# Africa by Élisée Reclus/Volume 3/Chapter 11

Contents
CHAPTER XI.
CONGO BASIN.
General Survey.
HE great river whose waters colour the sea far beyond the Cabinda coast, takes its rise thousands of miles from its mouth on the Atlantic, its farthest headstreams having their source much nearer the Indian than the Western Ocean. During its long course, describing a vast semicircle through the interior of the continent, it receives diverse names from the riverain populations, all, however, having probably the same meaning of "Moving Sea," or "Great Water." The first navigators hailed it as the Poderoso, or "Mighty Stream," but afterwards learnt from the natives the term Zaire (Nzadi), still current amongst the Portuguese.
After his memorable expedition across the continent, Stanley proposed the name of Livingstone in honour of his illustrious forerunner; but the proposition was not adopted, and the name of Congo, which was also that of the empire, which in the sixteenth century comprised a portion of the western basin, has finally prevailed in geographical nomenclature. The same name has also been taken by the recently founded State, whose frontiers have already been traced, partly in the presumed direction of the water-partings, or along the course of the river itself or of its affluents, partly according to the meridians and parallels of latitude. But a great part of the vast domain thus defined on the map of Africa still remains to be discovered, while the course of the great artery itself has been known only for a few years.
During the three centuries following their first discoveries on the African seaboard, the Portuguese acquired a detailed knowledge only of the immediate coastlands. Nevertheless numerous expeditions had been sent inland, both in search of gold and to bring the inhabitants under the sway of the king of Portugal and also to discover that mysterious "Prester John" who had been vainly sought in the heart of Asia. During these expeditions it was ascertained that the Zaire had its rise in the depths of Africa, and that great lakes existed about the region ​of its sources. But at this period no maps were able to give any detailed outline of the course of the river, and the tracings reproduced on the globes endeavoured to harmonise the definite statements of the Portuguese explorers with the African legends and classical traditions of Ptolemy. Thus João de Barros holds as certain that the Zaire flows from the largest lake in Africa, which is itself "the mysterious head of the Nile;" and Duarte Lopez also assigns the same origin to both rivers. Even in the maps of the eighteenth century the same false ideas hold their ground,
although Mercator had already in 1541 regularly limited the two fluvial basins by their water-partings.
The era of scientific exploration in the Upper Congo basin begins towards the close of the last century with the expedition of José de Lacerda e Almeida, who in 1798 penetrated from Mosambique to the region of the great lakes. In 1806 a more fortunate expedition was made by some pombeiros, or caravansmen, right across the continent from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. But of the route followed little is known beyond the fact, that, after passing the great Kwango affluent, they traversed the southern slope of the Congo basin as far as Lacerda's surveys in the ​EXPLOEATION OF THE CONGO. 413 lake region, whence they reached the Zambese. In 1843, the Portuguese Graca penetrated from the west coast to the Upper Kassai Galley in the territory of the Muata-Jamvo. But the first decisive journey in any region within the Congo basin was that made in 1857-8 by Burton and Speke to the east side of Tangan- yika, without, however, crossing this inland sea or ascertaining whether it belonged to any fluvial system. Even after visiting other lakes beyond Tanganyika and discovering a network of streams flowing northwards, Livingstone was still unaware to what basin they belonged. He even supposed they flowed to the Nile, sending everything to the Egyptian river, like the old writers, and from his reports many modern geographers still described the great inland lakes from the Bongweolo to the Albert Nyanza as afiluents of the Mediterra- nean. Nevertheless the knowledge already acquired of the continental relief, and of the periodical floods in the various fluvial basins, enabled scientific students to see that the rivers described by Livingstone were really tributaries of the Lua-Laba, or Upper Congo, which traverses a less elevated region than the plateau containing the depressions of the Victoria Nyanza and other lakes draining to the Upper Nile. Its floods, due to the south tropical rains, reach their highest level in January, whereas those of the Upper Nile occur in August and September. The discharge of the Lua-Laba, calculated at low water by Ijivingstone, is also over three times greater than that of the Nile below the Bahr-el- Jebel and Bahr- el-Ghazal confluence. Hence it was evidently impossible to hold that the Lua- Laba flowed to the Nile ; and the Shari and Ogoway being excluded on similar grounds, the re remained only two alternatives, either that it discharged into some vast inland basin which had never been heard of, or else joined the Lower Zaire — by far the most likely hypothesis. The point was finally settled by Stanley, who after finding Livingstone on the banks of the Tanganyika in 1871, embarked in 1876 on the Lua-Laba, and after nine months' fluvial navigation reached the mouth of the Congo. The whole expedition had lasted, from the time of its departure from Zanzibar, altogether nine hundred and ninety- nine days, and a distance of 7,000 miles had been traversed in the various explorations of the great lakes and the river. Rapids had been shot, falls turned, rocks blown up, boats pushed across forests and ravines ; hunger and fever had been endured, and as many as thirty-two battles fought with the natives, some perhaps too hastily. Of the four Europeans forming part of the expedition, Stanley alone had survived, and of his three hundred and fifty six native followers, two hundred and forty-one were left behind in the wilds of Africa. After this prodigious exploit, displaying marvellous daring and energy, indomitable perseverance, amazing moral ascendancy and military talents of a high order, nothing remained except to verify details, correct the first summary draught of the course of the main stream, and connect with this funda- mental route all subsequent surveys made in the region of the Congo and its afiluents. In this work are now engaged a host of explorers, and the observer remains almost overwhelmed with the great results obtained within the brief ​space of twelve years since Stanley sailed down the Lua-Laba and found it the Congo.
The eastern slope of Lake Tanganyika has already been visited by a very large number of white travellers, traders, and missionaries, and the journey has even been made by a lady, Mrs. Annie B. Hore, in a bath-chair. Houses in the European style have sprung up on its shores, and its waters have been navigate] by steam. South-west of Tanganyika, geographical triumphs have been less brilliant, although even here Livingstone's routes have been crossed and completed by those of Girauld, Bohm, and Reichardt. Towards the west, Cameron,
who in 1874 had discovered the emissary of the lake to the Upper Congo, also explored others of its headstreams, and crossed the divide between the Congo and the Zambese, being the first of modern travellers to complete the journey across the continent, from Zanzibar on the Indian to Benguella on the Atlantic Ocean."
Others, such as Wissmann, Gleerup, and Oscar Lenz have since traversed the Congo basin, also crossing from sea to sea, while on the western slope nearly all the Congo affluents have been ascended as far as navigable. Mechow, Büttner Tappenbeck, and Massari have surveyed the Kwango basin; Wissmann, De Francois and Grenfell have studied the course of the Kassai, which, with its ​affluent the Sankuru, and sub-affluent the Lo-Mami, offers the most direct route from the Lower to the Upper Congo. Pierre de Brazza has opened the navigation of the Alima, which has already become a busy commercial highway; Jacque de Brazza, Dolisie, Ponel, Van Géle, and Grenfell have penetrated from Opposite sides into the Nkheni, Li-Kwalla, Bunga, and U-Banghi valleys; the same indefatigable Grenfell has ascended the Tchuapa, the Ikelemba, the Lu-Longo, the Mungala, and the Itimbiri.
The least known section of the Congo basin is at present the north-eastern
region, which of all others offers the greatest geographical interest, and which will probably one day prove to be the most important, for here is situated the water-parting between the Nile and Congo basins. But even here Junker's exploration of the Welle to within 120 miles in a straight line of the Congo valley, no longer leaves any doubt that this-river belongs to the Conga sates and that through it will sooner or later be opened the route to the White Nile.
Thanks to Junker's surveys, a rough calculation may already be made of the actual extent of this vast fluvial system, which according to Léon Metchnikov is ​about 1,630,000 square miles. But the elements even for a remotely approximate estimate of the population are still lacking. From the accounts, however, of various explorers, who have visited many thickly peopled districts, twenty millions
would certainly appear to be too low a figure, and Stanley himself considers twenty-nine millions as perhaps nearest to the truth.
The Tchambesi and Lake Bangweolo.
The farthest headstreams of the Congo take their rise on the southern slope of the Tchingambo mountains, midway between lakes Tanganyika and Nyassa, which in a straight line is not more than 420 miles from Kiloa, the nearest town on the shore of the Indian Ocean. This region of the Upper Congo, visited by Joseph Thomson and Stewart in 1879, and by Lenz in 1886, rises to a height of 6,000 ​feet, and here several streams traversing a gently rolling plateau converge in a single channel, known in its upper course as the Tchasi, and lower down as the Tchambesi. Its course is at first from north-east to south-west in the direction of the Zambese basin, from which it is separated only by a low parting-line, but farther down, after collecting several other streams and emissaries of extensive morasses, it enters Lake Bemba, or Bangweolo, southernmost of all the great sheets of water belonging to the Congo hydrographic system.
Bangweolo, discovered in 1868 by Livingstone, and revisited by him five years afterwards to end his days on its southern shores, is an extremely irregular lacustrine
basin divided into numerous secondary sections by islands and peninsulas. Its altitude, estimated by Livingstone at 3,700, is raised by Giraud to 4,300 feet, while the forests of reeds occupying a great part of the depression render it difficult to form a correct idea of its total area. The open water at the northern extremity develops a vast oval, stretching for 60 miles beyond the horizon towards the south-west. About the centre lies the island of Kissi, highest of the archipelago, rising 60 feet above the surrounding waters, which are nowhere more than 18 or 20 feet deep, and which towards the south-east are lost in a submerged plain, overgrown with sedge. Even the Tchambesi flows throughout its lower course amid low-lying marshy tracts overgrown with reeds, giving them an aspect son a boundless grassy plain relieved here and there by clumps of trees. Banks rising ​a few feet above the surface skirt the ramifications of the main stream, whose current winds sluggishly through the surrounding swamps.
For the greater part of its contour on the cast, south, and west Bangweolo is separated from these riverain marshes only by a small wall of reeds 10 to 12 feet high, and across this rank vegetation, concealing a view of the lake, a track has to
Lake Moero.
Towards the south-east extremity of the lake the two sedgy walls converge, gradually giving to the lacustrine basin the aspect of a river. Here is the Lua- Pula emissary, a meandering stream 20 feet deep and 200 yards broad, which has a winding course, probably of 120 miles, flowing first south and south-west, then trending abruptly north-west to the Mambirima (Mombottuta) rapids. Beyond these dangerous cataracts no European traveller has yet followed the course of the Lua-Pula, which, however, is known to turn northwards to join Lake Moero, or Meru. In this section of its course, about 180 miles long, falls or rapids must be very numerous, for according to Giraud the difference of level between Lakes Bangweolo and Moero is no less than 1,500 feet. To Moero itself Living- stone assigned an altitude of 3,460 feet, which Giraud reduces to 2,820. Although of somewhat smaller size it presents a larger extent of open water than the southern basin, stretching for about 90 miles uninterruptedly from south-west to north-east, where it is separated from the southern extremity of Lake Tanganyika by an isthmus, also 90 miles broad. Towards the south where it receives the Lua-Pula influent, the shores merge in boundless marshy plains, but everywhere else its waters are clear and deep. Livingstone, who visited it at two intervals, ascertained that the difference between high and low-water level is at least 20 feet. The surface of the lake is increased hundreds, possibly thousands, of square miles during the floods, when the fish of Silurian types, such as the Clarias capensis, spread over the riverain lands, devouring the insects, reptiles, and other animals drowned by the inundations ; and when the waters begin to subside these siluroids are in their turn captured in thousands, by means of dams and fishing-baskets. The natives mentioned to Livingstone the names of thirty-nine species inhabiting the lake and the Kalongozi, its great affluent from the east. A few islands are scattered about the central parts, while towards the north the Moero assumes the aspect almost of an Alpine basin between the lofty cliffs and wooded slopes of the Rua and Koma ranges.
The Kamolondo Basin.
As they converge from the west and east, these two chains contract the lake to a narrow channel, forming the Lua-Yua or Lua-Laba emissarj^, called by Living- stone Webb's Ptiver. Here the clear although dark current rushes between the forest-clad hills from rapid to rapid, from gorge to gorge, till it reaches the Lanji basin, which native report represents rather as a permanently flooded depression, than as a lake in the strict sense of the word. Yet in this reservoir is formed the true Congo, for here converge both the Kamolondo, or western Lua-Laba, and the Lu-Kuga emissary from Tanganyika. The Kamolondo itself develops an extensive fluvial system, bounded south by the great divide between the Congo and Zambese, and comprising such large lu, or "rivers," as the Lu-Bari, the Lu-Fula, the Lu-Laba, and the Lu-Fira. The last mentioned is obstructed by numerous ​picturesque cascades, such as the Juo falls, where the white foaming waters tumble down a height of 80 feet between rocky red sandstone walls. The main stream on the contrary flows through a chain of lakes, of which the largest, known as the Lo-Hamba, lies secluded in the upper valley, while the others follow along the lower course like a string of pearls on a necklace. Reichard, who crossed it at over 120 miles above the confluence, asserts that of the two Lua-Labas the Kamolondo is the most copious, and although not the longest, should on this account be regarded as the main branch of the Upper Congo. On the other
hand the Tanganyika emissary sends down very little water, and was even dry when first visited by explorers.
Lake Tanganyika.
Tanganyika was long known to the Portuguese and Arabs, and is mentioned under various names in numerous documents of the eighteenth century, although generally confounded with Nyassa and other lakes. The three basins of Nyassa, Tanganyika and Nyanza are even merged in a single inland sea stretching north and south across thirteen degrees of latitude, and still figured as Lake U-Nyamezi on Erhardt and Rebmann's map of 1856. But this great Mediterranean has been resolved into its three constituent elements-by the memorable voyage of Burton and Speke in 1858, and the subsequent explorations of Livingstone and Stanley. ​Of all the Central African lacustrine basins, Tanganyika is now the best known, and a comparative study of Livingstone's map with accurate subsequent measurements shows that it had already been carefully surveyed by the first explorers. From Pambete Bay at the southern to the Ru-Sizi mouth at the
northern end, it has a total length of 380 miles, but a mean width of not more than 30 miles. It is of regular form, and nearly destitute of islands and other salient features, beyond the long U-Buari peninsula on the north-west coast. Tanganyika presents a striking resemblance to Nyassa, both basins being of the ​same form, disposed in the same direction, of the same general aspect, and doubtless
produced by the same geological causes. Unlike Bangweolo, a mere permanent ​TANGANYIKA. 423 flooding caused by the back flow of waters obstructed lower down, it is a natural lacustrine basin, with deep water almost everywhere close inshore. At a distance of 2,000 yards off Cape Kabogo, Stanley failed to reach the bottom with a 200- fathom line, and near the same point Livingstone was equally unsuccessful with one 300 fathoms long, while Giraud recorded a depth of 350 fathoms off the Karema coast. According to the reports of the Ujiji Arabs, the lake boiled up in 1862, emitting vapours and strewing the beach with debris resembling bitumen, some fragments of which were afterwards collected by Ilore. Tanganyika, that is, "Union of Waters," is fed by many afllucnts, mostly however of small size. The largest is the Malagarazi, which during the floods is no less than 1,700 yards wide at its mouth, and even in the dry season is nowhere fordable. Its farthest headstream rises in a lakelet within 330 miles of the east coast, being the point where the Congo basin approaches nearest to the Indian Ocean. The Ru-Sizi influent from the north follows exactly the main axis of the lake, which was at first supposed to send its overflow through this channel to the Nile. Storms are rare on Tanganyika, although it sometimes happens that the east winds, suddenly interrupting the normal currents from the west, sweep down the eastern slopes and violently agitate the placid surface of the lake. . These sudden squalls are mostly to be feared during the rainy season, although the swell is generally heaviest in dry weather. The angry waters are much dreaded by the native boatmen, who, when rounding the headlands, never fail to pour out libations and make other offerings to the "noble devils" inhabiting them. Those who forget to present a black sheep and a white chicken to the demon of Mount Kabogo never return, a fierce gust from the mountain swooping down and engulfing' them. The scenery, at once grand and picturesque, is pleasantly varied by Cape Kabogo on the east side, and the numerous other headlands breaking the line of verdant slopes, red sandstone cliffs, white limestone walls, granite domes and towers. The transparent waters abound in fish, such as the singa, a great resource of the riverain populations, but the shell- fish fauna is specially remark- able, more than half the species occurring nowhere else. Some of the forms are essentially marine, being apparently allied to the fossil species of the Upper Chalk in Europe and North America. The water of Tanganyika is perfectly fresh, a fact which alone made it highly probable that there must be an outflow. But when the Ru-Sizi was shown to be an affluent, and no emissary could be found at either extremity flowing in a line with the main axis, as is the case with nearly all lakes, it was at first supposed that the inflow was carried off by evaporation. Eut it was soon discovered that the level was gradually rising, flooding old beaches and forests, and submerging rocks standing over 10 feet above the old level. This phenomenon seemed to indicate that there was no issue, until the observations of Cameron, Here, and Thomson made it evident that the Lu-Kuga was certainly an intermittent emis- sary, convejdng the overflow from the west coast to ihe Congo. After reaching the level of this river, which at the outlet is over 2 miles wide, but often choked ​with dense matted vegetation at the narrower parts, the lake again began to subside, falling over 10 feet by 1882, and 5 feet more by 1886. This subsidence caused great alarm to the natives, who feared the "white wizards" might empty the whole lake by throwing "medicines" into Lu-Kuga. "See," said a chief to M. Giraud, "how they cross the lake and the water goes with them." Their
ignorance of any former outflow seems to show that the basin was long closed before its recent rise to the level of Lu-Kuga.
