practical
engineer, I am inclined to consider the work as
a most marvellous piece of modern railway
engineering. I doubt if there are fifty miles
elsewhere, even in Europe or America, where the
same number of difficulties had to be circum¬
vented, or where so many extraordinary feats of
engineering present themselves to the traveller,
calling up his admiration and respect for the
constructors.
The route among such mountain^ as flank the
280
TEE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
shores of the Congo could not be a direct one,
but under the circumstances it would probably
puzzle any engineers to have found a nearer way.
Still I cannot say it is very comfortable travelling.
You look out of the carriage window and trace
the line as it winds around the walls of a sheer
precipice, or down the rough, boulder-broken sides
of a hill—turning sharp corners with a bridge that
is thrown across a yawning gorge or gully; you
swing round, dashing down a break-neck slope,
and next moment you are puffing up the arduous
ascent of a mountain-track. The journey is full
of surprises, not the least of which are the glimpses
and the flashes of charming scenery that attract
the eye as you are borne along through hillside
cuttings, where every turn reveals some fresh
picture of nature's bold handiwork.
The labour employed is partly native and partly
white. There is always a white engineer on the
foot-plate of the locomotive, while the fireman is
generally a native. I am told that there is the
making of very intelligent engine-drivers in several
of the Company's stokers, which is but another
proof of the oft-observed latent capability of the
untutored savage. For the rest the railway is run
on exactly the same system as a Belgian line,
even to excess-charge for luggage. The price of a
ticket from Leopoldville to Matadi, I believe, is
something like two hundred francs; but by far
NATIVE CLIMBING PALM-TEEE.
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
283
the greater part of the Company's revenue is
derived from the conveyance of msrchandise to
and from the interior. Already the published
sheets show a very handsome scale of profits.
In the heginning of July this year (189B) there is
every reason to hope that the line will be in working
order as far as Leopoldville, its ultimate destina¬
tion. The exact route is across the Lufu river to
the Inkissi, a distance of about 180 miles; thence,
by Matanda, about 45 miles, to Leopoldville.
The primary object of the Congo Company in
establishing this railway is, as I have said, to
facilitate communication with the interior, and
to obviate the necessity of portage that has been
so long a standing hindrance to trade. But there
is a far greater significance attaching to it, for
it is one of the most important links connecting
the West Coast of Africa with the Bast.
Already, under Captain Pringle, R.E., the survey
for the Uganda Kailway has been completed, and
in part the line is already laid. This survey, made
in the early part of 1892, was for a line to run
from Mombasa, on the coast, to Victoria Station,
on the Victoria N'yanza, at Berkeley Bay. A
further survey was made round the shores in a
westerly direction, but time did not permit of its
completion, nor is it a matter of great moment
for the present; still it is worth noticing that the
Stanley Falls on the main stream of the Congo
284
THE LAND OF THE PIGMIES
are in a direct line with the proposed terminus of
the Uganda Eailway, and that there is an in¬
tention of connecting the falls with the shores
of the lake. Once it is completed, the highway
will be established right across the heart of
Equatorial Africa, and its ultimate effect in open¬
ing up the country is incalculable.
The other plans which the Congo Government
have in view are hardly of less importance. Far
from being content with this single effort, the
State officials are busily engaged in the prepara¬
tion of two grand schemes for improvements in
the regions of the Upper Congo, one being to
connect Katanza to the navigable water-ways by
a railway that is to join the Ehodes Eailway
which is working its way northward; the other
is to strike in a northward direction, in order
to effect a junction with the Nile Eailway. The
State is confident that at no very distant date
it will see these schemes accomplished, nor is
it blind as to their immediate and lasting value.
Should it succeed in realising these ideals, we
may look for a vastly different Africa in a few
years' time—Africa with a Grand Trunk line from
Mombasa to Boma, and a Cape express running
from Alexandria.
APPENDICES
I.—LETTER FROM THE KING OF THE
BELGIANS
The agents of the Congo Free State have in recent times
been severely tried. Their ranks have been exposed to
cruel and repeated blows of fate. Identifying myself with the
unanimous regret felt for such painful losses, I am anxious
to pay a token of gratitude to all who have gallantly sacrificed
their lives in the performance of their duty. As is the case
with all great causes, the one which we serve in the Congo
has had many victims. To those upholders of manly tradi¬
tions and pioneers of progress who survive, I desire to address
some words which my heart dictates to me.
