Clarksville daily chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1884-188?, 1884-11-06
TRADING WITH CONGO.
The Curious Manner in which Az
fairs are Conducted There.

fairs are Conducted There.
lEx-Consul's Letter in Boston Budgetl
To settle at Congo, after having chosen
q convenient location, the chiefs who
! are entitled to receive the duties or
taxes are called; these taxes are in real
ity rents, as the negroes do not sell their
lands and do not give them up, except
for an annual monthly payment The
tenant has, therefore, q right to his
land Just as long as he pays his
tar or rent, which consists, be-
sides the payment of installation, also
that of sations to the king, amounting
to a gal len Of rum and eight yards Of
cotton doth at the end of every month.
and the people that the king IS obliged
to supply, and for whom he Is response
BILE. The people that the king is obliged
to supply are: Lingster TRANSLATOR,
comprador (purchaser), mafuca (body
| servant) and four servants (mocas). If
one OF these seven personages should fCr
any reason whatever run away, the king
is obliged to return him or replace him,
ii not he loses all rights to his rations,
taxes, etc., until he has replaced the
runaway or paid the amount stolen, if
the departure be in consequence of a
robbery.
The manners and customs which have
been introduced by certain Europeans to
the negroes have rendered it impossible
to trade with the natives without the
corridors trade runners); these act as
couriers who, for certain payment,
furnished with a supply of gin and
spirits, waylay the natives along the
routes they take when bringing in pro-
duee for trade, conducting them to the
employers factory. 1t often occurs that
the negroes follow these corridors of
their own free will; but it also happens
that when the negroes will not follow
them, they bind them and oblige them
to go to the house of their employers
When the corredor knows there is not
certain kind of goods at his factory, and
conducts the negroes or trade to another
merchants factory, he is in like manner
bound by the slaves of his employer, for
although slavery is said to be abolished,
there is plenty of it to be found.
Some of the slaves are in chains and
others at liberty in the Portuguese
houses, and also in some foreign houses
The corredor becomes the slave of the
white man unless his family is willing
to pay an exorbitant price for his lib
erty. These abuses and violence are
very often the cause of the closing OF
trade-routes, as the natives, alarmed at
the constant violence of the Kroboys
struggling along the routes, who hinder
their free circulation, have almost
abandoned the Congo, and sell Their pro-
duce where they can move about freely,
or remain in their villages, where they
cultivate only what is requisite and
sufficient for their families 1t is on &C
count of violence and injustice that the
Congo, from being only ten years ago
one of the most productive rivers, has
been, comparatively speaking, aban-
doned by the natives.
The purchase of slaves continues at
the value of 5 or 6 pounds sterling each.
When they are not bought they are OBJ
tanned in the following manner: An
article is laid apparently out of the way,
but within reach of the negro, who steals
it at once, and being taken in fagrante
delictu, becomes at once slave If he
is person of importance, and is claimed
by his relatives or by the chiefs of the
village to which he belongs, he is some
times given up in exchange for two or
three substitutes who become slaves in
their village, and are put in chains and
made to work under the lash and rod.
Therefore, should any government seri-
ously wish to correct or avoid any fur
Their slavery and secure free trade, in
order that the Congo should again be
productive to commerce, as it was about
ten or fifteen years ago, reforms must
be made in the abuses mentioned above.
WlIhnn IL. GlnnAY.