According to the latest measurements, Tanganyika stands over 2,600 feet above the sea, which would give the emissary a fall of about 7 feet per mile, during its course of 120 miles to the Congo. Throughout its upper course, which alone has hitherto been surveyed, the current is very rapid, without, however, forming any cascades. Its foaming waters flow through a charming valley between wooded hills, rising on both sides from 800 to 2,000 feet above the ​THE MIDDLE CONGO. 425 surrounding grassy plains, studded here and there with clumps of trees, and roamed over by herds of buffaloes and antelopes. Below Lake Lanji, the Lua-Laba, or rather the Congo, flows for some 60 miles through a still unexplored region. But from the confluence of the Lu-Ama, descending from the mountains skirting Tanganyika, it is now known to geogra- phers throughout its whole course to the Atlantic. At this point it is already a great river, over 1,200 yards broad, and with a mean but not constant depth of 12 or 15 feet. It flows first westwards, then nearly due north to the equator, sometimes in a single channel, sometimes ramifying into several branches encir- cling wooded islands or sandbanks. Here it is joined on both sides by several large affluents, between two of which, the Lu-Fu and Kankora, it rushes in a narrow rocky bed over a series of seven cataracts, obstructing all navigation. These cataracts, where the stream crosses the equator and trends north-westwards, have been named the Stanley Falls, in honour of the daring explorer who dis- covered and successfully traversed them. Below the falls the river, flowing at an altitude of 1,400 feet above the sea, expands into a broad placid stream offering no further impediments to navigation till it approaches the Atlantic. In this section it is joined by several great affluents, such as, from the south the Lu-Bilash and Lu-Lami (Lo-Mami), which rises near another Lo-Mami, flowing through the Sankuru to the Kassai ; from the north the Arawhimi, rivalling the main stream itself in volume, and rising in the highlands to the west of Lake Muta-^'zige. Stanley supposed at first that the Arawhimi w^as a continuation of the Welle, discovered by Schweinfurth in the Kiam-Mam country ; but the subsequent journeys of Bohndorff, Lupton, Casati, and Junker have shown that the Welle lies farther north, and that the true headstream of the Arawhimi is the Nepoko, seen by Junker to the south of the Monbuttu territory. Below the Arawhimi confluence, the Congo, which here assumes an almost lacustrine aspect, is joined by the Loi'ka (Itimbiri), and the Mo- Ngala, two other streams descending from the north, but too small to be identified with the AVelle. North and north-west of the Nepoko, Junker followed the curve of the Welle (Makua) to a point within about 110 miles of the Congo ; but he was compelled here to retrace his steps without solving the Welle problem. In this region, however, he found the Welle swollen by the Mbomo with its Shiuko tributary, which may probably be Lupton's Kuta, the Bahr-el-Kuta of the Arabs. Beyond the Mbomo confluence the united stream would appear to continue its westerly course parallel with the Congo, ultimately joining the U-Banghi about 240 miles from the farthest point reached by Junker. The U-Banghi was itself ascended by Grenfell far beyond the probable junction, which however was not noticed by him either because he kept mainly to the right bank, or because the mouth of the Welle was masked by some of the wooded islands abounding in all these great waterways. Beyond the Itimbiri confluence the Congo, ramifying into numerous channels with a total breadth at some points of 12 miles or even more, continues its 91— AF ​westerly course for 240 miles, during which it is joined by its largest affluents. From the east come the deep Lu-Longo with its Ba-Ringa (Lopori) tributary, the Ikalemba, and the Ruki (Bo-Ruki or "Black River"), all ascended by Grenfell to the head of their navigation. But however copious these affluents, they are all exceeded by the mighty U-Banghi, which comes from the north, probably collecting all the waters of the vast semicircle of plateaux, highlands, and water-partings stretching from the sources of the Shari to those of the White Nile in the Niam-Niam territory. Here it is also perhaps joined by the Nana, rising on
the same uplands as the Benue, and by the outflow from the liva, or "lake" in a pre-eminent sense, which has been heard of by so many explorers, but has never yet been visited. According to Von Francois, the mean discharge of the U-Banghi is 260,000 cubic feet per second, which however seems an exaggerated estimate to M. Ponel, who resided eleven months at Nkunjia, on its lower course. The navigation is first interrupted over 800 miles from its mouth by the Zongo Falls, which even at high water arrested van Gelé's expedition in 1886, although surmounted two years previously by Grenfell. ​It is probable that at some previous geological epoch, the united waters of the
Congo and U-Banghi were collected in a vast inland sea, of which some of the ​428 WEST APEICA. deeper depressions are still flooded during the inundations. Sucli is Lake Matumba, on the left side, which at high water probably communicates with the still larger Lake Leopold IL, draining to a southern affluent of the Congo. West of the U-Banghi the Congo is joined from the north by the Likwalla (Likulna), the Mossaka (Bossaka) of the early French explorers, which has been recently navigated by Jacques de Brazza and Pecile for nearly 200 miles. IS'ear the Likwalla junction the Congo is also joined by the Bunga and the Alima from the north, the latter presenting if not the shortest at least one of the easiest overland routes from the coast to the middle Congo. Below the Alima follow the Nkheni and the Lefeni from the Ogoway waterparting, which reach the right bank of the Congo nearly opposite the confluence of the Kwa, which with its vast ramification of secondary streams constitutes the largest eastern tributary of the main artery. The Kwa, continued far to the south by the Kassai, Sankuru, and Lo-Mami, has the same hydrographic importance on the left that the U-Banghi holds on the right bank of the Congo. Its farthest headstreams rise in the vicinity of the Cuanza and of the western affluents of the Zambese, where the Kassai flows first eastwards for 120 miles to a marshy plain where it is joined by the sluggish Lo-Tembwa from the little Lake Dilolo, which sends another emissary of the same name to the Liba head stream of the Zambese. Thus the two great arteries, Zambese and Congo, form a continuous waterway across the whole continent, which at Lake Dilolo offers an example of streams flowing to two different basins, analogous to that of the Cassiquiare, communicating both with the Orinoco and Amazons in South America. According to Livingstone, Dilolo stands at an altitude of 4,000 feet above the sea. Just below the confluence of the Dilolo emissary the Kassai trends northwards, flowing from the plateaux to the central depression in a valley parallel with those of the Lu-Lua in the east, and of all the other streams rising in the southern part of the Congo basin. Beyond the depression which was formerly an inland sea, the Kassai turns north-westwards, receiving from every valley a fresh affluent, and at the Mbimbi Falls resuming its northerly course to the Lu-Lua confluence. From the east it is also joined by the Sankuru (Sankullu) with its Lo-Mami headstream, and from the southern plateaux by the Tenda, or Lo-Anghe, and farther down by the Kwango (Kwa-Xgo), that is, the Nzadi, Zaire, or Zezere of the natives, which the Portuguese traders often confounded -with the Kassai itself, regarding it as the true main stream rising in a fathomless lake, one of the " Mothers of the Nile." Even on the maps of the present centurj^ the Zaire- Kwango was still represented as escaping from a great Lake Aquilonda. Like the Kassai, the Kwango rises at an altitude of 5,300 feet, but instead of trending eastwards it escapes from the plateau regions by following the shortest or northern course along the east foot of the western border ranges. But the decline across a space of five degrees of latitude is so great that this great river is quite unnavigable except for about 180 miles from its mouth. The Kaparanga Falls, one of the many rapids and cataracts obstructing the current, are no less than ​160 feet high; but those of Gingunshi, the last of these impediments, are little over 8 feet, and might perhaps be surmounted by light craft. After describing a great curve to the west, the Kwango trends eastwards, receiving 7 or 8 miles above its mouth the Juma, a rival stream so large that Grenfell was unable to ascertain which was the more copious of the two. Nearly opposite its mouth it is joined by the navigable emissary from Lake Leopold, which forms a continuation of the Lu-Kenye, a river flowing parallel with the Sankuru.
Below these confluences the Kassai-Kwa collects its waters in a deep narrow
channel piercing the rocky hills by which it was formerly separated from the Congo. Here the current, at the narrows scarcely 500 yards wide, has a velocity of about 4 miles an hour and a depth of certainly over 120 feet. Even at Kwamouth, where it joins the Congo, it is scarcely more than 700 yards broad. During its south-westerly course beyond Kwamouth the Congo, here from 3,000 to 4,500 yards wide, flows between ranges of hills which continually increase in elevation southwards, and which lower down recede to the right and left, the intervening space being occupied by the almost circular Nkuna basin, better ​known as Stanley Pool, which is about 80 square miles in extent, with a depth of 200 feet. On the north or right side this island-studded basin is skirted by a line of eroded rocks clothed on top with verdure, which from their resemblance to the chalk cliffs on the south coast of England have been named the Dover Cliffs. A little below Stanley Pool begins the
in diameter. Suddenly, after passing an island which from a distance seems completely to block the way, the Congo enters its broad estuary studded with islands and sandbanks, where a granite rock on the left side, known as the "Fetish Stone," marks the former limit of the navigation for seagoing vessels. ​Towards the middle of the estuary, the distance from shore to shore exceeds 10 miles; but as it approaches the sea the current again contracts, the chief branch being less than 4 miles wide, while the waters on both sides ramify into a thousand tidal channels. At the mouth the distance from point to point is nearly 7 miles, and in some places no less than 1,000 feet deep. Here the Banana approach, nearly 20 feet deep at low water, runs athwart the stream in the direction from north-east to south-west in continuation of two sandy spits, on one side the peninsula of Banana, on the other Shark Point, or Cape Santo-Antonio. On most modern maps the most advanced headland south-west of this point is wrongly marked as the famous Cape Padrão, where Diego Cam, discoverer of the Congo, erected a marble column in 1485 to indicate the possession of this territory by Portugal. Cape Padrão is in fact identical with Shark Point, although the
column has disappeared, having apparently been thrown down by the Dutch in 1645. The fragments, venerated by the natives as fetishes, were recently discovered by M. Schwerin.
As indicated by the form of its mouth, the Congo is continued seawards in a north-westerly direction, being deflected northwards by the marine current from the south. Its influence is felt by seafarers several days before sighting the continent, the water being discoloured for a distance of 270 miles, while snags and tangled masses of vegetation drift with the stream for over 200 miles, and have even been met as far north as Cape Lopez and the island of Annobon. For 40 miles beyond the estuary the water is yellowish, and for 14 miles perfectly fresh on the surface of the sea. Along the Cabinda coast the swell is partly broken by the Congo waters, which for 14 miles beyond Banana Point continue to flow in a marine channel no less than 1,200 feet deep, skirted on either side by ​THE CONGO ESTUAEY. 433 rocky escarpments submerged only to a depth of 600 feet. The Congo Yallev is thus continued for over 300 miles sexwards, enclosed right and left by ridges or embankments, evidently consisting of refuse of all kinds deposited by the fluvial current in its conflict with the surrounding waters. Hence the Congo develops, not a delta as has been stated, but rather a submarine estuary, analogous to the alluvial formations by which the beds of the Rhine and the Rhone influents are continued under the surface waters of Lakes Constance and Geneva. The tidal wave penetrating into the island-studded Congo estuary stems the fluvial current and raises its level, without, however, reversing it. Hence the mangroves, which fringe the banks of most other equatorial estuaries, are almost entirely absent from those of the Congo. The volume of fresh water, which has a fall of over 40 feet between the head of the inlet at Boraa and its mouth on the Atlantic, is far too great and too rapid to be arrested at any point by the marine inflow. The first estimate of the mean discharge, calculated by Tuckey in 1816 at 1,540,000 cubic feet per second, coincides in a remarkable manner with those that have been made in recent times. Stanley found the outflow near Stanley Pool in the month of March, that is, at low water, to represent about 1,310,000 cubic feet, while the high-water marks on the rocks seemed to indicate a discharge of 2,300,000 during the floods. Subsequent more or less trustworthy estimates for the section between Noki and the mouth vary from 1,200,000 to 1,800,000 cubic feet per second, the discrepancy being explained partly by the variations in volume from year to year, partly to the uncertainty attending such experiments, owing to the great breadth of the island-studded estuary, where the fluvial current flows ov^er the heavier tidal wave. The yearly quantity of sedimentary matter brought down by the Congo is estimated by M. Chavanne at 11,250,000,000 cubic feet, sufiicient to build up an island 1,000 feet high and half a mile square at the base. In any case the Congo certainly exceeds in volume all the rivers of the Eastern Hemisphere, and in the New World is surpassed by the Amazons alone, which like it rises in the equatorial zone, and is swollen by innumerable tributaries fed by the tropical rains. Both are characterised by a series of moderate floods and subsidences, corresponding to the oscillations of the chief affluents, which arriving at different periods tend to maintain the main stream at a certain uniform level. This, however, varies in tlie narrows of the regions of the falls as much as 30 feet, and at Yivi, below the last cataract, 14 feet. At its mouth the Congo presents two periods of high water, December and May, the corresponding lowest levels being in March and August. These two floods evidently follow the two rainy seasons of winter and spring, the latter being caused by the rise of the Arawhimi, U-Banghi, Alima, and other affluents on the right bank. The pre- liminary studies that have been made at the mouths of these and the southern tributaries, give a rough idea of their relative importance in this vast hydro- graphic system ; but the exact share of each in the general movement of the Congo waters can be determined only by a long series of patient observations. The navigable highways open to human industry in this basin yield in extent ​to those of the Amazons alone. This vast system of natural channels is doubtless separated from the seaboard by the series of rocky rapids through which the Congo reaches its lower course; but a number of steamers have already been brought piecemeal across the country and put together on Stanley. Pool, the magnificent outer basin for all the innumerable arteries leading north, east, and south into the very heart of the continent. Between the Livingstone and Stanley Falls the main stream alone, variously estimated at from 2,400 to 2,700 miles in length, presents an open waterway of at least 1,000 miles, besides 500 more in its lower and upper reaches, absolutely free from all obstruction. The Kassai, continued
eastwards by the Sankuru and the Lo-Mami, is accessible to river craft for 1,800 miles; the U-Banghi, the Tchuapa, Lu-Longo, and many others have also been ascended by steamers and barges for hundreds and hundreds of miles; and if to the rivers be added all the backwaters, lakes, and lateral branches, the total extent of navigable waters becomes almost incalculable. There is scarcely a single point of the basin, says Grenfell, over 100 miles from some station accessible by water.