The mission which the agents of the State have to ac¬
complish on the Congo is a noble one. They have to continue
the development of civilisation in the centre of Equatorial
Africa, receiving their inspiration directly from Berlin and
Brussels.
Placed face to face with primitive barbarism, grappling with
sanguinary customs that date back thousands of years, they
are obliged to reduce these gradually. They must accustom
the population to general laws, of which the most needful and
the most salutary is assuredly that of work.
In such countries, I know, strong authority must be im-
285
286
APPENDICES
posed to bring the natives (who have no such inclination) to
conform to the usages of civilisation. For that purpose we
must be both firm and parental. In a district like the Congo
the native population is at the base of the true wealth of the
country, and our first object must be to secure its free expan¬
sion. Our refined society attaches to human life (and with
reason) a value unknown to barbarous communities. When
our directing will is implanted among them its aim is to
triumph over all obstacles, and results which could not be
attained by lengthy speeches may follow philanthropic in¬
fluence. But if, in view of this desirable spread of civilisa¬
tion, we count upon the means of action which confer upon us
dominion and the sanction of right, it is not less true that our
ultimate end is a work of peace. Wars do not necessarily
mean the ruin of the regions in which they rage; our agents
do not ignore this fact, so from the day when their effective
superiority is affirmed, they feel profoundly reluctant to use
force. The wretched negroes, however, who are still under
the sole sway of their traditions, have that horrible belief that
victory is only decisive when the enemy, fallen beneath their
blows, is annihilated. The soldiers of the State, who are re¬
cruited necessarily from among the natives, do not immediately
forsake those sanguinary habits that have been transmitted
from generation to generation. The example of the white
officer and wholesome military discipline gi'adually inspire in
them a horror of human trophies of which they previously had
made their boast. It is in their leaders that they must see
living evidence of these higher principles, taught that the
exercise of authority is not at all to be confounded with
cruelty, but is, indeed, destroyed by it. I am pleased to think
that our agents, nearly all of whom are volunteers drawn from
the ranks of the Belgian army, have always present in their
minds a strong sense of the career of honour in which they
are engaged, and are animated with a pure feeling of pat¬
riotism ; not sparing their own blood, they will the more spare
the blood of the natives, who will see in them the all-powerful
protectors of their lives and their property, benevolent teachers
of whom they have so great a need.
Our only programme, I am anxious to repeat, is the work of
APPENDICES
287
material and moral regeneration, and we must do this among a
population whose degeneration in its inherited conditions it is
difficult to measure. The many horrors and atrocities which
disgrace humanity give way little by little before our interven¬
tion. Each step forward made by our people must mark an
improvement in the condition of the natives. From these
territories of infinite extent, nearly all of them vague and
uncultivated, where the natives could only procure for them¬
selves a meagre daily subsistence, the experience and under¬
standing, the enterprise and initiative of the European evokes
wealth and resources hitherto unsuspected. If he creates
needs, he satisfies them to the full. Penetration into virgin
lands is accomplished. Communication is established, roads
are opened, the soil yields its produce in exchange for the
articles we make and import. Legitimate trade and industry
spring into vigorous life, and in proportion as economic
conditions are improved, goods assume an intrinsic value.
Private and public property, the basis of all social de¬
velopment, is defended and respected, instead of being given
over to the law that " Might is Eight."
This material prosperity obviously consolidates the interests
of whites and negroes. Their primitive nature will not resist
indefinitely the pressing appeals of Christian culture. Their
education, once begun, will proceed apace. It is in its success
that I see theconsummationof the task undertaken by our people,
and so admirably seconded by our priests and missionaries.
To establish a direct immediate current of communication
with the natives spread over the basin of the Congo has been
the most important part of our programme, and this was done
by Belgium during fifteen years, without the co-operation of
any other State. The network of railways and stations has
gradually put an end to the incessant warfare of tribe against
tribe, village against village, and thus has brought about a rule
of peace.
Geographically determined, the Congo is a state whose
boundaries are occupied and guarded, a result nearly unequalled
in the history of colonisation, but which is explained by the
concentration of all my efforts in one field of action.
The difficulties we have encountered will be greatly reduced
288
APPENDICES
with the speedy completion of the railway from Bas Congo to
Stanley Falls.
