The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1883-03-28
An African Utopia.

German explorers have thrown 80 |
much light on the immense tract of /
country situated between l8 Q and 200 /
east Of Greenwich and 10 to 8 o south /.
latitude TO the south of the great bend of /
the Congo, that it may interest your
readers TO hear a short account of what |
has been done by them. If you take the |
western half Of Stanley's Map Of Equa- |
torial Africa to hand, you viii perceive
four large tributaries of the Congo dotted /
down-the mouths Of which Stanley dis
oovered-and a reported large lake,
probably Lake Lincoln of Livingstone,
TO the west of which "vicious and most
murderous dwarfs' named Watwa are
supposed to exist Now, If POgge and
Wissmann had done nothing but confirm
the existence of these pigmies, whom
they call Batua, and reduce the Lake
Mukamba to very modest proportions,
besides placing it farther to the south
east, under 5 Q 45m. 25s. south latitude,
they would merit praise. But we owe
far more to them. They unveil to us
the existence of a Utopia where stran-
gers are gratuitOusly supplied with food,
and they reveal that the Bassonge, sub
iects of King Katshish, a strong and
| handsome race in a densely populated
! country teeming with natural produce,
| excel in artistic manufacture of work
manship of various kinds in wood, clay,
copper and iron, weaving stuffs out of
/ the mabele plant and showing skill in
| Discriminating. Wissmann declares that
no foreign influence has ever touched
| them.
The Utopia has received the honorary
epitbet of Lubuku, 1. c. ''Friendship,"
but its real name is Casselange; its in
habitants are called Tusselange, and
their principal chief, Mukenge, resides
not far from the confluence Of the Lulua
and the KassaL Pogge tells us that the
inhabitants of one village, or sometimes
of several villages, can be looked upon
as family, for each inhabitaut is treated
by the rest as relative, and one member
Of the community stands by another for
better and for worse" The kings
hospitality went so far that he accom-
panied his guests a distance about as
great as from Berlin to Dantzig-nOt
having received any present except a
brass chain, supplemented by the prom
ise of musical box in case DR.. Pogge
should reach the Lualaba, and return
thence in safety. The discovery of the
amiable tribe of Tusselange, and of the
accomplished Bassonge, took place in
the following manner: "rhe Afrika-
nische Gesellschaft' had charged DR..
Paul POgge and Lieutenant Wissmann to
establish a station at Mussumba (S9
24m. los. S. L., } the capital of the king
dom of Lunda, over which one of the
strangest among swarthy potentates the
mighty MyataY YauvO, ,reigns. Both POgge,
in 1876, and DR.. Max Buchner, in 1879
to 1880, had found it impossible, though
they otherwise met with very kind treat.
ment, to penetrate the east, north, OF
south of Mwata YanvO's dominions.
The latter was thoroughly convinced
that the European travellers could have
no other object than that of buying else,
where ivory and ostrich feathers cheaper
than from him, and so he thwarted all
their endeavors to penetrate further. On
arriving, therefore, on July 20, 1881
from LOanda, on the west coast, at Kim.
bandu (between 100 and IL Q south
longitude and IS and 200 east), they
were hardly sorry to hear that both roads
thence to Mussumba were impossible on
account of some KiOkos having quarreleC
with Mwata YanvO. They at once de
termined to push on to Makenge, anC
thence to the Lualaba or upper Congo
and for fOrty-four yards of calico pei
head they found there pOrters willing tt
accompany them as far as the land o.
Friendship. Following the western banl
of the Chikapa up to its confluence will
the Kassai, and then of the latter rive
up to Kikassa, in the Peade country, they
traversed this deep stream about one
thousand feet broad, and there met
Tusselange chief of the name of King
enge, who insisted upon taking Lieuten
ant Wissmann home with him as hii
guest. Thus, after sixty-two davs' Jour
ney from Kimbundu, Pogge arrived
alone, on October 80, 1881, at Mukenge',
place of residence, situated under 6 o
l0m. s.. L., rather more than % o east
of Greenwich. He describes the Tusse
lange as capital farmers. Everywhere
round he saw broad fields of fine man
dioca, maize, millet, earth-nutsO or beans
Tobacco and hemp are both grown fol
smoking. Their country is a fertile anC
well irrigated undulating plain, between
the rivers Kassa and Lulua, covered in &
large measure by huge forests, in the
midst of which are prairies, which the
inhabitants cultivate, and where they
build their villages. The climate, though
warm, is salubriOus. Trade chiefly con
sists in female slaves and india-rubber,
and, humiliating as it may sound to the
ears of your lady readers, the average
price for full-grOwn female is a musket
four pounds of guupoWder, or eighteen
yards of calico. In the first days of De
cenlbeT, POgge and Wissmannmet again
and about the middle of the month they
reached the Lake Mukamba. On Jan
uary 5, 1882, they reached the Lubi, 6
fine tributary of the Lubilash, and in the
midst of a splendid tropical vegetation
they saw villages arise, "where in clear
and roomy dwellings, with garden,
neatly hedged in, forming streets
straight as an arrow, the Bassonge live
under the shadow of palm trees anG
bananas"
Thus speaks Lieutenant Wissmann il
letter from Cairo (Which he has JUS
left for visit to Cyprus before return
ing TO Germany Of a country where
according to the newest map published
Caunibals have hitherto been believed to
reside. On june 20, 1882, under 5 Q
l3m. south latitude, the two German
explorers traversed a river $50 feel
broad, Che Lubilash, which soon turned
out to be the same as the Saukura, one
denomination beingused on the western
and another on the eastern bank. Along
well-watered grass meadows and through
villages ten miles long, here and there
coming across cannibals, the travellers