Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1883-03-29
An African Utopia.

A1NACA 1i2uG Oh JnG lunGnSG Oh
country situated between 1So and 200
east of Greenwich and l Q to 80 south
latitude to the south of the great bend of
the Congo, that it may interest your
readers to hear q 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 will perceive
four large tributaries of the Congo dotted
dOwn-Che mouths of which Stanley dis
covered-and a reported large lake,
probably Lake Lincoln of Livingstone,
to the west of which vicious and most
murderous dwarfs'' named Watwa are
suQ posed 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
jects 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 stulfs out of
the mabele plant and showing skill in
basket-making. Wissmann declares that
no foreign influence has ever touched
them.
The Utopia has received the honorary
epithet of Lubuku, 4. e. 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 LuIua
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 inhabitant is treated
by the rest as a 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
Use of a musical box in case DIR. 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: "The Afrika-
nische Gesellschaft'' had charged DIR.
Paul POgge and Lieutenant Wissmann to
establish a station at Mussumba (8o
24m. los. S. L.. ) the capital of the king
dom OF Lunda, over which one of the
strangest among swarthy potentates, the
mighty MyataY auvO, 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, or
Is 4
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 11o south
longitude and 10 and 20 . east, they
were hardly sorry to hear that both roads
thence to Mussumba were impossible on
accOuntO of some KiOkOs having guarreled
with Mwata Yanvo. They at once de-
termined to push on to Makenge, and
thence to the Lualaba or upper Congo,
and for fOrty-fOur yards of calico per
head they found there pOrters willing to
accompany them as far as the land of
Friendship. Following the western bank
of the Chikapa up to its confluence with
the Kassai, and then of the latter river
up to KikaSsa, in the Peade country, they
traversed this deep stream about one
thousand feet broad, and there met a
Tusselange chief of the name of King
enge, who insisted upon taking Lieuten-
ant WiSsmann home with him as his
guest. Thus, after siXty-two days jour
ney from Kimbundu, Pogge arrived
alone, on October so, 1881, at Mukenge's
place of residence, situated under .
1Om. S. L., rather more than 22o east
of Greenwich. He describes the Tusse-
lange as capital farmers. Everywhere
round he saw broad fields of fine man
dOca, maize, millet, earth-nuts or beans.
Tobacco and hemp are both grown for
smoking. Their country is fertile and
well irrigated undulating plain, between
the rivers Kassa and LuIua, covered in a
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 musket,
four pounds of gunpowder or eighteen
yards of calico. In the first days of De-
cenlber, Pogge and Wissmann met again,
and about the middle of the month they
reached the Lake Mukamba. On Jan
uary 5, 1882, they reached the Lubi, a
fine tributary of the Lubilash. and in the
midst of a splendid tropical vegetation
they saw villages arise, ''where in clean
and roomy dwellings, with gardens
neatly hedged in, forming streets,
straight as an arrow, the Bassonge live
under the shadow of palm trees and
bananas"
Thus speaks Lieutenant Wissmann in
a letter from Cairo (Which he has just
left for visit to- Cyprus before return.
ing to Germany of a country where,
according to the newest map published,
cannibalS have hitherto been believed to