But little advantage can be taken of these great facilities for inland communication until the regions of the Middle Congo are connected with the seaboard by ​GENERAL ASPECT OF THE CONGO BAS 435 good roads acc-ssible to wheeled traffic. So great are the difficulties of transport that a ton of merchandise, shipped at Antwerp for the Congo estuary at a freight of thirty shillings, is burdened with supplementary carriage charges of several hundred, or even several thousund, shillings before reaching the Arawhimi con- fluence. Hence, no serious attempt can be made to open up the vast resources of the Congo basin until the lower rapids are turned by good roads or railways. The direction and general course of the rivers is explained by the continental relief within the Congo basin, where the high land lies not in the central regions but in the neighbourhood of the seaboard. East of the Atlantic coast ranges stretches a central depression, which may be regarded as roughly limited west and north above Stanley Pool by the great bend of the main stream itself as far as the Stanley Falls, southwards by the Kassai and Sankuru rivers, and towards the east by the ranges skirting the west side of Lake Tanganyika. Within this vast space, which is probably of lacustrine origin, the Congo has room to develop an immense semicircle in a northerly direction. From all quarters of the compass streams converge on this central basin with remarkable uniformity, determined by the general slope of the land. Korth of Lake Lanji the Upper Congo affluents descend from the eastern and western ranges ; on the south the Sankuru-Kassai tributaries flow all in parallel channels northwards; on the west the streams traversing the French possessions follow an eisterly course to the right bank of the Congo. The Atlantic coast ranges north of the estuary are continued southwards in the same south-easterly direction, and consist of the same granite, gneiss, and primi- tive schistose recks, with a mean altitude of not more than 2,300 feet. From any of the summits commanding the Congo Valley on the south scarcely any eminences are visible on the horizon rising higher than the observer's standpoint. The whole surface is carved into deep gorges through which wind the converging streams, while the ranges rise gradually southwards. West of the Middle Kwango some of the crests exceed 3,000 feet, while about the headwaters the plateau itself stands at an elevation of considerably over 5,000 feet. But towards the east the surface assumes an almost horizontal aspect, and here lies the lacustrine parting line, which sends its overflow on the one hand through the Kassai-Congo to the Atlantic, on the other through the Zambese to the Indian Ocean. The greater part of the western region of hills and plateaux is overlaid with a thick layer of laterite formed by the disintegration of the argillaceous schists and other surface rocks, and presenting the appearance of many-coloured brown, red, and yellowish sands, through which the running waters percolate as through a sieve. East of the basin the relief is less regular than on the west side, the border chains being disposed less uniformly, but at some points attaining a greater altitude. The amphitheatre of hills south of Lake Bangweolo culminates in the Lokinga peaks, which are said to range from 8,000 to 10,000 feet, and which are connected by lateral spurs with the Yiano hills, pierced by the Lua-Laba and continued north-eastwards in the direction of Tanganyika. South of the Viano terraces the Lokinga mountains fall gradually north-eastwards, merging at last in ​436 WEST AFEICA. the upland plains traversed by tlie Lua-jN'gua affluent of the Zambese, and by the Tchassi-Tchambeze main branch of the Upper Congo. These plains, dotted over with clumps of trees, stretch away beyond the horizon without any apparent eminences higher than anthills. Beyond Tanganyika the region of the waterparting between the Congo and the streams flowing to the Indian Ocean is continued northwards by hilly plateaux intersected by irregular ranges, rising to a height of nearly 7,000 feet between Lakes Tanganyika and Rikwah, and even farther north maintaining elevations of 4,000, 5,000 and 5,600 feet in the U-Nyamezi country. Still more lofty are the uplands stretching thence north-eastwards between Lakes Victoria Nyanza and Muta-N'zige, where rises the three-crested Mfumbiro, source of numerous head- waters of the Kagera main branch of the Upper Nile, and still farther north the Kibanga and Gambaragara Mountains seen from a distance by Stanley and others, and by them estimated at over 10,000 feet. In the north-east the divide between the Congo and the White Nile headstreams is faintly indicated b}^ a few undulations of the surface, or isolated hills rising 1,500 or 1,600 feet above the surrounding plains. A like aspect is probably presented by the Congo-Shari waterparting, so that the Central African depression would appear to have been continuous from the dried-up Congo lacustrine basin to the still flooded Tsad depression, which is known to be a mere remnant of a far more extensive inland sea. But whether the two basins are connected or not by intermediate plains, a part of the region is occupied either by isolated heights, such as Mount Mendif, or by less elevated continuous ranges. South of the Welle rises a group of isolated eminences to which the traveller Potagos has given the name of the George Mountains, and the course of the U-Banghi is confined between lofty walls, which seen from the lower reaches present the aspect of the Pyrenees as beheld from the plains of Gascony. Climate. In the Congo basin the mean temperature, lowered on the seaboard by the influence of the cool marine coast stream, is never excessive, seldom rising above 91° F., even in the hottest months, from January to April. What renders the climate trying to Europeans is its great humidity rather than the tropical heats. In the lower Congo regions the glass falls at times as low as 53* F., showing an annual range of nearly forty degrees between the extremes of heat and cold. On the plateaux it is even more considerable, here travellers complaining of temperatures of 98" F. and upwards followed by cool and even chilly nights. Cameron found that water froze during the night on the plateaux about the sources of the Kassai, while Ponel recorded a fiery temperature of 109° F. on the banks of the U-Banghi. The Congo basin lies entirely within the zone of the south-east trade-winds, which prevail in the interior wherever the normal direction is not disturbed by the trend of the mountain ranges. In the south they take a northerly direction, ​FLORA OF THE CONGO BASIN. 437 following the parallel river valleys of that region, while in the west, as far as and beyond the TJ-Banghi confluence, they are similarly changed to south-western or even western monsoons. They prevail especially in the dry season, acquiring their greatest intensity in September and March, that is, in the months preceding the two rainy periods. Thunderstorms are developed chiefly in the east, so that their progress is most commonly from the interior towards the Atlantic seaboard. As in the Gaboon and Ogoway valleys, there are two wet seasons, the first lasting from October to the end of December, the second and heavier from the middle of February to May, followed by an intensely dry period to the end of September, when scarcely a drop of water falls in a great part of the basin. But the rains diminish rapidly south of the Congo estuary, while increasing from the coast towards the interior. In the region of calms under the equator it rains throughout the year, although the principal wet season coincides here also with the winter months. In December, 1882, a violent thunderstorm was accompanied by a tremendous downpour of 4 inches within three hours, while in the disastrous years 1872 and 1874 the whole rainfall fell short of 8 inches, these remarkable droughts being followed by widespread famine. The fogs and overcast skies, caused by excessive moisture in the wet seasons, are often intensified by the conflagrations of the grassy steppes, where the com- bustion is calculated by Yon Danckelmann to represent a mass of 160 tons per square mile. Hence the quantity of scrub, brushwood, and vegetation of all kinds consumed by these fires must be estimated at millions of tons, filling the atmosphere with dense smoke for many miles in all directions. Flora and Fauna. Nevertheless the general absence of trees and prevalence of tall grasses in so many parts of the Congo basin is to be attributed not so much to these conflagra- tions as to the lack of sufficient moisture to support extensive forest growths. The dense woodlands of the Gaboon and Ogoway regions are gradually replaced southwards by treeless savannahs, except along the river banks, which are every- where fringed by narrow belts of timber, matted together by gigantic creepers. Even on the northern slope of the plateau forming the divide between the Congo and Zambese basins, the same contrast is presented between the treeless uplands and the exuberant vegetation of the riverain tracts. Here the more abundant moisture is carried off to the deep river gorges so rapidly that the rocky slopes and uplands are unable to support anything except a stunted and almost leafless scrub, or a scanty herbaceous vegetation, and are in some places even completely destitute of verdure. But at the issue of the parallel fluvial valleys south of the Congo, the abundantly watered plains are covered with palms, baobabs, and other large forest growths. Nearly all the semicircle limited north by the great curve of the main- stream and south by the Kassai and Sankuru rivers, presents the aspect of a boundless forest interrupted here and there by swampy tracts, savannahs, and the ​clearings round the villages. But the eastern uplands, like those of the west, show no continuous woodlands except in the bottom lands where are collected the streams descending from the hillsides, and in the districts of the equatorial zone exposed to a copious rainfall. Farther south nothing is seen except grassy tracts
studded with clusters of trees like the English parks, long avenues of timber overshadowing the running waters, or else absolutely treeless steppe-lands.
Notwithstanding its vast extent, the Congo basin, presenting everywhere nearly the same climatic conditions, is characterised by a remarkable uniformity in its vegetable and animal species, Here the water-partings in many places coincide with the limits of the botanical zones, and Schweinfurth and Junker found that north of the divide between the White Nile and the Congo the oil-palm, raphia, pandanus, kola-nut disappear, which are so characteristic of the central ​INHABITANTS OF THE CONGO. 439 regions south of that line. South of the Upper Congo headstreams the oil-palm is in the same way arrested by the waterparting towards the Zambese, and in the Congo Valley by the first slopes of the Angolan plafeaux. The general equality of the climate, which has imparted a certain uniformity to the spontaneous flora of the Congo basin, has also enabled the inhabitants everywhere to introduce nearly the same cultivated plants, such as manioc, millet, the banana, tobacco, hemp, the pineapple, and sugar-cane. The cofFee- plant, as well as the vine and orange, have been found growing wild in the central forest region on the banks of the Congo and Kassai. The local fauna scarcely differs from that of the Atlantic seaboard in the Ogoway, Gaboon, and Cameroons districts. The elephant, rare in the hunting- grounds, is still very common in the greater part of the country ; the manatee of the estuary is replaced higher up by multitudes of hippopotamuses, so numerous in some rivers as to impede the navigation. The chimpanzee inhabits the Congo forests as far north-eastwards as the limits of the oil-palm and raphia, so that he does not appear to penetrate into the Nile basin, nor southwards beyond the Lower Congo into Angola. In general the contrasts observed in the animal kingdom depend primarily on the distribution of plants. Thus the western savannahs, frequently wasted by fire, are almost uninhabited, containing neither quadrupeds, reptiles nor birds, while the eastern park- lands teem with animal life. In certain districts not yet visited by the hunter, the camping- grounds of travellers are surrounded by numerous herds of elephants, buffaloes, and antelopes. Inhabitants. The Congo basin everywhere belongs to populations of Bantu speech, except in a few enclaves occupied by conquered aborigines, and in the north-eastern regions held by the Niam-Niam, Monbuttu, and other Negro peoples that have been wrongly classed with the Nuba group. On the other hand, the domain of the Bantu languages, which reaches southwards to Cape Colony, also extends in the north and north-east into the Nile basin, where it encircles the whole of Lake Victoria Nyanza. But although the Congo populations possess linguistic unity, they differ greatly in their physical appearance and social usages. While most of the Bantus (Ba-ntu, A-ba-ntu, that is, " men "), appear to be clearly distinguished from the Negroes proper by their complexion, features, shape of the skuU and carriage, the transitions are nevertheless extremely gradual in the Congo regions, where no pure types are found. The races have been constantly modified by incessant inter- mingling, while the common Bantu speech has remained nearly unchanged. Even within the historic period, conquering peoples have swept over the land, subduing and merging with the aboriginal elements. Tribal migrations and fresh ethnical groupings have also been caused by floods, famines, slave-hunting expeditions ; and to these causes of confusion must be added the exogamous or extra-tribal marriages prevalent amongst many communities. The least mixed ​440 WEST AFEICA. peoples appear to be the dwarfisli races variously known as Akkas or Tiki-Tikis, Vua- Twas or Ba-Twas. Sufficient materials have not yet been collected to enable philologists to offer a satisfactory classification of the forty or fifty distinct Bantu idioms current in the Congo basin. The ethnical prefixes Ba, Ma, Ova, Wa, Yua, M, Tu, Mu, may doubtless indicate a certain relationship between the several groups so indicated, but such indications are far from sufficient to serve as the basis even of an approximate classification, so that all attempts in this direction can for the present claim nothing more than a provisional value. At the same time, amid this chaos of ethnical elements, certain groups stand out more prominently as at present distinguished, either by their warlike character or commercial enterprise. Thus the Nyamezi to the east, and the Rua to the west of Tanganyika, serve as the chief forwarders of the international traffic between the eastern Seaboard and the Congo basin. The Reggas also occupy a vast territory between the great river and Lake Mutu Nzige, while the Ba-Lolo are widely distributed along the banks of all the affluents within the great curve described by the Congo north of the equator. The Tu-Shilonge, proud of their higher culture, hold the region where the Lu Lua and Kassai enter the wooded plains, while the Lunda predominate about the southern affluents of the Kassai. Higher up follow the Kioko, enterprising traders, who push their expeditions from the Atlantic to the great equatorial lakes. On the Congo where it begins to trend towards the south-west, the most energetic and warlike people are the Ba-Ngala. Lower down the dominant nations are the Bu-Banghi, who give their name to the U-Banghi river, the Ba-Teke above Stanley Pool, the AVa-Buma of the Lower Kassai, and the Ba-Fiot, better known as the Congolese, from the Ba-Congo division of this group, who dwelt on the Lower Congo, and who have long main- tained direct commercial relations with the Europeans. A characteristic trait of the eastern populations is their love of personal ornament, which is gradually replaced by amulets and fetishes. Notwithstanding the assumed incapacity of the Negro peoples to develop ex- tensive political systems, some large Bantu states have been founded within as well as beyond the Congo basin. At the arrival of the Portuguese, towards the end of the fifteenth century, both sides of the estuary as well as a large part of the southern plateau recognised a sovereign who resided in a capital now known by the Portuguese name of San Salvador. In the region watered by the Kassai affluents the political preponderance belongs to the Lunda nation, whose king, the Muata Yamvo, receives the tribute of hundreds of vassals scattered over a territory as large as France. Towards the Lua-Pula headstreams stretches another great kingdom, that of the Muata Kazembe, who appears at the end of the last century to have enjoyed the supremacy over the neighbouring states. Westwards, also, the Upper Lua-Laba and Lu-Fira basins constitute the domain of the Msiri, at present a still more powerful sovereign. Farther north, in the region where these various streams converge to form the Congo, the tribes are grouped politically under the common suzerainty of the King of Kassongo. At the same time the ​INHABITANTS OF THE CONGO. 441 political ties must necessarily be somewhat lax in these regions where the com- munications are extremely difficult, and where the subject tribes may easily migrate from clearing to clearing. Hence these associations cohstitute rather a confederacy of petty autonomous republics than monarchical states in the strict sense of the term. The arrival of the Arabs on the east and of the Europeans on the west coast has naturally tended much to bring about the work of disintegration, by which the inland states have been gradually modified. Thus the intervention of the Portuguese ultimately effected the ruin of the Congo empire, notwithstanding its great political cohesion. In these historic transformations, stimulated by the presence of the foreigner on the seaboard, the elements of good and evil become strangely and diversely intermingled. While certain tribes, exposed to the raids of slave-hunters, relapsed into a state of profound degradation and savagery, the Congolese peoples generally became enriched by the development of agricul- ture. The introduction of maize, manioc, and other alimentary plants, is one of the chief benefits conferred by Europeans on the natives, more than compensating for the evils caused by the sale of firearms and spirits. Four centuries ago the Congo tribes lived mainly by hunting wild beasts and man himself, by fishing, or at most a rudimentary agriculture, whereas they now depend altogether on a well- developed system of husbandry, enabling them to increase tenfold without exhaust- ing the fertile soil. Had European influence in the Congo regions been represented by traders alone, the part played by them in the history of Africa could have scarcely been inferior to that of the Arab dealers. But before Stanley's journey across the continent their factories were confined to the low-lying region of the estuarj^ while the Zanzibar Arabs freely penetrated beyond Tanganyika, 800 or 900 miles from the Indian Ocean. Stanley, Cameron, and many other European explorers were fain to avail themselves of their services, but for which the Congo basin would still be an unknown region. When Stanley resolved to push westwards along the line of the main stream, he was accompanied as far as the Falls by the Arab Tippo-Tip at the head of seven hundred men, and it was by the co-operation of the same slave-dealer that he was afterwards enabled to organise the expedition for the relief of Emin Pasha in the Upper Nile valley. The Arabs above all others have hitherto benefited by the European discoveries in the Upper Congo basin, where their caravans now penetrate victoriously into the vast region lying between the Nilotic lakes and the Lo-Mami river. But their trading stations scattered over the country deal not only in ivory and other local produce, but also and chiefly in slaves. Taking advantage of, and even fomenting the petty intertribal wars, they procure the captives on easy terms, distributing them as so much merchandise throughout the markets of the interior and even on the seaboard. But they reserve the young men, arming them with rifles and thus maintaining bands of combatants irresistible to the surrounding populations, rudely equipped and lack- ing all political coherence. Hence the great material advantages enjoyed by the Arabs over their European rivals, who are compelled to deal with freemen and to 92— AF ​pay dearly for the transport of goods. The Zanzibar Arabs may, in fact, be said
to have constituted in the Upper Congo regions a new empire, some hundred ​thousand square miles in extent, but without official recognition, because depending for the movement of exchanges on the Sultanate of Zanzibar. Without a seaport on the Indian Ocean the Arabs could' not possibly maintain their footing in the country, were their ivory trade with Bombay permanently interrupted.
The Congo Free State.
The committee established under the presidency of the Kin ig of the Belgians after Stanley's expedition of 1878, for the purpose of studying the relations in the
Upper Congo, was soon transformed into the "Congo International Association," which undertook the lofty mission of conquering the country by peaceful means, suppressing slavery, encouraging legitimate trade, and fostering a feeling of brotherhood between the European pioneers and the native populations. But before this mission was well commenced the Association assumed the crown, so to say, by transforming itself in 1884 into a monarchy to the benefit of its royal founder.
The new empire, entitled the "Congo Free State," is limited southwards by the estuary, and thence by a geometrical line drawn to the Levee, some 12 miles north of the sixth parallel of south latitude, which parallel it ​forth follows to the Lu-Bilash, or Upper Sankuru river. At this point the conventional frontier, drawn across unexplored or little known regions, trends southwards along the Lu-Bilash valley towards its source on the plateau, beyond the Congo-Zambese divide, following the left side of Lake Bangweolo and the Lua-Pula valley to Lake Moero, and thence in a straight line to Cameron Bay, at the south-west extremity of Tanganyika. From this point it runs nearly due north along the west side of Tanganyika and east of Lake Muta-N'zige to 4°N. latitude, which has been adopted as its northern limit, westwards to the U-Banghi river, which, with the right bank of the Congo as far as Manyanga, separates the new state towards the west from the French possessions. Below Manyanga, a tortuous line passing south of the sources of the Niari and its affluents westwards to the coast between Cabinda and Banana, completes the vast periphery of the Congo State, which comprises about half of the fluvial basin, or 780,000 square mikes in superficial extent. But of this vast domain, only a few riverain stations have been occupied, such as Ba-Ngala on the right bank of the Congo in the territory of the Ba-Ngala nation, and Luluaburg, on the Lua-Lua affluent of the Kassai.
The rest of the Congo basin is also distributed amongst European Powers, Germany claiming all that part of East Africa confined north-west and south by Lakes Victoria, Tanganyika, and Nyassa, from this vast strategic base commanding at once the Upper Nile, Zambese, and Congo basins. France possesses the part of the basin lying between the Upper U-Banghi and Manyanga, while Portugal has officially occupied all the territory watered by the affluents of the Lower Congo and of the Kwango, south of the Free State. The latter power also regards herself as the future "protector" of the Lunda State, as well as of the southern part of the basin not yet distributed amongst the European States. But all the Congo States alike, as well as those in the east draining to the Indian Ocean, between the Zambese and the fifth parallel of north latitude, are declared open to the trade of the world. All flags without distinction of nationality have henceforth free access to the whole seaboard of these territories, as well as to the rivers discharging into the surrounding waters. All differential charges are interdicted in respect of shipping, and all imported merchandise is free of entry and transit dues.
Lua-Pula and Lua-Laba Basins.
This region, in which the upper affluents forming the Congo descend more than half the fluvial slope from 5,000 to 2,000 feet, had already been visited by Lacerda towards the close of the eighteenth century. But his journey, like those of other Portuguese explorers, attracted little attention, and the country continued to be unknown until revealed to the outer world by Livingstone's memorable expeditions. This pioneer (1869-1878) was succeeded by others, such as Cameron (1874), Giraud (1884), Capello and Ivens (1885), whose itineraries have been connected at various points. ​The plateau sloping southwards, on which rise the headwaters of the Tchambezi, is inhabited chiefly by the Bemba nation (Ba-Emba, Mu-Emba, Lo-Bemba, Vua-Emba). At the time of Giraud's visit, in 1884,'the Bemba empire stretched north to Tanganyika, east to Nyassa, west to Bangweolo and Moero, the whole of the interlacustrine space north of the uplands held by the Wa-Biza being comprised within its limits. Even the Kazembe, whose ancestors had ruled over a great part of Central Africa, as well as the formerly powerful Wa-Biza, south of the Tchambesi, had been "eaten," as the natives express it.
