Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-01-25
THE CONGO BASIN.
A CONVERSATION WITH STANLEY,
THE FAMOUS EXPLORER.
The New Field Of Peaceful Conquest An
Initiative People Already Acquiring
Ciyilization-A Railroad-How
the Climate Kills.
Berlin Cor. New York Tribune

Berlin Cor New York Tribune.l
In conversation with Mr.. Stanley, have
succeeded in cleaning many details Of in
tersst in relation to the Congo question.
There Is probably at this moment in Berlin
no man more busy or more overwhelmed
with callers and invitations than he. He is,
in short, the hero of the hour at the German
capital, but when l called at IL to-day by
appointment, at the Hotel Royal, the great
explorer at once excused himself from his
other guests, and, conducting me to his
private parlor, bads me to be seated, en-
sconsed himself i'll another fauteuil opposite
me, and announced his readiness to answer
any questions l might desire to PROFOUND.
lie ". Stanley said 1, that the
confe. &C practically adopted your
dsfini. u Of q term Congo basin'-that
Il, IT,. =, ..ding not only the course Of
the stream itself, but the region commercially
tributary to it."
"Yes, the Congo basin. as now defined, is
based upon the proposition made by the
American members Of the conference and
urged by Mr.. Kasson in his speech the other
day. 1t takes in a strip of territory stretch
ing from the west coast across the continent
to the Indian ocean, with a littoral of 3s5
l.
boon frontiers, on the Atlantic side and q
coast front thirteen degrees of 80 miles on
the Indian ocean. The principal side of the
question, however, in this discussion per-
tains, Of course, to the Atlantic littoral, as
geographical avenue of trade from and to
Europe. So far as the country to tho east
ward Of Stanley pool goes, that is another
tar vrh Va
talking now Of the western side Of the terri.
tory referred tor
~What will be the next step taken in case
the conference takes such action as it is ex-
pectsd to toward opening the Congo region
to trader
I'VE shall at once proceed to build a rail
road-by we mean the International asso-
cistion-we taking half the stock, and put
ting the remainder on tho market for such
capitalists as want to come in. The upper
and lower regions Of tho Congo are naviga-
bic, but are broken in two by the falls, max
ing necessary q portage Of 2S5 miles. This
portage Is, however, somewhat reduced by
the fact that for about 20 or 80 miles Of it
there Is navigable water between the falls
In case We build a railroad for the entire
distance, or tho 235 miles, it will cost /, 500, =
600 pounds sterling II, on the other hand,
we avail ourselves Of the extra S0uavigabls
miles. we shall have l47 miles Of road TO
build at a cost Of 900, 900 pounds sterling.
This road would extend from Vivi, ITO miles
from the mouth Of the Congo, to Leopold
ville, at Stanley pool, now a settlement Of
about 800 persons, all either Europeans or
employees Of our association"
1How b Leopoldvills now accessiblei"
"Oh, We have . good wagon road ali the
way thithsr from Vivi, with posts every ten
miles, garrisonsd by our own paid soldiers.
We have already taken four steamboats, over
the road, in pieces and put them together at
Lsopoldvills for use on the upper part Of
the river The view Of the latter point is
beautiful At the base of tho hill under the
town are no less than twenty African vii
lagos, the chiefs Of which are. all friendly"
"What will be the probable attitude of the
natives after the railroad is completed and
foreign traders flock inf'
"Thsy have thus far always been friendly
and have given us every assistance. They
arc the most initiative people in the world
moro 20 even than the Chinese-and they
seem to feel pride in associatinS with Eu-
ropsans and adopting their manners and
waya / do not think any danger whatever
b even to be apprehendsd from uprisings or
attacks by, the natives OF course when
arsngpn Hgin to pour in, as they undoubt-
sdly Vfll, Il will b. the duty Of the associa-
t,pn 10 - chat imposition and outrages upon
the nativsa sfvprsvsnted. The wea ker race
In this casH will not, IS l.. the case Of the
= = 3 wan
sArs the Africans favorable to methods Of
civilizationf"
~You would say 30 could you see some OF
the dwellings they have put up. know of
twenty or thirty black men who have been
for ton years or more trading with the
whites, and who have imported from Eng
land three-story iron dwellings costing them
each 1000 or 5000 pounds sterling, which
they have paid in palm oil or palm kernels.
They live in these houses with their wives
and children, with chairs and tables and
carpeted floors, and . great variety Of cheap
bric-a- -brac, mirrors, ETC., which they have q
passion for acquiring. know of one Ger
man trader, a Mr.. Schultz, representing a
Berlin house, who makes Q regular business
IN this way. He imports . complete set Of
parlor furniture, pictures, ornaments. ETC.,
puts them all In place in q room in
his house. and then invites q wealthy
dinner, the guest admires the surroundings,
and Is finally permitted, as favor, to pur-
chase them entire They are at once re-
moved to an apartment in his English built
dwelling-he pays in oil q good round price
and then the trader sends home an order
for another set, invites another guest to din
ner, and so on"
as the climate of that region healthy for
-
nists from Sa1ony to 80 down there, how
many Of them would probably be alive at
the end of ysarr
That depends Suppose, for instance,
that you fresh from the comforts of Euro
Yean life, take a steamer ticket from Liver
pool to Vivi on the Congo. You go ashore and
strike miami over the portage for Leopold
vills. The heat tho tremendous efforts re-
Quirsd at times to push your way through the
tall grass, the burning equatorial sun soon
fatigue you; the perspiration fairly pumps
you out You como to q stream and dip a
handful Of cold water to quench your burn
ing thirst; you sit down on damp rock to
rest: you get a chill; you 60 on again upon
your Journey, weakened you scarce know
why. A fever comes on, you miss the accus-
toned comforts and quiet Of the steamer; in
nine cases cut OF ten it Is too violent a change
Of your physical condition, and you die.
Now, let tho railroad he built; let there be
hers and there such hotels as can offer any
approach Whatever to the comfort of modern
life, and provisioned with such food-canned
goods arc already plentiful there-as Eu-
ropeans eat, and will guarantee that 80 to
95 per cont. of your hundred Saxons would
10 alive at the end of twelve months. There
are many localities even in that equatorial
region where beautiful scenery, fertile land,
and . salubrious atmosphere invite settle
rnsnt"
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