The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1886-10-21
A RICH AFRICAN.

The wealthiest man in central Africa
is now Oh his way to the Indian ocean
in response to letter from the sultan
Of Zanzibar requesting visit from him.
His name is Tippu lib. and he lives
not far from Nyangwe. the great trad
ing point of many black tribes on the
upper Congo. Readers of African
books of travel have heard good deal
of Tppu lib, and as recent years have
greatly increased his power and wealth,
we are likely to hear much of him.
Tippu lib is only As years old, and
is as black as coal, and of negroid
blood, which means that he comes of
an admixture of the coast tribes of east
Africa and has also very little Arab
blood in his veins. He has been in
central Africa for twenty-five years. and
is to-day the greatest slave and ivory
trader in the world. He has outstrip-
ped all his competitors through sheer
force of intellect and strength of char
acter. As long ago as the time when
Cameron introduced him to our notice
he visited Nyangwe and told the bully
ing Arab traders there that if they did
not leave certain native allies of his
alone it would be the worse for them.
They lost no time in pledging eternal
peace with Tippu lib and all his
friends.
Cameron says Tippu lib was the
greatest dandy he saw among the
traders of Africa, and that, although of
negroid blood, he was a thorough Arab
in manners and ideas. All his white
visitors speak of the elegance of his
Arab attire and of his courtly and af-
fable bearing. Stanley says that at his
first meeting with Tippu lib he regard
ed him as the most remarkable man he
had ever met among the Arabs, Wa
Swahili. and half castles of Africa.
Lieut.. Van Gale, of the Congo state.
who met Tippu lib in January last,
says he was surprised by the extent of
his information on European topics.
He was familiar with events occurring
in Europe. and was particularly inter
ested in the English, Germans and Bel
CLANS. The questions he asked me, y
says Van Gale, showed that he is
neither an ignorant man nor one of
ordinary mind" He said he intended
some day to 60 to Europe, visit the
king of the Belgians, and also spend
some time in Constantinople.
In Tippu Tbs home, south of
Nyangwe, Cameron says that large
gangs of slaves walking about in chains
met his eye at every turn. They were
leading easy lives, were well fed, and
he saw no acts of cruelty there. ALI
had been victims, however, of the cry
ing wrongs that are still decimating
the simple savages of Africa. They
had been surprised in their peaceful
homes by the sudden onslaught of
Tippu Tbs ruthless soldier slaves. who
had burned their huts, killed their
friends, and dragged them off into
captivity. Tippu lib is the most noted
representative of those men who are
to-day inficting more suffering upon
their fellow-creatures than any other
human beings-the professional slave
traders of Africa Few of Tippu Tbs
slaves ever reach the Indian ocean.
They are sold among the numerous
tribes on the way to the sea. Long
caravans, however, richly laden with
his ivory, are often dispatched to the
coast.
It was Tippu Tib who helped Stanley
start down the Congo from Nyangwe,
the point where both Livingstone and
Cameron were defeated in their efforts
to follow the river further. For some
weeks Stanley's little party was aug
mented by over two hundred of Tippq
Tbs men. Twenty very dark beauties
from the great traders harem accom-
panied him on this his first trip down
the Congo, where he is now in absolute
control of the river and adjoining terri
tories for about $50 miles below Nyang=
we. It was his slave pen near Stanley
falls, in which twenty-five hundred
wretched captiyes were found two years
ago when the agents of the Interna-
tional association reached that point:
For many miles below these falls
Stanley was chased by large fleets Of
canoes, and his party suffered severely
from the lances and arrows OF the
most ferocious savages whom he met
on the Congo, These natives are
among the most peaceable on the Con-
go now, and one good reason is that
they have no weapons to fight with.
They have all been disarmed by Tippu
lib r distance of about eighty miles
along the river for daring to attack
some of his men. DIR. LEM, the ex-
plorer, wrote from Stanley falls in
March last that between the falls and
the Aruwimi river the natives were in
capable of making any resistance.
lone can rarely find among them" he
writes, "a lance or any other weapon
except small knives Dr.. LEM adds
that ..the influence of the opulent Tip
pu lib is far greater all through this
than that of the Free Congo state. -
Tippu lib has thus far maintained
very amicable relations with the whites.
He has invited missionaries to settle
near him, and has promised them pro-
lection. NesO Sun. -