I appeal again to the devotion of which our agents have
already given so many proofs. The creation of that fresh
means of communication will soon hring forth fruit. It will
connect closely the Congo with the mother country, which will
prompt Europe (whose eyes follow us) to take a benevolent and
generous interest in all our labours, which will convey to our
progress a more and more rapid and decisive impetus, and
which will soon introduce into the vast region of the Congo
all the blessings of Christian civilisation.
I thank our agents for all their efforts, and I reiterate the
expression of my royal affection.
LEOPOLD.
II.—A GLOSSAKY OF WOEDS AND
PHRASES.
Here I give a small dictionary of the chief words used in
the Mang-bettou tongue, to which glossary I have added a
collection of colloquial phrases and ordinary terms of con¬
versation. The words are given in alphabetical order, and
the phrases are put together in the Ollendorf method.
English.
Mang-hettou.
Ant (cont.)
Emum siani- ungive
(very large)
A.
Makakaro (white
Antelope
Nadda (deer), ndi-
ant)
mbo (grand)
Afternoon
Totiani
> y
Nkpedde (blue)
Arm
Nebiba
Animal
Neri
Amulet
nabiko
Arrow
Nembangu
Ashamed
Arm (fore)
Netckwo
(to be)
nekanyangasini
Alior
N assoro
Angry
netopakpara
Arrive
mopopoburu
Ascend (a
B.
hill)
mongoli ta kopi
Afraid
neru
Bad
menganda
Axe
n'koombi
Bag
baggara
Awake
n'angaaoonia
Banana
mbipe
Ant
olioli (very small)
yy
nabira
) *
nebibiani (small)
y y
n'mbugu (fruit)
nandchutchu(large)
Bullet
nevanga
41 289
290
APPENDICES
Bow (instru¬
ment)
nekudivfe
Bother
Yanangueh
Body
nambelu
Bed
n'karagbah
Bedstead
nego
Beer
aur
Bread
ebagara
Bottle
gezaze
Box
nepuguru
Boot
gessoom
Black
mekoo
Basket
netookoo
baggara (small)
Bead
n'leke
Butter
nepazu
Big
massibobo
(persons)
nekpopwo (of
things)
Buy
nebaugwe
Behind
nengu
Blood
aripo
Belly
neo
Buck
meme
Buffalo
nekibi
Black
nameku
JJefore
ketu
Brother
Yandugu iengw;
Bird
nari
C.
Cup
n'kosi
Come
kieri
Corn
nendo
Child
negongwe
Crocodile
negondi
Cloth
n'roomoo-nogi
(nature cloth)
Cap
Kepsurn
Cock
Mabangane
Cow
muti
Chair
nobara (woman's
stool)
>>
kittj'para (native
chair)
Cord
nameiniha
Cooking-
•pot nimbu-dekareh
Carrier
n'ebili
Cold
netu
Cleanse
koharu
Cloud
M u ndugu, banerobu
Rain cloud nindura
Chin
n'etachiechi
Chain
esserigbi
Cassava
no-u
Cry
ungoumoo
Circle
mekikiri
Canoe
nekoko
Chief
ue Kind
Copper
nattaroo
Curly (hair) Angoi yandedru
Crooked
ne kere mako
Crush
korpu
Cord
ne duppeh
Climb (a tree) kanderubu
D.
Do
Kaesci
Dear
metetere
Door
nossoossoo
Dog
nessi
to Drink
mamho
Death
angunzi
Drum
neguku
Dance
kobe
Dry season
nehura
Dirty
ndduida
APPENDICES
291
Dry
Drop
Drum (big)
to Dam
Dximb
Deaf
Ear
Earring
Eat
Eye
Elephant
Egg
Evening
Earth
Exist
Eleusine
Eh ! what!
nekaranga
diporah
nekudu
Kangobu n'eddah
otikah
ebematoh
E.
nebi
edenghe
manijo
nengo
noko
ebaragaka
Tabu
nap6
asedru
ne kiymboo
kabbah
F.
Father
papa
Finger
netengwe
Foot
epoindu
Fish
nanger 6
Forest (under¬
wood
nopi
Forest(trees)negbondo
Fork
nedjodjo
Fire
nekago
Far
mendondro
Few
peidi
Fly (noun)
anzi
Fall
angude
Finished
angebi
Flee
Kuruengo
Friend
Andragu
>>
augaeru
Forget
akubaya
Flour
Flower
Feather
Fly flap
Good
Go
Kiumbapu
ungoekbo
nekudu
nongwb
G.
mombb
noli (walk)
maiyo (go)
Kweeo (go)
(Imperative) geza-
du (go away far)
Gourd (un¬
dressed) nabio
Guinea fowl
(black and
white) Corunja
Guinea fowl
(black and
blue) Kenge
Giraffe nabewara
Gun negundu
Grass(high) nopi
,, (short) umma
Give
God
Gourd
to Gash
nabidda
ara (allah)
nekodu
kangovoni nikotu
Gum (teeth) nekirikiri
Gone
Grind
Grave
Gum
Ground
angoro
korpu
kungotetapi
banderri
daburu
H.
