Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-08-24
De Brazza Among ca

II regard SAvergnan de BraZZa, mex
10 Stanley, as The greatest of living Afri
can travellers" said Mr.. Carl Steckel
mann IN New York q few days age to
Sun reporter. Mr.. Steckelmann was tC
sail next day for the French Congo re
gion, where he had already spent three
years. mo one who has ever seen De
B!3Zza on MS travels" he continued,
could fai. to recognize the fact that he
YVES born TO be an explorer. 1 shall never
forget the time ! met him far inland,
when ! was travelling up the XVIII river.
lone day | rescued q tribe who seldom
saw white men. They were not hospit-
able, but finally concluded 20 sell me
food. After q few hours I got on friendly
terms with them, and they allowed me to
camp in the village. Suddenly ! observed
8 little commotion among the natives. A
few carriers were seen emerging from the
forest; and with them was a slender, sad
faced, poorly clad white man. 1t was
the governor of the French Congo him
self, and he was off on che Of has long
,ramls through the country.
De Brazza approached a group Of
natives and asked them for food. The
savages thought this was pilirg L on.
NO, they said grufiy. We ave one
white man here already. You Mt get
food here. You had better 20 "a your
way
ode BrszZa said nothing. He simply
ordered mis- carriers TO Jay down their
loads in the middle OF the village. Their
ne sat down apart from the natives while
one of the men unpacked his astronom.
ical and other instruments. The ex.
plOrer went 10 work 10 make observa.
lions for position and 20 calculate his al.
titude.
ct was the strangest sight the natives
ever saw-this white man studying his
Instruments 50 intently, and figuring
away on a bit Of paper. They made up
their minds that his instruments we're a
very powerful fetch, and that this white
man vas a person not TO be triiled with.
Soon g crowd gathered around him, and
when the curious blacks came too near,
the explorer frightened them away by his
gruff manner and impatient gestures.
"'Get away from me. Clear out. Don't
you gee I'm busy? Let me alone he
said.
AT length De Brazza finished his work
and put away his instruments. Some IA
tives had been cooking their evening
meal in front of their hut. Their meat
and vegetables, which had been boiling
in q pot, were ready, and the group gath
cred around the dying fire and began to
eat. De BraZza watched them for a min
ute or two. Then he took a tin plate and
a large spoon, walked up to the pot.
helped himself literally TO its contents
without saying a word to anybody, sat
down by a tree, ard RECALLED himself with
native cookery. He knew just the effect
his actions had produced upon the native
mind and just what 70 do. Then he told
the villagers his men were hungry, and
must be fed. Fed they were, with all
they could eat, for who would dare to
oppose a great medicine man who car
RED such a remarkable fetch as a theo-
dolite? De Brazza slept in the village
tina. night, and ext morning he paid the
natives well for ali they had given him,
and COX his departure.
De Brazza is one Of the few explorers
who are perfectly willing, if need be, 10
live for menths on native cookery. If he
has no supplies on hand he is not afraid
10 travel withost them. Stanley said that
De BraZza was one the of the most dilap-
idated objects he ever saw when he sud
denly turned up OF the Congo one day
barefooted and in rags. De Brazza re-
lates, however, in his story Of his travels
on the Ogowe, an experience that nearly
upset his equilibrium. He arrived at a
village one day and requested a woman
10 cook him some dinner. She prepared
the meal and while he was eating it he
asked his dusky host the name of the fish
she had set before him. She replied
that il was not fish but snake he was
eating. Though he thought the dish an
inviting one his imagination got the bet
ter Of him and the explorer says he sud
denly lost mis- appetite aad did not regain
il until the next meal time.