The capital of the Bemba state, situated on the plain north of the extensive marshlands traversed by the Tchambezi, comprised in 1884 some four or five
hundred huts, covering too large a space to be entirely enclosed by palisades, Inks the other villages. In these regions the villages take the names of the ruling chiefs, and the capital, at that time called Ketimkuru's, is now known as Marukutu's. Incessant wars have to a great extent depopulated the country; hamlets are rare, and in some districts are exposed to the constant attacks of marauders, so that the wretched peasants prefer camping amid the anthills, and stealthily cultivating the land. When corn fails, they fall back on mushrooms, roots, bark, and boiled foliage.
The Ba-Bemba, physically one of the finest Bantu peoples, wear skins a: bast when unable to procure woven goods from the Arab traders, and all delight ​446 WEST AEEICA. in elegant tattoo designs and elaborate head-dresses, built up with clay and terminating in coronets or sharp radiating points. They are skilful craftsmen, but subject to the caprice of their rulers, who mutilate slaves and freemen alike, and surround themselves with bands of musicians, composed almost exclusively of eunuchs, the blind, and maimed. The approach to most villages is marked by grinning skulls stuck on tall stakes. The symbol of the royal power consists in red glassware covering a great part of the king's person, and imported bv Nyamezi traders, who take in exchange elephants' tusks of small size, but of extremely fine texture. These dealers have introduced many usages of Arab The Wa-Biza and Kissinga Territories. The Wa-Biza and Ilala, who have maintained their independence against the Ba-Bemba in the islands and morasses of Bangweolo and neighbouring rugged upland valleys, constitute a group of petty republican states, which are constantly on their guard against the attacks of the common enemy. This district teems with multitudes of large game, the very horizon being shut out in some directions by vast herds of many thousand antelopes. South of the marshlands lies the village of Tchitambo, in the Ilala territory, where Livingstone died on May 1st, 1873. On the return of the caravan which conveyed the remains of Livingstone to the coast, the western shores of Bangweolo were held by the Wa-Biza, who, how- ever, have since been either exterminated or reduced to a state of vassalage by the Yua-Ussi conquerors from the south. But the progress of these intruders has been arrested by the valiant Yua- Kissinga nation, which holds its own on the north side of the lake both against the Ba-Bamba in the east and the Yua-Ussi in the west. On one of the eastern affluents of the Lua-Pula in this district are situated the copper mines which have been worked from time immemorial. On their return from the interior in 1885, the explorers Capello and Ivens endeavoured in voin to cross the Lua-Pula and penetrate into this mining district. West of the river they found the whole country wasted by wars, and in the boundless forests of Kaponda had to support themselves on the produce of the chase. The Muata Kazembe's Kingdom. The Lunda territory south of Lake Moero, not to be confounded with the Lunda empire of the Muata Yamvo in the Kassai basin, constituted about the middle of the century a powerful kingdom ruled over by the Muata Kazembe, that is, " Imperial Lord," heir of the ancient Morupwe kings, who were regarded in the sixteenth century as the most powerful potentates in South Africa. But when visited in 1831 by Monteiro and Gamitto he had already lost all control over his eastern neighbours, the Wa-Bemba, and at the time of Livingstone's visit in 1867 several other provinces had become detached from his empire. At present he is a mere vassal of his old Ba-Eemba subjects, retaining, however, the complicated ​ceremonial of the old court, with its ministers, chamberlains, and bodyguards. Before his tent is mounted a gun draped in red, a great fetish, to which all wayfarers have to pay tribute. Heads stuck on stakes round the royal enclosure, and numerous mutilated wretches in attendance on the sovereign, serve to warn his subjects of his terrible presence.
When visited by Lacerda in 1798, the Kazembe's capital, which formerly changed with every reign, was situated north of the Mofwe, a southern continuation
The Msiris Kingdom, Garangaja.
At present the most powerful state in the Upper Congo region is that of Msiri (Musiri), a chief of Nyamezi race, whose family lately reduced all the tribes along
the Upper Lua-Laba. This territory stretches northwards to Lake Kassali (Kikonja), under the eighth parallel of south latitude, and southwards to the country of the I-Ramba or Wa-Ramba, who occupy the Muxinga (Mushinga) highlands between the Congo and Zambese basins. This region, some 4,200 feet above sea-level, and dominated by wooded mountains running north-east and south-west, is a picturesque ​and salubrious country, perhaps destined to become a sanatorium for European travellers. Msiri's capital, Bunkeija {Unkea, Kimpata), a great ivory market near a small western affluent of the Lu-Fira, has already been visited by Reichard, Capello, and Ivens, who however were badly received, ;^[siri, who lives in a palace surrounded by human skulls, disposes of over two thousand fusiliers, whom he leads against the powerful Rua (Yua-Eua, U-Rua) nation, occupying to the north all the region stretching beyond Lake Lanji to the shores of Tanganyika. Msiri is a cruel despot bearing the curious Portuguese title of Maria Segunda ; and his brother, the governor of Kaponda, is a still more sanguinary ruler, whose palace is indicated from a distance by piles of human heads. The population of Garangaja, as Msiri's kingdom is called, comprises diverse elements collectively known as Ba-Yeke or Ba-Yongo, and specially noted for the great deference they pay to their women. The men are great hunters, always clad in skins, and armed with rifles from Angola and sharp-pointed assegais embellished with copper wire. This metal occurs in great abundance, generally under the form of malachite, the chief mines being those of Katanga, a three days' march to the east of Bunkeya. But contrary to the statements made by the Arabs to Stanley, there is no gold in the mining districts, although copious sulphurous springs are found in many places. The Rua Kingdom. Livingstone refers frequently to the country of the Rua people, giving fabulous details and a geographical relief of the land very different from the reality. Subsequent explorers have ascertained that the Lake Kamolondo mentioned by him as traversed by the Lua-Laba has no existence ; but the string of lakes forming the Lua-Laba takes the collective name of Kamolondo, and forms the eastern boundary of the Rua territory. This region, which was traversed from north to south by Cameron, forms the empire of the Kassongo, and comprises the whole space stretching north and south between Msiri's kingdom and the tract ruled by the Arabs north of Lake Lanji. The Kassongo's territory is bounded west and east by the Lo-Mami river and Lake Tanganyika, but does not include the TJ-Sambe (U-Sambi), who dwell west of the Lo-Mami, who, however, pay tribute both to the Kassongo and to their western neighbour the Muata Yamvo. But for all that they do not escape the raids of the Arab or half-caste Portuguese slave- hunters, who carry off their women and burn their villages. The kingdom is divided into districts, governed each by a hilolo, who is either a hereditary chief or a "captain" appointed for a term of four years. If satisfied with their services, the king promotes them to a higher charge ; if not, they are mutilated, the royal usages being no less cruel here than in the neighbouring states. In IJ-Rua two punishments alone are recognised— mutilation and death, and near the king's residence are recesses filled with human heads. I^he sovereign is looked on as a god, and the most powerful fetish represents the founder of the dynasty. This fetish, kept in a forest, which not even the wizards may enter, is supposed to have for wife the king's sister, who with her brother has alone the ​right to consult the tutelar deity in cases of emergency. In virtue of his divinity, the ruler of U-Rua is also theoretically the husband of all his female subjects except his mother, while in virtue of their royal blood his own sons are allowed to plunder the people at pleasure. At the ruler's death a number of his women are doomed to accompany him beyond the grave, which is dug in the bed of a river diverted from its course. Here is first killed the second wife, whose duty it is to watch at the feet of the dead; then the bottom is covered with living women, on whom is laid the corpse, after which, on the closed pit, are massacred a number of slaves, and the river is restored to its bed, so that the last resting-place of the dread monarch be for ever concealed from mortal eye. Human sacrifices are also
made for secondary chiefs, while the common people are thrown into the bush, or else seated in a grave with the right hand index finger pointing heavenwards.
The U-Rua country is one of the richest in the interior of Africa. The soil is extremely fertile, and in the mountains are found deposits of iron, cinnabar, silver, and even rock-oil. Most of the natives are distinguished by their intelligence and skill as craftsmen, and Cameron describes a native cabin which would be a work of art even in Europe. Much artistic taste is also displayed in the marvellous head-dresses, the endless varieties of which reveal the special character of each individual. Each clan has also a special animal, whose spoils supply the gala robes worn when they present themselves before their sovereign. As in the ​U-NYAMEZI. 451 surrounding countries, bark garments are also prepared from the bast of the miombo plant. Kilemha (Kwihata, Mussamba), capital of U-Rua/ lying on one of the string of lakes traversed by the Lua-Laba, is merely a large village defended by a strong palisade. In this country, exposed to continual plundering expeditions of the secondary chiefs, of the slave-hunters, and even of the king himself, most of the villages are hidden away in the thickest part of the forests, and can be approached only by creeping on all fours under a long avenue of interlaced foliage terminating at a gateway defended by a chcmiix-de-frise. The people also take refuge in the lakes, such as that of Mohrya, 24 miles north-west of Kilemba, where are several lacustrine groups, w^hose inhabitants approach the land only to cultivate their fields and graze their goats. On Lake Kassali they utilise the floating islands of matted vegetation, on which they plant bananas and dwell with their flocks and poultry. But in the Mitumbo and Kunde Irunde hills, skirting the west and east banks of the Lu-Fira river, thousands of natives dwell in spacious caves, some of which are 20 miles long, forming with their innumerable ramifications vast under- ground cities occupied by whole tribes of troglodytes with their domestic animals. Tanganyika and M'uta N'zige. East of Lake Tanganyika the most extensive state is U-I^yamezi (U-Nyam- wezi), mentioned by the Portuguese and Pigafetta so early as the end of the sixteenth century, under the name of Munemugi, or "Land of the Moon." It occupies most of the lands watered by the Malagarazi and its affluents, and in the north-east it stretches beyond the divide into the Victoria ]N"yanza basin. U- J^yamezi is one of the pleasantest regions in Africa, diversified with low undulat- ing hills, wooded or grassy, and dotted over with numerous villages all surrounded with gardens, rice plantations, and well-cultivated farms. But the western districts are mostly swampy and insalubrious, especially after the rainy season. The best-known territory in U-I^yamezi is U-Nyambiembe, which is watered by the Gombe, chief affluent of the Malagarazi. Here pass most of the caravans between Tanganyika and the coast ; here Speke, Burton, Grant, Stanley, Cameron, and since then many other pioneers of African exploration, have resided for weeks and months together ; here also several religious missions have been established, and Germany, which has become the suzerain power, will doubtless soon be repre- sented in the country by political administrators. The Yua-I^yamezi, as all the local tribes are collectively called, appear to be related to the people of Garangaja, although enjoying a much higher culture than their neighbours, thanks to their long-established commercial relations with the Arabs. TsTevertheless most of them still practise the old systems of tattooing, and otherwise disfigure themselves by extracting the two lower incisors, or else filing them to an edge, and distending the lobe of the ears by the insertion of wooden discs, shells, or bits of ivory. They generally shave a part of the head, dressing the rest of the hair in numerous radiating points, which are extended by ​means of interwoven vegetable fibre. Formerly the native garb was made of bast, which has now been almost everywhere replaced by woven fabrics imported from Zanzibar. Brass wire armlets and greaves, as well as glass beads, are much worn,
and to these the chiefs add two long ivory sheaths, which they clash together to encourage their men on the battlefield.
In the conduct of domestic affairs the division of labour is complete, the men looking after the flocks and poultry, the women attending to the gardens and fields. In some districts one of the twins is killed and replaced by a calabash in the cradle of the survivor. The inheritance passes, not to the nephew, as amongst so many tribes where matriarchal customs are partly maintained, but to the direct issue, and in preference to illegitimate children. ​At the time of Stanley’s first journey in 1871 the Arabs were still very powerful
in U-Nyamezi, but, having abused their strength to enslave their neighbours, the ​454 WEST AFRICA. natives rose against them, and a Negro empire was founded by the famous Mirambo, the "black Bonaparte," whose military genius has been the theme of all travellers. At present this state is divided, one half of the villages belonging to the proteges of the Arabs, some of whom are of true Semite stock ; but the majority are half-castes from Muscat or Zanzibar, who employ mercenary troops imported from Baluchistan and other places. Owing to the introduction of all these foreign elements the population has become strangely mixed, and most of the natives along the trade routes speak three languages — their Bantu mother- tongue, Arabic, and the Ki-Swahili of Zanzibar. The town, or rather group of villages, most frequently mentioned in the reports of travellers and missionaries is Tabora^ the Kazeh, or " Eesidence," of the first English explorers. It stands at an altitude of over 4,000 feet, or very nearly on the highest land of the waterparting at the converging point of all caravan routes between the .sea and the great lakes. Tabora, which is surrounded by extensive plantations of batatas, yams, rice, maize, and other cereals, comprises several honias, or palisaded enclosures, which with numerous outlying groups of huts has an estimated population of five thousand Wa-Nyamezi, Arabs, Zanzibari, and Baluchi. On the surrounding plain to the south and south-west are scattered several other villages, such as Kui-Kuru, or the " Royal Village," with five concentric enclosures, where resides the Mtemi, who rules over U-Nyamezi under the protection of the Arab agent at Tabora. All these groups of carefully built huts are well kept and surrounded either with a hedge of poisonous arborescent euphorbise, or else in the new style, with a rampart of thick walls. Of late years some European buildings, such as schools and chapels,' have sprung up both in the Tabora district and in U- Yiii and U-RamhOy to the north-east and north-west. According to Wilson, from four thousand to five thousand natives dwell within the strong enclosure of U-Yui ; and Serombo, on a northern affluent of the Mala- garazi, is also a large place with a population estimated at about five thousand. As in most other parts of Africa where Islam and Christianity come in contact, the former exercises most moral influence, although recording fewer proselytes, and although the Arab traders show no zeal for the conversion of the natives. In the U-Gonda district south of Tabora the Germans had established a station, where they hoped sooner or later to create a centre of effective political control for the whole region stretching east of Tanganjdka. Their first post Avas founded in 1881 near the village of Kakoma in the Vua Galla country, but was soon after removed to Gonda in the Yua-Gunda territory. In return for a few charges of gunpowder the local " sultan " had granted them a share of the royal power, with the right of pronouncing sentence of death and declaring peace or war. Neverthe- less, they failed to prevent human sacrifices over the graves of the chiefs, and the station was abandoned. In the Malagarazi valley west of U-Nyamezi one of the most dreaded predatory tribes are the Yua-Tuta, whose territory is carefully avoided by caravans, which here turn north to the populous town of Serombo. But in this region the largest ​domain is that of the Vua-Hha, which extends from the Lower Malagarazi to the uplands where the Alexandra Nile (Kagera) has its rise. These warlike shepherds are distinguished alike for their fine physique, intelligent expression, and artistic taste. They make an excellent butter, which does not become rancid like that of the other pastoral tribes of the plateau, and which is exported to the remotest parts of U-Nyamezi. Their Vua-Tuzi neighbours, said to be intruders Fig. 227. — Tabora and Gonda. from the north and akin to the Wa-Huma of Lake Nyanza, are noted for their tall stature, regular features, and light complexion. They are regarded by some authorities as of Galla stock, while others affiliate them to the Vua-Hha. Like the Nuers of the White Nile, they have the faculty of standing for hours together on one leg, after the fashion of wading birds. At present the Vua-Tuzi are employed by the Tabora Arabs to tend their flocks, receiving half the produce in return.
The Lower Malagarazi Valley is occupied by the U-Vinza and U-Karaga countries, the former of which is famous for its salt-pens, which supply the whole region from the southern shores of Tanganyika to the Upper Congo and Lake Victoria. The great market for this salt, as well as for ivory, slaves, and merchandise imported from Zanzibar and Europe, is the port of Kahwele (Kavele), better known by the name of Ujiji, which is properly that of the district. But this famous place, which at one time gave its name to Lake Tanganyika itself, is a mere group of hamlets situated on the south side of a peninsula, whence a superb view is commanded of the surrounding coast, with its red cliffs, wooded slopes, and palm-groves. Ujiji, which is the residence of the muntuali, or "triumvirs," who administer the district, is an unhealthy place that has proved fatal to many Europeans. ​The Vua-Jiji are noted boat-builders, who show with pride many large decked barges, which were the queens of the lake before the Europeans had launched their steamers on its waters. Under their white instructors they have become skilful pilots, and no longer find it necessary to offer so many sacrifices of goats or poultry to the spirits of the storm when rounding the dangerous headlands. The difficulties
South of Karema the coast is indented by numerous creeks, some of which might become excellent havens. The Kirando inlet, occurring at the narrowest Fig. 229. — Ujiji and the Malagarazi. part of the lake, 45 miles from Karema, is completely sheltered by a cluster of neighbouring islets, several large villages are dotted over the district, and extensive rice-fields are spread over the surrounding plains. This region belongs to the Vua-Fifa, a numerous nation, who also occupy the Liamba hills and the shores of Lake Rikwa.
The valley of the river Katuma (Mkafu), which rises to the east of Karema, is shared between the U-Konongo territory in the north and U-Fiba (U-Fipa) in the south. The latter state is one of the most populous in East Africa, and the inhabitants are all daring navigators, who infest all the coastlands, carrying off numerous slaves by their sudden raids on the riverain villages. Near the Konongo-Fiba frontier is situated the petty state of Mpimbwe, whose capital is defended on the west by the Liamba hills, and eastwards by the steppes extending far over plain. Near the town are two thermal springs with a temperature of 114° to 116° F., which fill a basin much resorted to by the natives for the efficacy of its waters. Mpimbwe, destroyed by Mirambo's people in 1880, has been rebuilt at a little distance from the old site. The spot is shown between two baobab trees, where fell the agents of the African Association, Carter and Cadenhead, in the struggle with Mirambo
In the U-Rungu district, near the southern extremity of Tanganyika, lies the best port in the lake, to which the natives give the name of Liemba, that is, ​"Lake," a term which they apply in a pre-eminent sense to Tanganyika itself. The port in fact is a lacustrine basin of circular form, like a volcanic crater, completely sheltered on the north and west by the Mpete peninsula, and on the east by the escarpments of the plateau. The village of Katete, which stands about 2,000 feet above this almost land-locked haven, is the residence of a sultan called the "Good Chief," who rules the northern Vua-Rungu people. Another important station in this territory is Zombe, a group of palisaded enclosures 2,300 feet above the lake, and consequently 5,000 feet above the sea, with a healthy, almost European climate, and free from the tsetse fly.