His (posses¬
sive) ban eh
House nedjo
292 APPENDICES
Hail
ekubibilu
Lemon
nemepopwa
Hei-e
Baza
Leg (lower
How
Assidu
part)
netopu
Hoe
n'kongo
Lightning
N'imbimbatu
Hyaena
oongah
n
n'kirima
Hen
naredra
})
n'eturu
Hat (straw) buranita
Lance
Cam
Hand
anit6
Laugh
ekati
Head
nedru
Live
kudi
Hair
edrui
Little (of
Heart
negugu
persons)
mayeyere
Hippopota¬
Little (of
mus
nedrupa
things)
massasangwe
Heaven
norro
to Lie
njeie'to
Hat
notuku
Lip
tipokepi
Heat
Kodemundi
Lighten
komadendi
Hunger
nemu
Land
neba
to Hide
angodje
Liver
kubia
Half
kaki
to Limp
nabruamodai
Honey
neboi
Long¬
Husband
mashmandi-a
sighted
nainya mambettwa
Hook
nekuruba
Log (for
Hate
kamomami
burning)
nakidu
to Hail
Kanyakka
M.
I.
Many
Mekutukutu
I
emma
More
Mekutu
Iron
nbik6 '
Man
namasi
If
obonden^
Maize
n'endo
Ivory
nekoki
Mule
akudja
TT
Mother
yangwe
K.
Monkey
nabura
Knife
n'dopwa
,, chim¬
Kill
matomipa
panzee
nozu
Kick
angoduna
Milk
ebagu
Mat
nekanga
L.
Messenger
nadedunbi
Lion
mazambula
Moustache
endulu
Leopard
lukundoo
Month
nangwekanna
APPENDICES
293
Mouth
tipo
Meat
neri
Mountain
kobi
Manioc
nehu
Melt
angou
Moon
nangwe
Many
(how ?)
neri
Morning
neburubu
N.
No
kare
Not
kayebo
Nine
Tegeligikanna
Nose
namo
Nuts (pea)
selemoindi
Night
nekini
Near
kundi-kundi
Now
gagaddi
Net
nado
None
a tup a
Neck
nekoropo
Noon
totiani
Nail
n'ekeke
Narrow
nedaur sesangw^
0.
Oil
nezu
Ostrich
nekudu
Orange
namendendenge
Oracle
mapingo
Other
nakaone
to Open
kapu
Oval
n'morbwa tappoo
One-eyed
engamoteh
One-armed
neminger6
Oil (palm)
nepazi
P.
Potato
namazenge
Pipe
nammepopwo
Parrot
akowa
Python
n'gooma
Pepper
massambala
Porridge
quakie
Pirogue
nekoko
Plate
nagatu
Present
nagazedji
Pin
nogopwo
Powder
nengumbe
Paper
warrigah
Palm-tree
uku
Palm wine
awa
Pan
nepengo
Pot (ordin¬
ary)
nedegger^
Pot (large)
nimbu
Paddle
kapi
Pompom
narekudu
Papae
gissita (Arab)
Q.
Quick
togara
E.
Eed
mengbamba
Eoad
nei
Eeed
essumbo
Eain
n'kuma
Eat
nepi
Eice
nepunga
Elver
nemaijo
Eivulet
messesangwe
to Eun
kuriungo
Eectangulai
n'ekarugba
Eainbow
n'ekirina
294
APPENDICES
Road
Remember
Rough
(edge)
n'^hyi
amenganja
mababer^
Sister
Son
Shoulder
Stomach
She-goat
Snake
Salt
Sugar
Star
Sun
Stone
Spoon
Sunshade
Socks
Strong
Sick
Seek
to Suffer
to Sleep
Shield
Sheet
Sing
to See
to Smoke
Stop
Sold at
Sell
Speak
Skin
Shoe
Shame
Stumble
S.
