The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-09-24
WHITE MEN ON THE CONGO.
They Have Increased Fourfold Within
thu Past Few Ycnrs.

They Have Increased Fourfold Within
thu Past Few Years.
The white. population on the Congo
is increasing rapidly. When Stanley
left the river, after having planted his
twenty stations, there were only about
two hundred white men left to con-
tinuc the various phases of his work.
There are now, says the New York
Sun, over eight hundred white men on
the Congo. Over onc-third of them arc
in the service OF the Congo state, while
the others are engaged i'll trading and
missionary enterprises. In 1889 Bona,
the capital OF the Free state, contained
the greatest number of whites, but last
year it was surpassed by Matadi which
is at the head of navigation on the
lower Congo. NIatadi has gone ahead
because it is the starting point of the
Congo railroad, and most of the whites
ut that place are engaged in building
the road.
Natadi now has white population of
one hundred and siXtynine souls, while
Bona has ten less. Bona is the seat
Of government, and also the place
where Il number of important European
trading firms make their headquarters.
1t has a railroad leading from the wharf
up to the sanitarium, the hotel, and the
government buildings on the heights
away from the river. With its consid-
cradle native population and tho large
variety of business transacted there,
Bona is very busy little place.
Leopoldvillc, the chief settlement on
the upper river at Stanley Pool, has
eighty-two whites. There are only fiji
t,,a al
of whom are missionaries. Thirty-two
Danes and Swedes arc among the en-
ployes of the Congo state, and al
most to a man they are engaged i'll the
steamboat service, many of them being
engineers. The sixty-thrcc Italians on
the river are ut work on the railroad.
They were taken from southern Italy,
because the climate there is warm, and
it was thought they would endure hard
service in Africa better than workmcn
from north Europe. Tiicy are bosses or
section hands, who teach tho native
track graders how to perform their
labor, and they supcrintcnd the wor,-,
often taking Il hand themselves to show
the natives how the work should be
done.
The forty-fivc Egyptians are soldiers
imported from Egypt for the purpose of
setting good military example to the
native soldicry organized by the state.
Half the Egyptians are in the garrison
at Bona, and the other half are at
Leopoldville.
banana, the settlement ut the mouth
of the Congo, has now Il population of
only cightythrcc whites, and has been
surpassed by Lcopoldvillc in the in
terror. There are now more white men
ut each of half Il dozen posts on the up
per Congo than there were ut Leopold
vile, the chief point on the river, five
years ago.
White men on the Congo are finding
that with the introduction of more COM
forts from Europe, with Il supply of
better food on their tables, and with
medical attendance at number of the
more important stations, they can live
on the river in far better health than q
few years ago. The mortality now that
the river has Il white population of over
eight hundred people is hardly greater
than it was five years ago, when only
about two hundred white men lived
tborp