Owing to its insalubrious climate, Pambete, the southernmost port and Protestant missionary station on the lake, has had to be abandoned, and is now replaced by Yembe, on the promontory of that name, which stands between Pambete and the
Lu-Fu river on the south-west coast. This is the intended northern terminus of the carriage road constructed by Stevenson between Nyassa and Tanganyika. The two great lacustrine basins, connected by this highway some 270 miles long, will form with the Shiré, Zambese, and lateral arteries, the future main trade route penetrating from the Zambese delta 1,200 miles inland, three-fourths of which space is already open to steam navigation.
The western slope of the Tanganyika basin between the mouths of the Lo-Fu and Lo-Fuko is occupied by the Itawa and Ma-Rungu (Wanya-Rungu) peoples, who are of the same stock and speech as the Vua-Rungu on the opposite side of the lake. This region is thickly peopled, some of the mountains being covered with plantations and groups of dwellings from base to summit. On a headland commanding the north side of the Lo-Fuko the African International Association has founded the station of Mpala over against Karema, but better situated both as ​a health resort and for trading purposes. The Lo-Fuko valley offers at this point the most accessible route westwards to Lake Moero and the Lua-Pula river.
The Ma-Rungu are of a somewhat repulsive Negro type, with projecting jaws, flat nose, very short legs, and long trunk, and in some districts much subject to goître. In their territory Reichard has found the soko or sako, an anthropoid ape resembling the chimpanzee rather than the gorilla, as is mentioned by Livingstone, who also saw the soko in the Ma-Nyema country. These large apes, nearly 4 feet high, dwell in colonies in the forests, where they build themselves
habitations in the branches of the trees. They are dreaded more than lions by the natives, who believe that their "evil eye" is the forerunner of death.
The granite U-Guha uplands north of the Lu-Kuga emissary is inhabited by the prosperous Vua-Guha people, who are related to their Rua neighbours farther west. They are distinguished from other tribes by their lofty head-dress supported by a framework of iron wire and decked with shells, glass beads, and metal balls. They wear garments woven from the raphia fibre, to which the better clasess add aprons of monkey or leopard skins. U-Guha is one of the most industrial centres ​in Africa, producing potteries, mats, cooperage, wicker-work, arms, implements iron and copper ornaments. Ruanda, the capital, situated in a plain to the north of the Lu-Kuga, contains at least four hundred huts disposed in regular wide streets, which are carefully scavangered. Stakes erected at intervals and surmounted by two-headed human effigies remind the people to look both to the past and future, to honour their forefathers' tutelar deities of the place, and at the same time love their children, future defenders of the nation.
Since 1885 a European village has stood on the islet of Kavala near a little insular group fringing the coast north of Cape Kahangwa. The English missionaries
have made choice of this station on account of its salubrity and the excellent harbour developed between the island and the mainland. Kavala is at present the European naval station and dockyard on Tanganyika, and also carries on an active trade with the natives.
The Congo from Lake Langhi to the U-Banghi Confluence.
The Upper Congo basin proper, below the Lua-Laba, Lua-Pula, and Lu-Kuga confluence, described by Livingstone as a land of supreme beauty, is occupied ​chiefly by the Vua-Ma-Nyema, or "Eaters of Flesh," who were till recently much dreaded by their western neighbours owing to their pronounced cannibalism.
Yet such repulsive tastes do not prevent the Ma-Nyema from surpassing most of the surrounding peoples in kindliness and even gentle dispositions. They are also noted for their physical beauty, the women especially being sought after by the Arabs for their graceful carriage and regular features. The men wear antelope skins, while many of the chiefs have adopted the flowing white toga of the Arabs. Their arms are a heavy, sharp-pointed spear, and a short sword worn in a wooden sheath ornamented with little bells. Their artistic skill is also displayed in the manufacture of stout vegetable materials dyed with fast colours, and in the erection of well-timbered and plastered houses of the rectangular form, common to the Vua-Regga and all the inhabitants of the Congo proper. By means of creepers Fig. 233. — Tippo-Tip. they also construct suspension bridges, strong and firm enough easily to bear the weight of foot traffic.
West of the Upper Congo affluents and in the region of the water-parting dwell other populations, distinct in appearance and usages from the MaNyema. Such are the Vua-Iliya, distinguished by their filed teeth and irregular tattoo marks; the VuaVinza, apparently of different origin from their namesakes east of Tanganyika; and the Bua-Bujwe, Cameron's Bujwas, of like speech and probably of the same stock as the Vua-Rua. Amongst all these Upper Congo populations are scattered small groups of Bush Negroes, a timid folk, who rarely venture to approach the market-places of their more civilised neighbours. Most of these Vua-Twa, or Ba-Twa, as they are collectively called, are of dwarfish stature, with large paunch and spindle legs. Some are true pigmies, smaller even than the Akkas of the Monbuttu country, according to Dr. Wolff not execeding 4 feet 3 inches in height.
Before Stanley's memorable expedition across the Continent, the Oman and Zanzibari Arabs had already trading settlements on the banks of the Congo, and their caravans traverse many districts not yet visited by Europeans. Their religious and social influence is dominant among the natives, and every Arab is surrounded by hundreds of more or less assimilated followers, speaking a few words of the language, and practising some of the rites of Islam. Their southernmost station in the upper basin is Kassongo, a little west of the river and not far from the falls at the head of the navigation. This healthy and picturesque place has been chosen as the seat of his "kingdom," by Hamed-ben-Mohammed (Tippo-Tip), heir to a former Negro kinglet, who has left his name to the town of ​Kassongo. Here the Arab trader has erected a stronghold to which he has given the ambitious name of "London."
North-west of Kassongo, which has a population of nine thousand "slaves and porters," the twin town of Nyangwe, on the right bank of the Congo, has also become an important centre of trade, and according to Gleerup it is already the largest riverain town in the whole of the Congo basin, with a population of no less than ten thousand. The upper quarter is occupied by the Arab chiefs and
their followers, the lower by other immigrants from the east, and a well-attended market is held alternately every day in both. Besides being the chief trading place in the Upper Congo, Nyangwe with Tabora and Ujiji forms one of the three great stations along the eastern section of the main transcontinental highway between the Indian and the Atlantic Oceans. It is an exclusively Mohammedan town, in which no Europeans have yet made any settlements.
An island near the right bank below the seventh and last of the Stanley Falls
has been chosen by the International African Association as the site of its most advanced station in the interior. It occupies an excellent position at the extreme limit of the navigation of the Middle Congo, at the point where it begins to trend westwards and near the confluence of the large Lu-Keba (Mburu) affluent from the east. This place, which is known by the English name of Fall-Station, or Staniey Falls, was recently stormed, and its little garrison of Haussa and ​Ba-Ngala Negroes, with their European officers, either massacred or put to flight by the Arab slave-hunters.
The small European station of Ba-Soko, on the right bank of the Arawhimi at its confluence with the Congo, had also to be abandoned for motives of economy. In order effectively to protect trade in the Arawhimi basin, it would be absolutely necessary to maintain a strong garrison, and here Stanley established a camp to keep open his communication with the river during his expedition to the relief of Emin Bey. The Ba-Soko (Ba-Songo), wko have given their name to the European station, are a valiant and industrious people, and their arms, implements, and ornaments attest their artistic superiority over the surrounding populations. Their towns, one of which, Yambumba, is said to have a population of eight thousand, are distinguished by the pointed roofs of the houses, raised, like extinguishers, to double the height of the circular walls. The young Ba-Soko warriors also make a brave show on the water, manning their great war vessels, their heads gay with the crimson and grey feathers of the parrot, the long paddles decorated with ivory balls, every arm gleaming with ivory armlets, a thick fringe of white palm fibre streaming from the bows of the shapely and well-built barges. Yet these aborigines have not yet got beyond the cannibal state. Human skulls decorate their cabins, gnawed bones are mingled with the kitchen refuse, and Wester speaks of a local "king" who had eaten nine of his wives.
The projected station of Upoto promises one day to be a place of some importance. The site chosen lies on the right bank of the river at the foot of the Upoto hills, and not far from the northernmost point of the curve described by the Congo north of the equator. Farther down the point, where the river trends sharply to the south-west, is occupied by the station of Ba-Ngala (Bangala), so named from the inhabitants of the district, estimated by Grenfell at one hundred and ten thousand, and by M. Coquilhat at one hundred and thirty-seven thousand on both sides of the Congo. They have some very large villages stretching for miles along the riverain tracts, and Ba-Ngala itself, of which the European station forms part, is said to be scattered over a space of no less than 20 miles.
The Ba-Ngala nation also bears the same name as the Mongalla (Mo-Ngala) affluent, ascended by Grenfell and others to the head of the navigation in the Sebi territory. On the left bank dwell the Bo-Lombo, another branch of the Ba-Ngala, whose chief village takes the same name. They are generally a fine race, whose features would be agreeable, even to a European eye, but for their habit of eradicating the eyebrows and eyelashes, and filing the teeth toa point. Their national dress, made of palm-fibre, is being replaced by garments of European manufacture, still supplemented by the women with wreaths of foliage tattooed on the calves. The Ba-Ngala are a highly intelligent people, who, like the civilised Europeans, give way at times to incontrollable fits of frenzy or despair; hence, cases of suicide are far from rare amongst them. At the burial of a chief the women and children have been seen performing veritable dramas with dance and song representing death and the resurrection.
The station of Lu Longo (U-Ranga), which overawed the large town of the ​same name, has been abandoned; but Equatorville, farther south, is still maintained. It takes its name from its position close to the equator on an elevated plateau at the confluence of the Congo and the Juapa, or Black River. Here a Protestant mission has already been established. "The banks of the Tkelemba, which joins the Congo over a mile above the Juapa, is densely peopled, Leki dotted over with numerous villages, usually defended" by high palisades and deep ditches. Probably no African people disfigure themselves more by tattoo markings than do the tribes in this riverain district, By means of incisions, ligatures, and other devices, they contrive to cover the features with excrescences
in the shape of peas and wens, differing with most individuals, but imparting to all a loathsome appearance. Grenfell mentions a young girl who had a wen on both sides of the nose as large as a pigeon's egg, which prevented her from looking straightforward. In order to recognise anybody, she had to lower her head to allow the glance to avoid the obstruction caused by these "beauty spots."
The Welle Basin, Monbutu and Niam-Niam Territories.
This section of the Congo basin, whose hydrographic connection with the main stream has been clearly established by the explorations of Junker, is one of ​those regions which promise one day to acquire the greatest economic importance as forming lands of transition between the Nile and Congo systems. In an ethnological sense it also forms a connecting link with the Negroes and Bantus, the inhabitants of the waterparting showing affinities to both races in their social usages, while still constituting a distinct family.
When Schweinfurth penetrated for the first time into this region he had good reason to cal] it the "Heart of Africa," for here lies the point of intersection for the diagonal continental lines drawn from the mouth of the Congo to the Nile delta, and from the Gulf of Guinea to that of Aden. Yet this divide between the two great fluvial systems is still but little known. After Schweinfurth's
memorable expedition, the subsequent journeys of Bohndorff, Lupton, Potagos, and Casati added details of a secondary interest only to the rich and varied information supplied by that pioneer. But it is otherwise with Junker's journeys, the publication of which must certainly be regarded as a geographical event of primary importance for our knowledge of this part of the continent. Of equal if not greater importance are the data supplied by the expedition undertaken in 1887 by Stanley, to force the passage from the Congo to the Upper Nile for the purpose of relieving Emin Bey's Egyptian forces, stationed at Wadelai, and cut off from the northern route by the revolt in Eastern Sudan.
The Welle of the Niam-Niams, the Nomayo of the Monbuttus, the Bahr-el-Makua of the Arabs, rises under the name of Kibali in the uplands skirting the ​left side of Lake Albert Nyanza. After traversing regions not yet visited by the white man, it enters the domain of the Monbuttus (Mang-Battu), a country already made known by the descriptions of Schweinfurth. Monbuttu Land is a magnificent region, an "earthly paradise," abounding in an exuberant vegetation, diversified with charming park-lands and picturesque landscapes. Standing at an altitude of from 2,500 to 2,800 feet, and rising in gentle undulations to hills 300 or 400 feet high, it enjoys a temperate climate, notwithstanding its proximity to the equator. Running waters wind along the bottom lands, shaded by large
trees with intertwined branches, while the habitations are everywhere encircled by verdant clusters of bananas and oil-palms. Although there are no towns, the population is very dense, being estimated by Schweinfurth at about one million. In other words, in a space some 4,000 square miles in extent, the number of inhabitants, nearly two hundred to the square mile, would be one-fourth greater than the average in France.
The Monbuttus differ greatly in physical appearance from their neighbours, being distinguished by almost Semitic features and often even by a perfectly ​5
468 WEST AFRICA,
aquiline nose. The complexion is somewhat lighter than that of the surrounding Niam-Niams and Negroes. The beard also is longer than amongst most Africans, while thousands are noted for an almost white skin and light hair, although kinky like that of other Negroes. Certainly nowhere else is the relative proportion of albinos so great as amongst the Monbuttus, who are otherwise distinguished by their long and somewhat slender extremities, muscular frames, and marvellous agility. Faithful to their ancestral customs, all the men wear a dress made from the bark of the fig-tree, to which time imparts a glossy appearance, and which is wound in graceful folds round the legs and body and fastened to the waist by ox-hide thongs ornamented with copper. The women’ wear a simple loin-cloth, end in ser ** -ven this is dispensed with, or replaced by a graceful network

## Fig. 237.—Curei Whole body is painted over with stars, crosses,

sd. suchlike designs regularly disposed, and at
~ of fresh patterns.
antelone; but they , and their 1s, with the
‘d over two ,brain. The
“ves are not
a “ee foremost
edged word, sveloped, and 180 Miles. the Nubians, y, the natives
ance, bravely memorable expedition, the subsequent journeys of Bohndorff, Lu; id the wifeme
and Casati added details of a secondary interest only to the ae her personal information supplied by that pioneer. But it is otherwise with J W.. Neer the publication of which must certainly be regarded as a Pearsring ill event of primary importance for our knowledge of this part of the continent. Of equal if not greater importance are the data supplied by the expedition undertaken in 1887 by Stanley, to force the passage from the Congo to the Upper Nile for the purpose of relieving Emin Bey’s Egyptian forces, stationed at Wadelai, and cut off from the northern route by the revolt in Eastern Sudan.
The Welle of the Niam-Niams, the Nomayo of the Monbuttus, the Bahr-el- Makua of the Arabs, rises under the name of Kibali in the uplands skirting the
Eact of Greenwich
_ ​trees with intertwined branches, while the habitations are everywhere encircled by verdant clusters of bananas and oil-palms. Although there are no towns, the population is very dense, being estimated by Schweinfurth at about one million. In other words, in a space some 4,000 square miles in extent, the number of inhabitants, nearly two hundred to the square mile, would be one-fourth greater than the average in France.
The Monbuttus differ greatly in physical appearance from their neighbours, being distinguished by almost Semitic features and often even by a perfectly ​aquiline nose. The complexion is somewhat lighter than that of the surrounding Niam-Niams and Negroes. The beard also is longer than amongst most Africans, while thousands are noted for an almost white skin and light hair, although kinky like that of other Negroes. Certainly nowhere else is the relative proportion of albinos so great as amongst the Monbuttus, who are otherwise distinguished by their long and somewhat slender extremities, muscular frames, and marvellous agility. Faithful to their ancestral customs, all the men wear a dress made from the bark of the fig-tree, to which time imparts a glossy appearance, and which is wound in graceful folds round the legs and body and fastened to the waist by ox-hide thongs ornamented with copper. The women’ wear a simple loin-cloth,
end in ser even this is dispensed with, or replaced by a graceful network Fig. 237—Cumy Whole body is painted over with stars, crosses, [ — — — — — ]suchlike designs regularly disposed, and at [ — — — — — ]of fresh patterns. of human gers for future gl the fat of edged word, veloped, and 180 Miles. the Nubians, y, the natives ance, bravely worable expedition, the subsequent journeys of Bohndorff, Lug i, wife is
aw a aatela of a secondary interest only to the Tie her personal almost the husband's eyes Bit it is otherwise with Jun”
will, and recognised rights. Buc... __ - swe surrounuing Negroes, the women do most of the heavy work both in the field and at home, and many artistic objects, such as wood-carvings and fine wickerwork, are the product of their hands.
