The Washington critic., 1890-04-23
ON rnr CONGO.
One of stnnIey's Lieutenants Tells OF
VoyaginR I'm Africa.


voyaEinR In Africa.
In the evenings when we put in shore
for the night to cut wood my chief,
Stanley, would often narrate some of
the stirring events which occurred dur
ing bis memorable expedition to relieve
DIR. Livingstone, or his still more thrill
ing voyage through the dark conti-
nent. ] remember one particular occa-
sion, says T.. j. Glave in "St. NicholHs,"
when the rising moon threw long silver
ripples across the purple waters of the
Congo. and the soft evening airs famed
the smoldering patches of grass on the
surrounding hills into flames, which
cast in fantastic relief the weird shapes
of the rocky uplands and the wondrous
variety of the tropical vegetation.
Stanley, dressed in his campaigning
costume of brown jacket and knicker-
bockers, with his broad.crowned peak
cap pushed off his forehead, seated on
q log, smoking his briar pipe by the
campfire, whose ruddy glow fell on
the suDburnt features and lighted up
the characteristic lines OF that manly
face, his eyes fired with the reminiscent
ces of the glorious past, held me spell
bound as l listened to his thrilling mar
ratiye Of the attack OF '76 on the en-.
feebled but ever ready little band by
those barbarous cannibals, the Bangala.
How this veritable armada of war
canoes bore down upon his small craft;
how he ran the gauntlet of these intrepid
warriors to the safe reaches beyond,
through an atmosphere darkened by the
flight OF arrows and quivering spears
thinning their ranks as he passed with
a deadly hail from his rifles. Mr.. STAN
ley was always busy, whether ashore or
aiioat Tho top of his little cabin in the
after. part of the I'm Avant formed his
table, and have no doubt great deal
of the interesting material which he
embodied in his book, "The Congo and
the Founding Of Its Free State,' was
peDned on the cabin of the En- Avant.
Occasionally he would leave off
writing, put down his pencil and take
a careful survey of the surroundings;
sometimes an old crocodile, disturbed
by the paddle wheels in his slumbers
on a sand. bank, would waddle downto
the waters edge, and perhaps swimming
toward us, as If to get close view Of
the intruders, would offer an inviting
shot of which Mr.. Stanley generally
took advantage.
We passed on, creeping slowly up
stream, landing here and there to cut
dry wood for fuel or obtain provisions
from the native villages which we
sighted on the river banks. Our re
ception by the natives was generally
friendly; but the large, thickly-popu.
lated villages of Bolobo evinced q
keen desire for war, and demonstrated
their aggressiveness by firing their old
tlintlock guns at our little fleet as it
passed. Stanley had previously made
a station here, and white officer was
at present in charge of it. The history
Of this post has been an unhappy one.
Only recently all the station houses
had been burned to the ground, and a
great quantity of stores intended for the
new up-river stations, and other valuable
property destroyed. The relations be-
tween the villages and station became
very strained, and it was only after two
weeks that Stanley's characteristic tact
triumphed over the suspicious of these
natives and convinced them of our
friendly intentions, and also succeeded
in making them pay an indemnity for
their unprovoked attack. Stanley hav-
ing called Ibaka and the other Bolobo
chiefs to friendly council, presents
were exchanged and the natives prom
ised in future to maintain peace with
the white men.
Our little fotilla again started up
stream. We were, however, delayed q
little on the way, in order that our
engineer might repair the damage
caused to the A. I. A. by an old hippo.
potamus, who had imagined this little
steamer to be an enemy of his, and had
made four large holes through the iron
plates Of her hull with his tusks be-
fore his pugnacity was appeased
Fortunately the boat was close in shore
at the time, so they were able to get
her to the bank before she filled with
| water.
Early in September, SO, the blue
smoke curling up over the tall tree tops,
announced to us that we were approach
ing native settlement. This was
Lukolela, and in the neighborhood of
our landing place the new station was
TO be built. A crowd of natives was
| gathered on the beach awaiting our ar
rival, and as soon as Stanley landed a
slave was sent through the village to
beat the old chiefs iron gong and sum
! ,Dop oil tbo boa1 ,,,an 10 a roIoyar