Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1883-03-21
An African Utopia.

> degrees, 5. l. 10 the south of the grea
II bend of the Congo, that it may iEteres
e your readers to hear a short account o
|, what has been done by them. If you tax
a the western half of StaDley's Map o
Equatorial Africa to hand, you will per
- ceive four large tributaries of the Congo
dotted down-the mouths OF which Stan
: ley discovered-snd a reported large
I lake, ''popula.ly Lake Lincoln of Living
stone" to the west of which ''vlcious and
most murderOus dwsrfs" 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 further to the southeast, under 8 deg.
40 min. 20 sec. 5. L., they would merit
, praise. But we 1--WE far more to them.
| They unvell 10 US the existence of an
Utopia, where strangers are gratuitously
supplied with food, and they reveal that the
Bassonge, subjects of King Kstshltsh, a
strong and handsome race in a densely
populated country Ieeming with natural
produce, excel In artistic manufacture of
workmanship of various kinds, In wood,
clay, copper and iron, weaving stuff out
of the Mabele plant and showing skill IN
basket making. Wissmann decisres that
no foreign influence has ever touched them.
The Utopia has received the honorary
epithet of Lubuku, 1. e., Friendship"
but It's real name Is Casselange; its inha-
bItaDts are called Tusselange, and their
principal chief, Makenge, resides not far
from the confluence of the Lulua and the
Kassai. Pogge tells US that the inhabI-
taHts of one village, or sometimes of
several villages, can be locked upon as
family, for each inhabitant Is treated by
| the IT st as a relation, and one member OF
the community stands by another, ''for
better and for worse" The kings hospi-
tality went so far that he accompanied mis-
guests distance about as great as IRON
Berlin TO Danizic--not having received
I any present except brass chain, supple
mented by the promise of musical box
in case DIR. Pogge should reach the Lual-
aba, and return thence in safety. The
discovery of the amlable tribe Of Tussel-
ange, and of the accomplished Bassonge,
took place IN the following manner: The
"AfrIkanische Gesellschsft" had charged
| DR.. Paul Pogge and Lieutenant Wissmsnn
| to establish station at Mussumba q deg
"a minutes 10 seconds S, l. J, the capital
of the kingdom of Lunda, over which one
Of the strsngest among swarthy potentates,
the mighty Mwaia fanvo, reigns. Both
Pogge, III 1875, and Dr. Max Buchner, in |
1879 10 1850, had found it impossible, |
though they otherwise met with very
kindly treatment, to penetrate to the east, ,
north or south of Mwata Ianvo's domln- |
ions. The latter was thoroughly convinced |
that the European travellers could have no |
other object than that of buying elsewhere |
ivory ard ostrich feathers cheaper than |
from HIM, and so he thwarted all their |
endeayors TO penetrate further. On arriv- |
ing, therefore, on July 20, 1881, from |
L0anda, On the west coast ct kimbandu |
(between 10 and 90 degrees ). L. and 10 /
ard 90 degrees E. they were hardly sorry |
to hear that both roads thence TO Mussum-
ba were impossible, on account Of some |
Kiokos having quarreled with Mwata
1snvo. They at once determined to push |
on TO Mskenge, and thence 10 the Lualaba
or Uprer Congo, and for forty-four yards
of calico per bead they found three por,ers
willing to accompany them as far as the
Land OF Friendship. Following the west
ern bank Of the ChlKapa up TO its cOn1u-
enee with the kassaI, and then of the
latter river up TO kikassa, In the Peade
country, they traversed this deep stream,
about 900 feet broad, end there met
Tusselange chief of the name of Kingenge.
who insisted upon taking Lieut.. Wissmann
home with him as his guest. Thus, after
sixty-two days journey from Klmbundu,
Pogge arrived alone, on October 30, 1851,
iMokenge's place of residence, situated
nder 6 deg. 10 min. :. L., rather more
than 81 degs. Z. of Greenwich. He des-
cIibes the Tusselange as capital farmers.
Everywhere around he saw broad fields of
fine mandiocs, maize, mIllet. earth-nuts
or beans. Tobacco and hemp are both
grown for smoking. Their country Is a
fertile and well-irriga.ed, undulating PLAN
between the rivers Kassal and Lulua,
covered IN q large measure by large forests,
10 the midst Of which are praIries, which
the inhabitants cultivate, and where they
built their villages The climate, though
warm, is salubrious. Trade chiefly con.
sists in female slaves and India rubber,
and bumillating as it may sound to the
ears of our lacy readers, the average price
for full-grown female is musket, four
pounds of guupowder or eighteen yards of
calico. In the first days Of December
Pogge and Wissmann met again, and
about the middle of the month they |
reached the Lake Mukamba. On January
9th, 1880, they reached the Lubl, fine
tributary of the Lnbilash, and in the midst
of 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 tue shadow OF palm
trees and bananas"
Thus speaks Lieutenant Wissmann in a
letter from Cairo of country where, ac-
corGiDg to the newest map published.
cannibals have hitherto been believed to
reside. On January go, 1882, under 8
deg l3 min. 5. l. the two German ex-
plorers trsversed river 459 feet broad,
the Lubllash, which soon turned out to be
the same as the Saukura, one denomination
beng used 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 reached the Lemani
uoder deg, 423 mln., and proceeding
again across the inundated districts and
swamps, and through plains the grass OF
which was so knotted together as to be
almost impossible, they came upon the
Llfubu on April 2. Nine days later they
descended this river into the Kaslku, and
entered the Luaiaba on the 18Th. In
Nyangwe the Arabs gave them goods on
credit, and on May Pogge started back
for Mukenge, while WIssmann with some
difficulty succeeded in making his way to
the Esst Coast. lie says: ''From the
Lnbi as far as Lake Tanganyika | met
with remains of the Batua, who seems to
be the real aborgines. In tiny and ILL.,
constructed straw huts, despised by the
Baluba tribes, these small, ill-shspen,
attenusted. dirty and wild-looking people
1--we. They do not grow anything, nor do
they keep pigs or goats, but only a few
fowls, living for the rest upon wild fruits
and the game they kill They have
peculiar language, aud their weapons and
Instruments are of very inferior kind. /