The industrics are, relatively speaking, highly developed. As potters, sculptors, boatbuilders, and masons the Monbuttus have no rivals in the region between the Nile and Congo. In the quadrangular form of the dwellings their architecture 18 allied to that of the western peoples, but surpasses it in the size and skilful
Amongst the Monbuttus, and more especially amongst the Negro or Bantu tribes more to the south, are scattered numerous groups of the Akka race, who, like the Vua-Twa of the Upper Congo, seem to be descended from the aborigines who occupied the land before the Bantu invasions. A province south of the Welle is said to be still held by these aborigines, who are probably the Bakka-Bakka of
the Portuguese writers of the seventeenth century, and akin to the Badias of U-Nyoro in the region of the equatorial lakes. Of all the African "dwarfs," the Akkas are considered by the learned as the best representatives of the "little people" mentioned by Herodotus in connection with the wanderings of the Nasamons. The two sent by Miani to Italy in 1873 were respectively 4 feet 4 inches and 4 feet 8 inches high, while the tallest seen by Schweinfurth did not exceed 5 feet. The pure Akka type is brachycephalic (round-headed), with disproportionately large head, very projecting jaws, receding chin, mouth nearly always open, less tumid lips than those of most Negroes, prominent cheek-bones, wrinkled cheeks; small nose separated from the frontal bone by a very marked cavity, large ear, and wide-open eye giving them a somewhat birdlike aspect. The body is of a lighter brown complexion than that of the true Negro, is of ​ungainly form, and according to Emin Bey emits a peculiar and very pungent odour. Enormous shoulder-blades give them a rounded back, other marked physical characteristics being a flat, narrow, and hairy chest, full paunch like that of Negro children, long slender extremities, very delicate hands, large bony knees, feet turned inwards, and an uncomfortable tottering gait. xSTevertheless they are extremely nimble, bounding through the tall grass "like grasshoppers," and so sure of aim that they do not hesitate to attack the elephant, planting their darts right in his eye, or, according to the Nubians, creeping between his legs and spearing him from below. Their hunters show great ingenuity in devising and setting snares, in overtaking and pursuing the quarry, thanks to which qualities they live on good terms with their powerful neighbours, supplying them with ivory and at the same time acting as agents for the distribution of salt, which is such a valuable commodity in the interior of Africa.
West and north-west of the Monbuttu territory the Nile-Congo waterparting is occupied by the powerful Zandeh or A-Zandeh nation, who like the Tangalas of the Niger basin are better known by the name of Niam-Niam, and who are also called Babungera and Karakara. The crest of the divide running south-east and north-west between the White Nile and Welle slopes runs very nearly through the centre of the Zandeh domain, a healthy and pleasantly undulating region standing from 2,500 to 3,000 feet above sea-level. North-westwards the race also probably penetrates into the Upper Shari, and consequently into the Tsad basin, while the striking resemblance observed between their usages and those of the Fans in the Gaboon and Ogoway regions would seem to show that the Niam- Niams have penetrated far to the west. The original unity of these two peoples is rendered all the more probable that their migrations have proceeded in opposite directions, as if from a common centre of dispersion. Hence while the Fans claim to have come from the east, the Zandehs relate that their forefathers reached their present abodes from the west.
But however this be, the part of Central Africa already known to belong to the Niam-Niams is estimated by Schweinfurth at nearly 60,000 square miles, with a total population of probably not less than two millions, either true Zandehs, or allied, vassal, or enslaved peoples. But there is no national unity, and merely in the part of the country explored by him Schweinfurth enumerates no less than thirty- five independent chiefs, several of whom maintained constant blood feuds against each other. According to Keane the Banda Niam-Niams of the north- east should be carefully distinguished both from the Belandas of the central districts between the Nile and Congo watersheds, and from the " white " Niam- Niams, who dwell farther south as far as and bej^ond the Welle, and who are the most civilised of all. ' The fame of the Niam-Niams had long been spread abroad amongst the Nubians and Sudanese Arabs ; but the mirage produced by distance conjured up strange visions of this mysterious people, picturing them rather as a superior kind of ape than as members of the human family. The famous "tailed men," reported by travellers beyond the Upper Nile regions, were supposed to be none other than the ​Zandehs, who nevertheless, unlike the Bongos, did not even wear an ox-tail which, at a distance, might present the appearance of a natural appendix. Still less could the illusion be created by the skins of animals which they wear wrapped round the loins. But on the other hand the term Niam-Niam, or "eaters," applied also, however, by the Nubians to numerous other tribes, is certainly justified by the cannibalistic practices at least of some of the Zandeh communities, Piaggia, who was the first to traverse the Nilotic section of their domain in 1863-65,
noticed only one instance of cannibalism, that of a slain enemy, who was shared amongst the victors. It seems evident that on the whole the Zandehs are far less addicted to the habit than the Monbuttus, although amongst most of the tribes the tradition prevails of eating captives and those who die friendless. All bodies, except those tainted by some skin complaint, are regarded as good for the table. Even those who abstain from human flesh are extremely carnivorous, living mainly on dogs, game, and poultry, for they raise no large domestic animals. It is characteristic that amongst their essentially agricultural and frugivorous Bongo ​neighbours the same word means "sorghum" and "to eat," which in the Niam-Niam and Fan dialects has the signification of "flesh" and "food."
The Zandehs are round-headed, with straight nose, wide nostrils, full cheeks and lips, round and almost feminine features, an effect which is heightened by their peculiar style of head-dress. Their kinky hair is remarkable for its great length, some wearing tresses which reach down to the waist, while many are furnished with a dense beard much longer than that of any other Negro or negroid peoples. The female head-dress is much more simple than that of the men, who spend whole
days in curling their ringlets, frizzling their tufts, or polishing their fillets. The majority carefully divide the hair down the middle from nape to forehead, while others form above the brow a triangular top-knot between two volutes, whence bang the curls enframing the face. Some even attach their locks in the form of a nimbus to a circular frame supported above the head.
But by its lack of ornamentation the body presents a striking contrast to these elaborate head-dresses. Despising the glass trinkets, which have such a fascination for most other Negro peoples, the Niam-Niams content themselves with a few ​ornaments of blue grains or of cowries, tracing a cross or some other square or
triangular mark on the body, and on the face a few spots tattooed in the form of a ​rectangle, as the sign of their nationality. The skin of an animal encircles their waist, and the chiefs adorn their heads with a leopard's fur, while all file the incisors to a point. Despite the soft rounded form of the features and bust, and the feminine elegance of their coiffure, the Zandehs are distinguished amongst all Africans by their noble carriage. The trunk may perhaps be somewhat long compared to the lower extremities, but they are none the less noted for their marvellous agility, using their offensive weapons, such as the spear and dart, with dangerous dexterity.
A distinctive national trait is the vehemence of their conjugal affection. In
their domain no wife is purchased, as is customary amongst nearly all African peoples. The marriageable young man applies to the district chief, who looks him out a suitable consort; yet notwithstanding this somewhat official arrangement, which seems to override the individual inclinations, these unions are seldom unhappy, and the wife is as faithful to her husband as she is reserved towards strangers. In this respect the contrast is complete between them and their Monbuttu sisters. The Zandehs are, on their part, passionately devoted to their wives, so much so that in war the enemy first endeavours to seize the women in ​THE FEENCH CONGO. 475 order thus to compel the men to sue for mercy and promise payment of tribute. Their strolling minstrels, who resemble the Senegambian musicians, intermingle love ditties with warlike songs. ^ The native chiefs, although despising outward show, and distinguished from their subjects only by the leopard-skin, none the less enjoy almost absolute authority over the community. They are supreme masters, and when there has been no occasion to exercise their judicial powers over real ofPenders, they are said at times to fall on some innocent person and decapitate him, to prevent their right of life and death over their subjects from being questioned. The eldest son suc- ceeds, as in Europe, to the supreme power, the royal revenues consisting of the ivory and half the flesh of all elephants killed in their domain. The rulers have also appropriated for their own use extensive estates, which are cultivated by their women and slaves. In the western districts, visited by the slave hunters from Dar- For, the chiefs take in lieu of tribute young men and women, whom they sell to the strangers, a part of the price being returned to the families by way of indem- nity. In the southern kingdoms of Kanna, lying south of the Welle, the royal tomb is guarded by twenty-five vestals, who are bound under pain of death to keep a sacred flame burning at the shrine. In the midst of the Zandeh tribes and on the right bank of the Welle separating them from the A-Barambo people, numerous villages are occupied by the A-Madi, who speak a different language from all the surrounding tribes, although resem- bling the Niam-Niams in appearance. But they are of darker complexion, and have almost brachycephalic skulls. The French Congo. The eastern section of the French possessions politically attached to the Gaboon and Ogoway government is comprised within the Congo basin, being watered by several navigable rivers belonging to that hydrographic system. Such are the Bunga and its numerous tributaries, the Likwalla, the Alima, Nkheni, and Lefini, which open a waterway from the coast to the Middle Congo above the cataracts, and which promise one day to become important trade routes towards the Ogoway and Gaboon basins. The U-Banghi itself, whose right bank is now included within the French territory, is probably destined to form the main highway in the direction of the Upper Nile Valley, and of the central plains occupied by the depression of Lake Tsad. But this vast domain, to which the convention lately concluded with the Congo Free State adds probably an extent of some 40,000 square miles, must remain undeveloped until the primitive routes of the native traders are replaced by carriage roads connecting the main navigable highways. The U-Banghi river, ascended by Grenfell as far as the Zongo Rapids, is known only in its lower course. North of the cataracts, the steamer which forced the stream was received by a shower of arrows from the natives perched in aerial villages on platforms, supported by the branches of the bombax. It would thus seem that the customs prevalent in the Upper Shari districts are also found in this ​476 WEST AFEICA. section of tlie Congo. Farther down the right bank of the U-Banghi, which is by- far the more populous, is held by the Ba-Ati, Mo-Nyembo, Mbonjo, and Mu- Tumbi tribes, whose villages follow in as close succession as in the Ba-Ngala country. In the morning, when the men start for their fishing-grounds, or accompany the women and children to the fields along the river banks, as many as two or three hundred canoes are at times assembled, preceded by a kind of admiral's war- vessel, on which is heard the roll of the battle-drum. No less populous are the banks of the Nghiri, between the U-Banghi and the Congo, where villages, banana and palm-groves, follow uninterruptedly for a space of over 100 miles. West of the U-Banghi, the Ba-Lohi (Ba-Loi), noted for their herculean strength and muscular development, are on the contrary scattered in isolated groups about the windings of the stream. All these populations of the U-Banghi basin are remarkable for their physical strength and beauty, and are distinguished from each other by their tattoo marks and different styles of headdress. Cannibalism is very prevalent, all captives being eaten. The Mbonjos wear a singular costume, made up of foliage and fishing-nets. In the region of the French Congo, by far the most numerous nation are the Bu-Banghi, who dwell in the U-Banghi valley, and who rival the Fans themselves of the Ogowaj^ basin in numbers. According to De Chevannes, these Negroes of Bantu stock cannot be estimated at less than one million. Amongst them are comprised tribes bearing various names, such as the Ap-Furu of the Alima River, and the Ba-Zanzi (Ba-Nyanzi), on the left bank of the Congo, all of whom certainly belong to the same family, for they speak the same language and practise the same usages and system of tattooing. Villages of two or three thousand inhabitants are by no means rare in the territory of the Bu-Banghi, who came traditionally from the north towards the end of the eighteenth century. They penetrated as far as the banks of the Lefini, where they were arrested by the king of the Ba-Teke, who vanquished them in a battle which lasted three days. Ever since that time they are unable to descend in canoes down to Stanley Pool without paying tribute to a Ba-Teke official, bearing the title of the " River Chief." Nevertheless, they still continue to advance southwards, and are generally well received, owing to the part they play as agents of the local traffic. The Bu-Banghi are a highly enterprising people, daring speculators and great newsmongers, so that on their arrival in a village they are immediately sur- rounded by eager listeners. They are also the leaders of fashion for all the surrounding populations, for they display great skill in dressing their hair in points and bars, in painting the body and covering it with tattoo patterns and raised seams or welts, produced by means of two bamboo twigs forming a seton. The women submit to the torture of wearing massive copper necklaces and leg ornaments, and some of the great ladies toil painfully along under a load of jewellery weighing a hundred and ten or even a hundred and twenty and a hundred and thirty pounds. The post of Nkiwjia, which the French had founded in the Bu-Banghi terri- tory, has had to be abandoned, for it stood on the left bank of the U-Banghi, ​THE FRENCH CONGO. 477 which the recent convention has restored to the Congo Free State. The great market of the whole country, also lying within the Free State, is the group of villages bearing the collective name of Irehu {Ilebu), on the emissary through which Lake Montumba sends its overflow to the Congo, nearly opposite the U-Banghi confluence. In the Upper Bunga and Likwalla basins, which flow eastwards to the U- Banghi, dwell the Jambi, the Okotas, the Okangas, the Ubetas, and the Ba-Mbu. But of these peoples little is known beyond their names, for Jacques de Brazza and Pecile, who have alone visited their territory, were not well received, and were unable to reside for any length of time amongst them. The lower course of these rivers, as w^ell as of the Alima, is comprised within the territory of the Bu- Banghi, who, however, here take the name of Ap-Furu, or Ba-Furu. Like the other members of the nation, they are mostly itinerant traders, whole family groups consisting of persons born afloat and destined to die in their canoes. The floating villages are in many places more numerous and more populous than those situated on the mainland. From the Ba-Teke of the Upper Alima, the Ap-Furu boatmen purchase manioc, which they grind to flour and sell to the populations lower down, the quantity of this article thus daily retailed being estimated at no less than ten tons. Thanks to this commercial movement, the Alima, of all the rivers in the French Congo territory, has acquired the greatest strategical importance. It possesses all the greater value that it rises in the same transverse valley as the Ogoway, and, conse- quently, continues the waterway formed by this river between the northern and southern sections of the Gaboon-Ogoway region. The road already constructed on the waterparting to the east of Franceville has its present terminus on a tributary of the Alima, and stations have here been founded at intervals to relieve the porters and further the transit of merchandise. Diele, the station lying nearest to the sources, is situated on a river of like name, while the Alima station itself stands at the point where the Diele and the Gombo mingle their waters to form the Alima proper. Beyond it follows Leketiy at another confluence of the main stream, and Pomho {Mhoahi) near the Alima-Congo confluence. Pombo has been founded chiefly for the purpose of supplying the "straw" and "bamboos," or raphia fibre, to the stations along the Congo. The Mboshi, who give an alternative name to this post on the Lower Alima, are one of the most savage peoples in the whole Congo region. Their defiant and dogged attitude renders them a thorn in the side of their more peaceful Ba-Teke and Ap-Furu neighbours, and the French themselves have had much trouble in maintaining the station of Pombo in their territory. Physically the Mboshi are a tall and stalwart race, but lack the graceful carriage of the Ba-Teke and the sculpturesque beauty of the Ap-Furus. They are probably of mixed origin, and interminglings still continue, for those dwelling on the banks of the river prefer to take wives from foreign tribes. From the fetishmen, who are at once wizards, judges, and executioners, they ​endeavour to protect themselves by many-coloured marks daubed round the orbits and on other parts of the face. Thus white preserves them from drowning, red from wounds, yellow from fire. Unlike most other Negroes, they are indifferent to personal ornamentation, and despise the meretricious charms of the toilet in which so many native tribes spend a great part of their existence. They display no taste for art, and even the dance and tam-tamming are reserved for solemn occasions of national interest.
The Ba-Teke occupy the riverain tracts along the Upper Alima and the upland waterparting, which in many places is strewn with a white sand giving it the appearance of a saline waste. Some of the tribes encroach westwards on the
Ogoway basin, and southwards on the district watered by the Nkheni and the Lefini. They even cross to the left side of the Congo south of Kwamouth, and their domain is altogether scarcely less extensive than that of the Bu-Banghi, although the several tribes differ greatly one from the other. The Ba-Teke of the plateaux present marked contrasts to the Bu-Banghi, both in physical appearance and social usages. They are less robust, of smaller stature and less stout, most of them being so very thin that they have been compared to "walking skeletons." They are remarkably frugal, a little manioc and a few grubs or insects picked up on the way sufficing to support them even on the march. The women carry long sticks, furnished at the extremity with a little raw hemp, which serves to catch ​the grasshoppers, the "Ba-Teke food," as they are called. Insects are taken by firing the grass, and the Ba-Teke are also partial to smoked toads, although preferring
to all other meat the roasted larvæ of certain species of butterflies. In time of war they also still practise cannibalism, eating the captives and slain in battle.
