The Lehi banner. [volume] (Lehi, Utah) 1891-1917, 1891-08-28
WHITE MEN ON THE CONGO
They Have Increased Pourfold within
the Tast Few Years.


They Have Increased PourfoId within
the 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.
tinue the various phases Of his work..
There are now, says the New York
Sun. over eight hundred white men on
the Congo over one-third of them are
in the service Of the Congo stntc, while
the others are engaged in trading and
missionary enterprises. In 1889 Bona,
the capital of the Free state, contained
the greatest number uf whites but last
year II was surpassed by Matadi. which
is at the head Of navigation on the
lower Congo Matadi has gone ahead
because II Ia the starting point Of the
Congo railroad. and most of the whites
at that place ave engaged in building
the road
Matadi now has white population OF
one hundred and sixty-ninc souls, while
Bona has ten less Bona Is the scat
OF government, and also the place
where a number of important European
trading firms make their headquarters.
Ithas a railroad leading from the wharf
up TO the sanitarium, the hotel, and the
government buildings on the heights
away from the river With It's con,id-
cradle native population and the large
variety Of business transacted therr
Bona is a very busy little place.
Lcopoldville, the chief settlement on
the upper river az stanley Pool has
oighty-two whites There are only If.
teen Americans on the river, nearly all
OF whom ore missionaries. Thirty-two
Danes and Swcdes are among the en-.
ploycs Of the Congo state and al.
most 10 man they are engaged in the
steamboat service, many OF them being
engineers The sixty-three Italians on
the river are at work on the railroad.
They were taken from southern italy,
because the climate there is warm, and
IL was thought they would endure hard
service in Africa better than workmen
from north Europe They are bosses or
section hands, who teach the native
track graders how 10 perform their
labor, and they superintend the work,
often taking hand themselves TO show
the natives how the work should be
done.
The forty-ave Egyptians are soldiers
imported from Egypt for the purpose of
setting n good military example to the
native soldiery organized by the state.
Half the Egyptians are in the garrison
nj Bona. and the other half are at
Lcopoldvillc
Banana. the settlement at the mouth
of tho Congo, has now n population of
only eighty-threc whites. and has been
surpassed by Leopoldville in the in
terror, There are now more white men
at each of half a dozen posts on the up.
per Congo than there were at Leopold
Vile, tho 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 a 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 n
few years ago The mortality now that
the river has white population of ov or
eight hundred people is hardly greater
than II was five years ago, when only
about two hundred white men lived
there.