nomandro
andrangwa
netebaba
neki
nisraenandro
netatara
nagandju
naturu
eturu
neka
nekopi
nebebi
nesisi
marcub (Ar)
mapagpara
nunzi
maudamunda
nunzi
mangedu-ey6
n'guma
kato
nolia
magu
mandru netabu
kallemudio
ebasseye
kaomaku
kudia
kepi
makakn
neganyi
angifoo konadi
Scratch
ango gundi
Square
n'morbo
Shut
kagbo
Sesamd
nezizi
Sharp
amamika
to Slap
angatami
,, Strike
angopinoma
„ Slip
angaeriah
Short
m6 eyerri
Straight
namameyo
Stop
nepaki
a Shield
nengouma
Stockade
n'egboto
Stick (for
back rest)
nybangbah
T.
Thigh
nedo
Tooth
ekki
To-day
netune
To-morrow
Toboruba (early
morning)
Tree
nakere
Thunder
nagbara
Tohacco
tobo
to Throw
kuddi
to Throw
over
kato
True
mundia sodru
Thou
immi
to Tie
kori
to Thank
mametetere
Tongue
nekadra
This
dondre
That
nendri
Toe
katwa
to Tear
kangoon
Triangle
n'doga
APPENDICES
295
Top
n'arnetippo
Wind
nebimbatu
to Talk
nekodenapakeri
W indow
nosussu
Tear
ondwoa
Wine
awa
Tall
nekeretati
War
napu
Tie
m'ingati
Where
ari
Tickle
angekirima
Wash
mabegu
Tomato
netanga
to Wish
mauma
Thin
apaedo
to Work
nemiru
Thick
n'bumboru
to Weep
kumu
Trumpet
to Wrap up
anyoma ondrooae
(big)
nombrussi
p6tt6 kooro
Trumpet
Whistle
nekere
(small)
nombongo
Wise
Well
etiodu etwa
n'dudrui
U. V. W.
Whirlwind
nabiri
White
What
assingw6
eh ? What ?
kahhah
(man)
mussungu
(colour)
mobu
Y.
Water
egumanbo
Wife
n'andronandra
Yes
ee
Warm
mode
Yesterday
ohurunde
Woman
nandro
Year
nekaranga
Wood
kiiA
You
imma
It is desolate and rainy.
I see a man standing up in the
boats.
I am a European, and you are
a Suaheli.
We are Europeans, you are
Suaheli.
This is a hunter, the others are
fishermen.
This inspector is worse than
that one.
Kakoumonounet.
Magongou nahour kano angodri
tekoko
Ima nemosoungou em Suaheli
Ama nemousoungou, eke Sua¬
heli
Nahour oporinet, nahour no-
ponguet.
Neloula matende nepagpara
endri kaba.sibenet
296
APPENDICES
This tree is higher than that
one.
This bed is larger than that.
This ditch is larger than that.
It is time for us to go.
I strike the servant of the Arab.
We strike the slaves of the
Arabs.
I have a good knife.
I do not like this place.
Have you broken the bow ?
The man who has broken the
bow will be punished.
The individuals who stole the
cucumber out of my garden
have not yet been caught.
Where is the man who has
stolen the bin of the guide ?
The servant has washed the
clothes of the European.
We have loaded the guns of
the European.
They have stolen the shoe of
the Doctor.
He has destroyed the hut of
the Doctor.
You have gathered the nuts of
the palm of the European.
Tell me that I may know also.
Tell them not to leave the
house.
Tell him again that I can
understand him.
Speak slowly that I may write
down what you say.
The master is in the house.
Even when he speaks the truth
no one believes him.
Nekiret namoda nako mengwu
Nigo mepogpo mekanobou.
Nekopi nepagpara endri nepara.
Kamayo amayo.
Mangossou namodia nematema-
tamba.
Mangossou mangari namodia
nematematamba.
Nesapi mebali.
Kamsmou edri.
Mangopou nekoudet ?
Emi mopo nekoudet mopo.
Naboui egwa nadrone magouke
kogadu.
Adoungwe egua nekoumbi ado-
nelu ?
Named we namandro abewumou
nemoungou.
Kangete futaki naboundouk ne-
mounugou.
Kangegou markouf nemoganga.
Kanopou nedio nemogangi.
Kangofo oko nemousoungou.
Kahoumoko nemangetti.
Kaboumoko nagesabiri indioto,
Kahoumoko boumettje.
Mongodeberet tirri sedou mai
waiga.