Despite their frugal fare the Ba-Teke are brave workers, taking their share with ​480 WEST AFRICA. the women in field operation*, and raising crops of manioc, millet, maize, sugar, ground-nuts, and tobacco. The women are much respected, being allowed to speak in the public assemblies, and making their voices heard on all important occasions. The group of habitations, well kept and usually perched on some eminence, has its cluster of palms, whose size indicates the age of the settlement. The foliage of these palms serves to manufacture the native loin-cloths, as well as the robes of larger dimensions worn by the chiefs. From other varieties they extract oil and wine ; but, like the Bu-Banghi and Ba-Yanzi, the Ba-Teke at last kill these valuable plants, which when leafless and of a sombre grey present the appearance of so many gibbets set up on the hillside. . The plateau whence flows the Alima is held by the Ashi-Kuyas, who also belong to the Ba-Teke confederacy, and whose great chief, Nghia-Komunghiri, shares>the temporal power with the Makoko. According to Jacques de Brazza, the Ashi-Kuyas are the most skilful -weavers in the whole of the Frencli Congo territory. Lions and leopards are numerous on the banks of the Nkheni ; but they rarely attack men, whereas on the U-Banghi these rapacious animals are much dreaded. The heron, here a fetish bird, builds in multitudes on the trees overhanging the river-banks. On the French side of the Congo the riverain tracts below the Nkheni con- fluence are occupied by a few stations, such as Ngatchu, on a I'ocky headland, which derives some importance from iis position a little below the junction of the Kassai and Congo opposite Msuata^ on the left bank. The chief station in the French Congo domain has received the name of Brazza- rille, from the bold and persevering pioneer who opened up this region to science. It was near this spot that Brazza " buried the hatchet," and made peace between the blacks and the Falla, or " French " whites. " We will bury war so deeply that neither we nor our children shall be able to dig it up, and the tree that shall take root here shall be as a witness to the alliance between the whites and the blacks." Thus spoke the chiefs, to whom Brazza replied : " May peace last until this tree produce bullets, cartouches, or powder ! " It was in 1880, fifteen months before any other Europeans effected a settlement on the opposite side of the Congo, that the French took possession of the port of JIfaa, since called Brazzaville. It was abandoned two years later, but again definitely occupied in 1883. This part of the French Congo is inhabited chiefly by the Ba-Lalli, a half- caste Ba-Teke tribe, wdio are still cannibals, eating the bodies of slaves and of the caravan people w^ho die in their territory. On the arrival of the Europeans the complaint was made that bodies were now buried instead of being exchanged for sheep, bananas, and manioc. All freemen, however, are buried by the Ba-Lalli themselves with many strange rites. At the death of a Mo-Lalli the corpse is placed in a long wooden cylinder, which is kept for a month in the house, as if it were still aiive. On the day of burial fetishes are placed on the cylinder, which is decked with feathers, foliage, and ribbons, and then wrapped in cerements until its bulk is about doubled. The lofty bier containing the coffin is then fixed on a pivot supported by three long parallel poles, the bearers of which start off at a ​THE KASSAI BASIN. 481 running pace, all the time whirling round and round with the pivot, which is doubtless done to scare or distract the evil spirits. On arriving, panting and perspiring, at the grave, each resumes the clothes he has lent for the procession, and the body is shot into the pit, care, however, being taken to keep open the aperture made at one end of the coffin, just above the mouth. Through this opening palm- wine is supplied to the deceased, who is still regarded as sharing in the feasts of the living. A few hours' journey to the south-west of Brazzaville, in the vicinity of the rapids, the Catholic missionaries have founded the station of Linzolo, which has acquired some importance as a model farm and as a centre of acclimatisation for the plants and animals of the temperate zone. The Kassai Basin. This vast and populous region, abounding in running waters and fertile valleys, has already been shared politically between the Congo Free State and Portugal. But the land itself still remains unoccupied, and even very imperfectly surveyed, many tracts 4,000 or 5,0u0 square miles in extent not having yet been visited by any explorer. Hitherto only one European station has been founded in the Kassai territory, above the Kwango confluence, and the so-called " Portuguese," or half- caste negro traders have established themselves in very few villages for the purpose of exchanging cloth for ivory. Nearly the whole region is still divided into petty states, some completely independent, others real or nominal vassals of some more powerful ruler. A considerable part of the country is also comprised within the somewhat doubtful limits of the extensive empire of the Muato Yamvo. The eastern streams rising in the swampy divide, where the Lua-Laba and Zambese affluents also have their source, water the districts bordering on Msiri's empire and inhabited by tribes both of Rua and Lunda stock. In some villages these tribes are even intermingled, the poor Vua-Lunda, clothed only with a leathern apron or a bark loin-cloth, associating with the rich Yua-Rua, who, like those of the Lua-Laba, are also relatively more civilised. The copper- mines found in this region were being worked by these natives at the time of Cameron's journey. The hilly district between the Lu-Bilash and Lo-Mami headstreams of the Sankuru is occupied by the Ba-Songe, the Ba-Sange, and other peoples of the same stock and speech. West of the Lu-Bilash these natives are known by the name of Ba-Luba, while still farther west, on the banks of the Lu-Lua and Kassai they are called Tu-Shilange and Ba-Shilange. The Ba-Songe are one of the finest and most athletic Negro races, although their features are somewhat suggestive of the bull-dog. They are also intelligent and industrious, skilfully manipulating iron and copper, clay and wood, and producing earthenware, woven fabrics, and basket- work ornamented with considerable taste. In striking contrast to most other African peoples, the men of the Ba-Songe tribes perform all field operations, leaving? to the women the household duties and industrial arts. They are also ​expert hunters, but their religious observances are still occasionally associated with cannibalistic practices.
Till recent years the Ba-Songe maintained no direct relations of any sort either with Europeans, or even with the Negro traders of the western Portuguese possessions. The Arab caravans had penetrated from the east no farther than the
territory of the Kalebwe tribe on the left bank of the Lo Mami. Hence when Wissmann and Pogge traversed this region in the year 1881 the people threw themselves at their feet as if they were gods or demons. In the white strangers caravan everything was new for the Ba-Songe, who had never seen a pack-ox, firearms, or the thousand curious objects brought from unknown lands to be bartered for ivory and provisions. The white men were well received in the ​western districts, where no Arabs had yet been seen. But in the cast, where these Semites had already made trading expeditions, all the villagers fled in terror, or entrenched themselves behind their palisaded enclosures. They even went the length of slaying the cattle which they were unable to drive away fast enough to places of safety beyond the reach of the strangers.
The Ba-Songe are a numerous nation, their territory being no less densely peopled than many of the more crowded parts of Europe itself. On all the interfluvial sections of the plateau are developed interminable villages, which have been compared to "black caterpillars crawling over the grassy surface of the prairies." Two or three parallel streets lined by houses and gardens wind along the crests of the escarpments, and but for the shape of the huts, the traveller might fancy himself in Upper Normandy between the river valleys flowing to the Channel. But the Ba-Songe villages are larger than those of the north-west of France, and the German explorers took no less than five hours to traverse one of the more elevated settlements from end to end. The population of the larger
groups is estimated by Wolf at nearly fifteen thousand, and the travellers were received by the village chiefs at the head of over a thousand warriors.
Each of these long lines of habitations forms a little autonomous republic, which however recognises the virtual suzerainty of a king, who resides in the Koto country, on the left bank of the Lu-Bilash. This potentate is a great fetishman, who enforces obedience through fear of his magic arts. But in Pogge and Wissmann he met more formidable fetishmen than himself, for having refused to let them proceed on their journey, the travellers spent the night in discharging rifles, sending up rockets, and burning Bengal lights. This produced the desired effect, and the king issued immediate orders for their departure.
Amongst the Ba-Songe, as well as in the M-Nyema territory, a few wretched villages are occupied by communities of those timid and dwarfish Ba-Twa (Vua-Twa) tribes, who are regarded as survivors of the aboriginal population. Other peoples along the banks of the Lo-Mami conceal their dwellings in the leafy ​484 WEST APRICA. branclies of large forest-trees. These woodlands also afford shelter to myriads of grey parrots, which at sunset rise in dense clouds above the Lu-Bilash, the Sankuru, and Lu-Kenye. The Lu-Lua, the Kassui, and their various headstreams chiefly water the territory of the Ka-Lunda, a numerous nation bearing the same name and perhaps belonging to the same stock as the populations occupying the southern shores of Lake Moero. The Ka-Lunda of the Kassai region are the dominant people in the kingdom governed by the Muata Yamvo, and their name is sometimes given to this state, which is the most extensive in the whole of Central Africa. West of the Lu-Bilash they occupy all the territory about the sources of the Lu-Lua and Kassai as far as the Zambese ; under the name of Ba-Lua they inhabit the districts where the Lu-Lua emerges on the plains from the narrow upland valleys, and beyond the Kassai they also hold a great part of the intermediate zone between the elevated plateau and the low- lying tracts. The Ka-Lunda are a taller and stronger race of Negroes than those of the Portuguese possessions on the west coast. Their complexion is also lighter and their lips less tumid ; but the nobles have the practice of compressing the heads of their children in such a way as to give a monstrous shape to the posterior part of the skull. Far less industrious than the Ba-Songe, the Ka-Lunda are to a large extent dependent on their neighbours for the various utensils and other objects of which they stand in need. From the Kiokos of the south-west they obtain woven goods and ironware ; from the southern and south-eastern tribes copper goods, and in some places they have even no salt, for which they are obliged to substitute the ashes of certain alkaline herbs. Next to those of the Yua-Twa pigmies, their hovels are the most wretched in appearance in the whole of the interior of the continent, being little better than mere heaps of hay usually not more than 8 or 10 feet high. The Ka-Lunda are hospitable, and of a kindly, peaceful disposition, at least in districts not visited by the foreign traders, from whom the people learn the arts of duplicity, falsehood, and chicanery. In the neighbourhood of the royal residence, idleness and parasitic habits also tend to demoralise the natives, for the Muata Yamvo's state is a veritable feudal empire, in which all the vassal lords are bound to pay tribute. The various rnonas, and nmenes — that is, chiefs — render homage to the Muata, or sovereign, paying him contributions derived from the imposts levied on their respective subjects. These imposts, however, are not fixed, but vary according to the resources of the different provinces. Thus one will offer an elephant's tusk, an animal taken in the chase, or a lion's or a leopard's skin ; another fruits, manioc, corn, cloth, or salt, and so on. Nor are there any clearly defined periods for raising these contributions, so much depending on the distances from the capital, the rivers or swamps to be crossed, the commencement and duration of the rainy season, and suchlike circumstances. Usually the caravans of the more remote vassals present themselves at the royal court once a year, while the chiefs
authority, are fain to make their appearance several times in the course of the year, and always laden with presents. It also frequently happens that the feuda- tories in the more distant provinces neglect to discharge their obligations ^^•hen they feel themselves strong enough to sever the tie of vassalage binding them to their liege lord. Thus the limits of the empire have never ceased to fluctuate since the establishment of the dynasty of the reigning Lunda sovereigns, who are themselves never accurately informed as to the real extent of their dominions. At the death of a sovereign the new mnata does not succeed his father by right, but has to be chosen amongst the children of one of the defunct king's two chief wives. The selection is made by four ch'ief electors, that is, the first and second 'SSons of the State," the " Son of Arms," and the " State Cook ;" but their choice has still to be ratified by Lukoshesha, "Mother of the kings and the people." This lady herself, who is also a queen possessing several districts in absolute sovereignty, is elected from amongst the daughters of the two chief wives by the four great ministers, and their decision is absolute only after its confirmation by the king. This institution of the *' universal mother," which seems a survival of ancient matriarchal usages, is an all the more curious phenomenon, that amongst the Ijundi people generally the inheritance follows directly from father to son, and not from uncle to sister's son, as is the case amongst the Iviokos. Of all the inhabitants of the land, Lukoshesha alone stands above the laws ; she alone is exempt from the Muata Yamvo's authority. Being mother of all she cannot have a husband, and the person chosen by her bears only the name of favourite slave. Nor can she have any children, so that all born to her are at once destroyed. Immediately after his nomination, the Muata Yamvo is presented with the insignia of authority : the iron sickle, the parrot-feather crown, the elephant-skin bracelet, the pearl and metal necklace, the grand carpet of the empire, and the order of the lukano, which corresponds to the orders of chivalry instituted by European sovereigns. Then he camps out for a night near the Kalangi River, in order to renew the strength of the realm by breathing a free atmosphere and bathing in the sacred stream. He is even required again to assume the part of creator, producing afresh the new fire at which all the hearths of the kingdom shall henceforth be kindled. By the friction of pieces of stick rubbed one against the other he creates the flame, emblem of his divinity. For he is now a god, absolute master of the life and freedom of all his subjects ; he appoints all state functionaries, ennobles or degrades whom he . chooses, takes possession of all he fancies. The mussamha, or imperial residence, is disjDlaced with every new reign ; but the site chosen lies always within the great plain limited by the Kalangi and Lu- Iza, both eastern affluents of the Lu-Lua. For the capital must needs be situated in the neighbourhood of the holy place, where dwelt the first Muata- Yamvo, that is, near the right bank of the Kalangi, and not far from the cnzai or graveyard, where are deposited the remains of the fourteen sovereigns of this dynasty, who have successively reigned over Lunda Land. During Pogge's journey in 1876, the mussamha was at Kisimcme, on the left bank of the Kalangi ; four years later, ​at the time of Buchner's visit to the royal court, it had been transferred to Kawanda, some 12 miles to the south-west, and about midway between both affluents. The huts of the capital are scattered over a wide extent of ground, some grouped together "promiscuously" like mole-hills, others enclosed within a rectangular palisade, formed of stakes or saplings, which are planted in the ground at the beginning of the rainy season, and which, striking root, rapidly grow into large leafy trees. Pogge estimated at from eight to ten thousand the
number of persons dwelling in the mussamba within a radius of a mile and quarter from the royal enclosure.
North of the territory chosen as the site of the royal residence, the domain of the Muata Yamvo extends to no great distance, the banks of the Lu-Lua and its tributaries being occupied in this direction by the savage Ka-Wanda people, who have hitherto valiantly resisted all attempts at conquest. Their bowmen are said to dip their arrowheads in a very active poison, of which they alone have the secret, and with which they imbue the thorny bushes along the tracts in order to destroy the enemy penetrating into their territory. In any case, no European explorer has yet succeeded in making his way into the Ka-Wanda country. ​THE BA-LUBA. 497 Farther north, in the same Lu-Lua basin, foUow the Tu-Bindi and the Ba- Lindi tribes, which also lie beyond the routes hitherto foUowed by explorers. But farther on begins the domain of the Ba-Luba nation, who occupy a vast region stretching from the Kassai to the Lo-Mami, and even reaching beyond the right bank of the latter river. The Ba-Luba are the kinsmen and neighbours of the Ba-Songe, and like them seem richly endowed by nature, and destined rapidly to approach the level of the whites in social usages and culture. They were first visited by Pogge and Wissmann in 1881, and since then their territory has been traversed by other explorers. Owing to the peculiar views of the natives on the transmigration of souls, they were well received, being regarded as the captains and relatives of the king, who, after death, had reappeared again from beyond the great water, returning to their homes bleached by their long sojourn in distant lands. The names were restored to them which they were supposed to have formerly borne ; wives and kindred came to testify their great joy at their return ; they were even reinstated in the possession of the goods of this world which were once theirs. According to their traditions the Ba-Luba came from the south-east, that is, from the Upper Congo or Lua-Luba valleys. In the north-western districts, where they have penetrated farthest, they have taken the name of Tu-Shilange or Ba-Shilange, which appears to be that of the aboriginal populat>ions now merged with the invaders. The various Tu-Shilange tribes, however, difPer greatly in appearance, customs, and political condition among themselves. Some are still in the savage state, while others have already acquired a certain degree of civilisation. The most important part of their territory, both as regards population and trade, is the district known by the name of Lubuku, that is to say, "Friendship," and here alone the whites have hitherto succeeded in founding settlements. Towards the year 1870 the inhabitants of this district, which was not yet known by such a pleasant name, refused to enter into relations with the strangers, withholding from foreign traders the right to penetrate into their territory. Then arose a discussion on this point between the young and old, the former being desirous of changing the whole state of affairs, while the latter insisted on maintaining the commercial barriers. The king, with his sister, sided with the party of progress and a civil war broke out. The result was that many old men and women were massacred, most of the survivors taking refuge on the right bank of the Lu-Lua, where they still occupy separate villages. The political movement at the same time involved a religious and social revolu- tion. A new cult was introduced into the country, which earned for the inhabi- tants the title of Bena-Eiamba, or '* Sons of Hemp." According to the rites of the new religion, all smokers of riamba, or " hemp," call themselves friends, and even interdict the use of arms in their villages. All are bound to each other by the mutual rights of hospitality ; everyone dresses as he pleases ; no more prose- cutions are instituted on the ground of witchcraft, and young girls arc no longer sold by their parents. The flesh of goats is henceforth forbidden, because these animals recall the time when the young men were obliged to offer them as presents ​before carrying off the bride. Religious ceremonies are now in fact reduced to the simple custom of assembling at night to smoke hemp in common. It is a weird sight to behold all these tattooed and naked people, after inhaling the fumes of the "weed" from a large calabash, coughing spasmodically, yelling, throwing themselves into paroxysms of frenzy, uttering forebodings, or else plunged into a state of stupor under the influence of the narcotic.
The riamba, which unites all in a common brotherhood, may, however, also punish the guilty. Nearly all the old penalties, and especially the ordeal by poison, have been replaced by the administration of hemp, the fumes of which have to be inhaled by the criminal until he falls senseless to the ground. But on his recovery he is marked with white clay on breast and forehead, in order to assure him of pardon and admit him again to the assembly of friends. To meet the
enormous consumption extensive tracts of land round about the Bena-Riamba villages are set apart for the cultivation of hemp. But this universal use of the narcotic in their religious practices is not free from evil consequences, diseases of the chest as well as insanity having become very common since its introduction.
It is deplorable that the Ba-Luba are subject to this cause of deterioration, for amongst all nations of Africa they are distinguished by their intelligent curiosity and their thoughtful turn of mind. Wissmann goes the length of calling them "The interrogative "why?" which is so rarely heard in its serious sense amongst the African peoples, comes natural to their lips; nor are a "nation of thinkers." they to be put off with an evasive answer. Their great personal courage, and surprising skill in following up the scent of the quarry, would make them excellent scouts in the service of Europeans. They despise routine, and at their feasts are always inventing something original and unforeseen. Their chief ceremonies are ​THE BA-LUBA. 489 those associated with the reception of caravans, which they welcome with shouts and dancing, drum-beating and volleys of firearms. All are arrayed in their best attire, while the traders deck themselves with the choicest of their wares. Even the members of convoys from vassal tribes, although subjected at first to a considerable amount of horse-play and rough usage, are in the end indemnified by feasts and presents for their disagreeable reception. The Ba-Luba have preserved the custom of the " brotherhood of blood," which survives also amongst numerous other African populations, as well as amongst the European Slavs, but which is unknown in the Lunda country. When the young men have drunk of each other's blood their property becomes almost common, for they mutually help themselves to whatever takes their fancy, without a thought of making reparation. This right of " share and share all round " is extended even to the various members of the respective families. The sociable character and cordial spirit of brotherhood by which the Ba-Luba are animated is revealed even in the manner of parcelling out their lands. Instead of keeping their plantations apart and working alone in sullen isolation, the peasantry delight to keep together and till all the fields in common, although really disposed in distinct allotments. The Land of Friendship is divided into two principal states, which are usually designated after the names of their kings — Nukenge, the suzerain, and Jingenge (Tchikenge), the vassal. The King of the Bena-Riamba is the universal lord of the soil, but the plants growing on it belong to the toiler who has raised them by his labour. A fourth part of all game killed in his empire belongs to him by right, and he also levies an impost on all merchandise imported by caravans. Maintaining commercial relations with all the surrounding chiefs as well as with the Portuguese traders, he has also desired to contract alliances with the sovereigns of Europe. Through the agency of Pogge he has forwarded a letter to the " ruler beyond the waters, to the commander of all the peoples," begging for numerous presents, amongst others for a medicine " to prevent people from dying." Soon after their arrival in the Ba-Luba territory the first explorers perceived that a European station would be well placed in such a productive land inhabited by the intelligent Tu-Shilange people. In 1884 Wismann founded the post of Liiluabiirg, at an altitude of 1,760 feet, some 12 miles to the north of Mukenge, on the left bank of the river which gives its name to the station. Despite the difficulty of supplying it with provisions, this outpost of the Congo Free State has hitherto been maintained and even enlarged. At the end of the year 1886 it was inhabited by a missionary and another European, assisted by some fifty natives, troops, and artisans, and by about thirty women, who looked after the gardens, the poultry, and a small herd of cattle. It is still uncertain whether, in violation of a treaty just signed, fixing the limits of the Congo domain at the sixth parallel of south latitude, Luluaburg has not been founded to the south of this conventional frontier, in a zone not yet ofiicially assigned to any European power. The great dis- advantage of Luluaburg is due to its position on a part of the river which offers no continuous line of navigation between the Kassai and the Congo, for the stream is obstructed by cataracts at several points farther down as far as the confluence of 95— AF ​the Lu-Ebo. At this confluence, about 120 miles from Luluaburg, following the windings of the stream, has been founded the fortified station which is regularly visited by the steamers of the Congo State. But from a third to half a mile higher up on both rivers the navigation is completely interrupted by falls and rapids. This region of the confluence belongs to the Ba-Kuba nation, which differs altogether in language and customs from the Ba-Imba, and which was lately said
to be ruled by a potent wizard, who condemned all foreigners to death. Nevertheless the traveller Wolf at last succeeded in penetrating into this region in 1885. The Ba-Kuba, who are a very numerous people, dwell north of the Lu-Lua in the clearings of the forests which stretch away to the Sankuru. They hold no intercourse with the Ba-Luba except through the agency of their vassals, the Ba-Kete, who occupy the banks of the Lu-Lua. According to their traditions they come ​THE KIOKOS. 491 from tlie north-west, whereas the Ba-Luba claim to have arrived from the regions situated towards the south-east. Scattered in isolated groups in the midst of the forests are numerous Ba-Twa communities, who, however, maintain excellent relations with their Ba-Kuba neighbours. The Ba-Twa aborigines of both sexes measured by Wolf ranged in stature from 4 feet 4 inches to 4 feet 9 inches in height. But notwithstanding their diminutive stature, they were all symmetrically built with good proportions, a yellowish- brown complexion, and, like the Akkas of Monbuttu Land, noted for their marvellous agility. These Ba-Twa tribes are ignorant of agriculture, living entirely on the produce of the chase. In exchange for a portion of the game they obtain from their neighbours the manioc, arms — such as arrows, swords, and knives — and all other articles of which they stand in need. The Upper Kassai basin has not yet taken in the history of Central Africa the position to which it seems entitled, and which it cannot fail some day to acquire. The waterparting running parallel with its upper valley, between its affluents and those of the Zambese, is already marked out as the chief highway leading from the Atlantic province of Benguella to the region of the great lakes in the Upper Congo Valley. This route has already been followed by numerous Portu- guese caravans, as well as by Livingstone, Cameron, Capello, and Ivens in their journeys across the continent, and all alike speak of the fertility of the land and the peaceful disposition of its inhabitants. In the south-western region watered by the numerous streams flowing to the Kassai the dominant people are the enterprising Kiokos, or better Tchibokos, who seem destined sooner or later to take a leading part amongst all the tribes dwelling south of the Congo. At the time of Livingstone's journey, the Kiokos had not yet reached the Kassai basin ; yet in many places they are already masters, although yielding a certain homage to the Muata Yamvo. The unanimous testimony of their neighbours indicates the southern region as the land of their origin, and for at least three centuries and a half before the recent migrations, they appear to have occupied the upland tracts lying about the sources of the Cuanza and of the Cuando, one of the great aflluents of the Zambese. Here they dwelt by the side of the Gang- uellas, whom* they greatly resemble in speech and customs, while also betraying certain affinities with the Lundas, whom, however, they certainly surpass in enter- prise and intelligence. The Kiokos are great hunters, but rely chiefly on industrial pursuits for their support, being specially noted as skilled forgers and manufac- turers of arms and wicker work articles. The chief market in the region lying between the Kioko and Lunda territories is Kimbundu, which stands at an altitude of 4,100 feet above the sea on the left bank of the Lu-Vo, which flows through the Lua-Nge to the Kassai. But since 1876, when Kimbundu had a few European structures belonging to a Portuguese merchant, the centre of traffic has been displaced more in the direction of the Kassai, where several villages, occupied by local chiefs, have popula.ions larger than that of Kimbundu. North of the Ba-Kuba territorv the Kassai and the Lua-Nge traverse the lands ​of the Pendés, Ba-Kongos, and other Bantu peoples, of whom little is known beyond their tribal names. Beyond the Sankuru dwell the Ba-Songo Mino, or "Songas of the Teeth," so named because they file to a point all the incisors. Although much dreaded as cannibals they deny the charge, which was certainly unconfirmed by anything seen by Wolf when he visited them in 1886. Lower down, about the Sankuru-Kassai confluence, live the unfriendly Ba-Kutu people, and still farther north, between the Kassai and the Lu-Kenye (Ikatta), follow the Ba-Senge, occupying straggling villages miles in extent and often containing several thousand inhabitants. The Ba-Senge, who are not to be confounded with the Ba-Songe and Ba-Sange nations, are noted for their relatively long legs
and short trunk, while many have perfectly European features of the intellectual type. Ga-koko, their capital, so named from the local chief, is a very large place built, like all the other towns, in a clearing of the primeval forest.
The Kwango Basin.
Although belonging to the Kassai system, the Kwango traverses a region which has had a very different historic evolution from that of Lunda Land. It is the true Zaire, which was known to the Portuguese since the sixteenth century, and whose name is still attributed to the Lower Congo. Many parts of its valley have ​been regularly visited by Portuguese traders for the last three hundred years, and its markets have served as the intermediaries of traffic between the west coast and the uncivilised inland populations.
In the Upper Kwango Valley the dominant people are still the Kiokos of the Upper Kassai. Farther north follow the Minungos on both banks, savage marauders broken into numerous tribal groups without any political coherence. Under the influence of the Portuguese Catholics, to the national fetishes they have added wooden and copper crosses, and even crucifixes obtained from the white traders. Below the Minungo territory the western slope of the Kwango Valley is occupied by the Ba-Ngala, agriculturists and traders, who have long maintained direct relations with the Portuguese, from whom they have learnt to build large well ventilated houses with gables and high-pitched roofs. Slaves are no longer
slaughtered at the graves of the great chiefs, but the succession is still in the female line, to the eldest son of the eldest sister. The yaga or kassanjé, that is, the supreme soba, or chief of the Ba-Ngala nation, is elected by four dignitaries, whose choice is limited to the members of three families. According to the Portuguese traders, these electors mix a subtle poison with the cup presented to the new king, who is thus brought to the grave within a period of three years. The reigning sovereign, however, has dispensed with this inconvenient ceremony, preferring to be master de facto if not de jure. The Ba-Ngala capital takes the name of Kassanjé from the king, although better known to the Portuguese by the name of Feira, or "the Fair." Tere are effected the changes between the coast traders and the Kioko and Lunda merchants from the interior. Till 1860 the Portuguese commanded at Kassanjé; but in that year a revolution broke out, the warehouses were plundered, the orange groves cut down, and of twenty-one traders ​only seven escaped with their lives. Since then, however, the Portuguese suzerainty has been again accepted.
At the Kwango-Kassai confluence the ruling race are the Ba Teke, although numerous villages are also occupied by the Wa-Buma, who are the same people as the A-Boma of the French Congo. These traders and boatmen come down from the Kassai to Stanley Pool, where they transfer their commodities to the porters by whom the exchanges are effected with the Lower Congo. The Wa-Buma are
an intelligent, industrious, and cheerful people, whose supreme chief is a queen residing at Moshi, a place of about three thousand inhabitants, crowning a high cliff on the right bank of the Kwa. On the bluff rising above the south side of the Kassai-Congo confluence stands the station bearing the English name of Kwamouth, given to it before the Kwa was known to constitute the lower course of the vast Kassai-Sankuru-Kwango fluvial system.
The stations of Nyombe, Lukolela, and Bolobo, on the left bank of the Congo above Kwamouth, although abandoned by the Congo Government, are still ​frequented trading places. Bolobo, with its suburb of Moye, is a large town of from five thousand to ten thousand inhabitants, and is succeeded 30 miles higher up by Tchumbiri, also a populous place. Here the dominant riverain people are the Ba-Yanzi (Ba-Nyanzi), akin to the Bu-Banghi on the opposite side of the Congo. Although a treacherous, insolent race, addicted to orgies and human sacrifices, they show great ingenuity and artistic taste in the decoration of their
instruments, earthenware, and dwellings. Topaz mines are sid to occur in the neighbourhood of Bolobo.
The Lower Congo.
Hitherto the commercial and political energies of the Congo Free State have been mainly concentrated at two points, Stanley Pool above the cataracts, and the ​lower reaches between the Yellala Falls and the mouth of the estuary. The territory is doubtless of vast extent, with a population equal to that of many powerful European states; but the whites have scarcely yet secured a firm footing in the land.
At the close of the year 1886 the Europeans numbered altogether only two hundred and fifty-four, and on this handful of pioneers, scattered over an immense space and enfeebled or even decimated at times by the murderous climate.
devolves all the work of geographical and commercial exploration, the foundation, maintenance, and defence of the military stations, the organisation of the transport service by land and water, the equipment of troops, the pacification and government of the natives. The preliminary work of general survey has been successfully accomplished for the greater part of the navigable waters, and the splendid results obtained in the domain of geographical research since 1875 may well cause surprise. But all the other work of the general administration has necessarily hitherto been ​
is carried on simultaneously by three European powers: the Congo Free State, which claims only the left bank above Manyanga, and the right bank as far aa Noki; France, which is mistress of all the rest of the north side; and Portugal, which rules over the south side from Noki to the coast. i
The shores of Stanley Pool, like the riverain tracts higher up, are inhabited by Ba-Teke tribes, which are here subjected to the direct control of the whites. Nowhere else in the whole Congo basin have more rapid changes been effected than at this point, where converge above the cataracts all the navigable waterways as far as the neighbourhood of Tanganyika. he chief station in this district is Leopoldville, built on a plateau commanding the western extremity of the Pool, and
not far from Ntamo, capital of the southern Ba-Teke. Near the station stand the barracks of the Haussa and Ba-Ngala troops, and the dwellings of the English and American missionaries. But the industrial and commercial activity is centred chiefly at the village of Kinkassa, which serves as the port and dockyard of Leopoldville. Another station, at once religious and agricultural, has been founded at Kimpopo, on a torrent flowing to the eastern extremity of Stanley Pool. The plain stretching south of the lake to the encircling hills is thickly peopled, containing several large towns, such as Kinbanga, Lemba, and Mikunga. Like the Dover Cliffs on the opposite side, these hills, which culminate southwards in the Mense Peak (2,000 feet), consist of a hardened sand of dazzling whiteness terminating in numerous sharp points. ​Below Stanley Pool the chief stations on the portage skirting the fulls lie about midway between Leopoldville and Matadi, where the river presents a less rapid incline. Here is the English missionary station of Lutete on the left side, followed by the two villages of Manyanga, on both banks, and farther on Lukungu and Voonda (Baynesville), both on the south side. In the fertile and populous Kwilu Valley, which debouches higher up, are situated the towns of Banza Makuta, the chief market between Stanley Pool and Ambriz, and Tungwa, a great centre of the ivory trade.
Between Manyanga and Boma on the north side the dominant people are the energetic and haughty Ba-Sundi, who hold themselves as the equals of the whites, with whose forces they have frequently been in collision. Their chief pursuits
are war and fishing, leaving to the women all other occupations, such as trade, weaving, wickerwork, pottery, and other industries. Near the Manyanga in this district lies the chief trading-place between Stanley Pool and the coast. Below Manyanga, whose well-attended fair is held every eight days, the fortified station of Isangila marks the point where the river plunges from a vertical height of about 16 feet, and then describes a great bend southwards to the point where the Lu-Fu River leads to San-Salvador, former metropolis of the Congo empire.
Scale 1 : 55,000.
little riverain ports of Fuka-Fuka, Nkala-Nkala, giving access to the missionary station of Underhill (Tunduwa), Wango-Wango, and Noki, a Portuguese village facing Nkongolo on the north side.;
Boma (M' Boma, Emboma), city of the "Great Snake," or of "Terror," and formerly the chief market for slaves in the whole Congo region, is a double town, and ​with a "Marine" and several European factories at the water's edge connected by a road and a railway of light construction with the upper quarter standing about 300 feet above the right bank of the river. Nine local chiefs, still bearing the title of "kings," claim possession of the Boraa district, and present themselves every month at the factories to receive the "customs," or ground-rent. Sugar plantations line the beach, and the neighbouring islets contain several villages surrounded by fields and palm-groves. In one of these islands are the graves of the kings of Boma and those of Tuckey's companions who perished in the disastrous expedition of 1816.
Boma already communicates by a regular service of five lines of steamers with Lisbon, Liverpool, Hull, Rotterdam, and Hamburg, while smaller boats ply on the estuary between Banana at the mouth of the Congo and Matadi, just below the last rapids. Above the Falls the river is navigated by other steamers transported thither piece by piece; but along the portage of 170 miles between Matadi and Stanley Pool goods are forwarded by carriers at a charge of about £40 per ton. As no less than eighteen days are taken to traverse this small break in the navigation, it has become urgently necessary to connect the lower and middle sections of the Congo by rail. The best route for the projected railway runs from Boma nearly in a straight line to Brazzaville on the French side of Stanley Pool. But in order to keep the route entirely within its own territory the Congo Free State favours the line from Matadi along the left bank to Kinshassa above the Falls. The difficulties to overcome either way are very formidable; yet if the project is not carried out, the whole Congo State, notwithstanding its vast extent and boundless resources, "will not be worth a two-shilling piece" (Stanley).
Below Boma the chief station is Ponta da Lenha, on an islet close to the right bank of the estuary, beyond which the only other European settlement is Banana, occupying on the same side the terminal peninsula between the sea and the mouth of the Congo. Here are situated the Dutch factories, the most important in the whole Congo basin, followed higher up by several English, French, and Portuguese establishments, those of the Congo State lying about the middle of the peninsula. Although protected from erosion by piles, the site of Banana is continually threatened by the stormy waters, which in 1872 converted the peninsula into a temporary island, Nearly all the foreign trade of the Congo State is centred in the port of Banana, whose exchanges are already estimated at £1,600,000, of which £600,000 represent the exports, chiefly caoutchouc, ivory, palm-oil, and nuts. The great staple of the import trade is spirits, not always of genuine quality, and equalling in value all the other imports together.
Since the opening of the Congo by Stanley, the trade of the estuary has been increased fourfold. Yet all attempts hitherto made to introduce an European currency have failed, except at Banana and Boma. The natives obstinately refuse to take silver, accepting nothing but goods or orders (mukanda) which ensure their future delivery.
The Congo Government was till lately known to the natives by the name of Bula Matadi, or "Rock-breaker," the term applied originally by them to Stanley for the indomitable energy with which he cleared away all obstacles along his route down the Congo. The expression was afterwards transferred to Stanley's successors, the officials of the Free State, and lastly to the whole kingdom itself.
Although the King of the Belgians has been elected its sovereign, it has no special or exclusive relation to Belgium, the union between the two crowns being purely personal. Nevertheless, after having been almost English under the direction of Stanley, it is gradually becoming a Belgian dependency. The three general administrators of the finances, the interior, and foreign affairs, are natives of Belgium, as are also most of the other civil and military officials. The companies founded to open up the resources of the land have their headquarters in Brussels; its financial affairs are discussed in the Belgian Parliament, and in the convention with France its annexation to Belgium is expressly anticipated Even the Roman Catholic ​502 WEST AFRICA. missions, hitherto directed by French priests, are now placed under the jurisdiction of the Mechlin diocesan authorities. The chief local official, who takes the title of governor-general, is assisted by a consulting committee comprising an inspector, a secretary, a judge of appeal, anl one or more directors named by the central Government. The flag of the new state is a gold star on a blue ground — the same as that of the old native Congo State — and the official language is French. The territory is divided into districts managed by special commissioners, who dispose of a small force of about two thousand Haussas and Ba-Ngalas, with twelve guns and two mitrailleuses. These troops, as well as the ten gunboats forming the flotilla, are officered by Belgians. In virtue of treaties concluded with the natives, the Congo State already possesses vast landed estates, which, however, yield no revenue, so that the expenditure is almost exclusively met by yearly advances made by the sovereign. The state revenue is limited to the proceeds of registration, the post office and the slight dues levied on exports, all imports being declared free by various international conventions. One of the chief prospective resources of the state are the elephants, estimated by Stanley at about two hundred thousand, each yielding on an average sixty pounds of ivorj^, and collectively representing a capital of £5,000,000. But these are secondary considerations compared with the great fact of half a continent and a whole family of mankind brought far the first time into direct contact with the outer world.