Nekignet nedjotto.
Angodjo mobe madendi neto.
APPENDICES
297
See that one who shot at me.
There is no wind to-day.
If you do not understand Sua-
heli I will explain it to you.
If you were intelligent you
would understand quite well.
We have four.
There are three bananas.
You have two long arrows.
-G:q_and fetch.
Put It on the ground.
Sit down.
I will not give you.
Shut the door.
Open the door.
This house is better than that.
We have put on our best
clothes.
These buckets are full of water.
The servant will wash your
clothes.
What is your name ?
This tree has large red leaves.
I have the toothache.
His eyes are black.
The elephant tracks are no
longer visible.
Look for my key. It is lost;
I do not know where it is.
The Arabs have not yet arrived.
Are you pleased with the knife
I have bought ?
The cups which we bought at
Zanzibar are all broken.
The palms we planted two years
ago have still no nuts.
The man whose name I don't
know will return to-morrow.
Angawi neborendau nandu.
Nebattou kanobou netinet.
Kagneti Suaheli, madimoko.
Naboureteret nemandou angis-
saka pete.
Ekoumbi sai qu'a sosiwa.
Ebangu d'asotie metete.
Nebangou sorou sanou meteti.
Commodru maku.
I^tu duburu.
Kudi duburu.
Mau-ku-mi-ko.
Kato nosussu.
Kangi nosussu.
Nedjo mombe, endri konombe.
Mangepiroumou nebali.
Nede kere egou tope.
Nandra kaba nogi.
Anoru bassi?
Nekere ameli niepopo bangba
Aneke kuboran.
Anengo meku.
Noko andebiri agasinga.
Nefoungoula agasinga kamogou.
Ne matamatamba kekouka ko-
godri.
Nesape moge ebamikou ?
Nekopi magi Zanzibar angounsi
pete.
Oko nedimede nekaranga sown
kanoke.
Nabour ekou obowie canati
anerou.
298
APPENDICES
Is there any one who speaks
Suaheli.
The Arabs destroy all the
houses.
People despise those who do
not pay their debts.
The cook has cooked him every
day potatoes.
Give me a little water to drink.
His arrow has wounded me in
the ear.
Measure the length and breadth
of that plank.
This situation does not please
me.
We shall have eight fat sheep.
Wash these ten white coats.
I saw him bathing and he was
drowned.
When the clock strikes three
wake me.
If the food is ready let us eat.
The cook has eaten your bread.
When Abdullah comes tell him
I am out.
If they had not been afraid
they would not have got this
contract.
Bring the empty cups.
I will buy a very fine pipe.
If they don't come we shall eat
alone.
When are you going to visit
him ?
What Doctor cured your wife ?
What tree are you cutting
down ?
We do not smoke.
Nabour kana abeti netou bag-
nene Suaheli.
Nematematambas kapopou ne-
dio pete.
Kamomou nekegou kamamou-
net.
Nekouk odimasinge kim pete.
Komoko egou piedo mambo.
Kaugossou nebi mekou.
Kaude egou bari.
Nape endri kanombe.
Kondoro toa tesernet egi sota
sai koba tua.
Kaboma egi nebebenet teke.
Magounga nobadiet onzi.
Neko opoundrenet neroumo.
Agno kebi momagno.
Nekouk agno nekwanga pete.
Abdullah, ekounet madi noko
kai madre.
Kaguewnet mogahoberet noko.
Ekore nekopo tapum.
Mangogi mebali nepoko.
Kagnekounet momogno kanna.
Ekeni kabassi manoya monag-
nani
Moganga kagna nendro indio ?
Azekeret moufome ?
Monoundiouka netobo.
APPENDICES
299
I will buy absolutely nothing.
Don't you know where my pipe
is ?
That arrow fell where I was
standing.
We like honey.
We like water better than the
palm wine.
JWe are all hungry.
We are^HTHTrSy.
I have questioned him several
times, hut he has not an¬
swered.
You have not done well.
Tell me again.
They won't come to-day.
We will not cut down this tree.
Kamomou nemaginedou.
Kai eti nepoko indri ?
Nehangou kaisou nape mapo
iendri.
Moma neho.
Moma egou komomo eko awa.
Nemori angessi.
Etiongongo angessi pete.
Medegonokotua, kana demoko.
Kagnesi momhe.
Maheti.
Ekou opia netoune.
Magoku nekirenet.
5556 011 705 027
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Oak Grove Library Center