The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1891-03-21

Intrepid Explorer Bingsr the First One
to Enter the Cay of Kong.

| to Enter the Cay Of Kong.
Kong. Mohammedan city. far up
the Akba River. which flows into the
Gulf OF Guinea. had never been seen
by white man before Capt. Binger, the
intrepid French explorer. entered II Ia
February. 1888. On the coast there
have been for years vague stories OF
Kong and its people. Mohammedan
negroes. and Capt. Bingcr found that
these accounts had more basis than
most Of the reports OF cities In in
terror Africa. In his narrative he
says:
Several hours before we reached
Kong there were evidences that We
were approaching a great center.
Everywhere all the timber had been
cut down. aud the soil. impoverished
by long cultivation. was barren. I
saw not even hill anywhere. The
Kong mountain chain. which appears
on all the maps, exists only in the
imagination OF some incorrectly in
formed travellers. Soon / saw rising
among the bombax and palm trees far
ahead the minarets on the mosques
and the fiat roofs OF Kong. AS Fem
tered the city. modestly mounted on a
steer. l saw large crowds. OF people.
who appeared neither friendly nor hos
tile. but only eager 10 see European.
The roofs. the trees. the streets the
crossroads were full of people. and |
would not have been able TO force my
way through IL the slaves of the Chief OF
Kong had not cleared n way for me.
They were armed with whips and viy-
orously dashed all who Jagged in their
path. In chairs under two great trees
in the market-place were seated, on
the right King Karamokho Oulo and
his friends, and on the left the Diara-
wary. Chief of Kong. aud his officials.
There was perfect silence In the two
groups, which / estimated to number
about thousand persons. Ii was an
assembl GO OF tho patrlarchs. for near
ly all were whlte-bearded. elderly men.
They were fully aud neatly dressed la
Arab costume, though they are full
blooded negroes. After | had sue
cessiye,y presented myself 10 the chiefs
OF the two groups the King conducted
me TO his palace and placed at my dis
position some of his attendants. who
endeavored with only partial success
to shield me from public curiosity.
confess that when saw Kong. which
| was first to visit. | did not feel any
Of the emotions which some other trav-
elers on the Niger and at Timbuctoo
have described. And yet Kong and its
suppositious mountains have greatly
perplexed geographers. and have given
rise 10 many hypothesis. Kong Is
large. unwalled town, whose buildings
are OF clay. with fiat roofs. Ii Is built
In a most irregular manner. and it's
narrow tortuous streets radiate from a
large place about 700 feet square. which
serves rs market. The town has
population OF about 10. 200. all Moanm-
medans. aud there are live large mos
ques. surmounted by minarets and
several others OF smaller dimensions.
Education is well advanced in this re-
gion.
In Kong there are few who cannot
read. They all write Arabic. are well
yersed in the Koran aud TO my sur
prise found that they are not ianatical
like the Peuls and Arabs. They recog-
nize three great religions. which they
call roads--the road of Moses. that OF
Jesus, and that OF Mohammed. In
conversation on religious topics no one
attempted TO demonstrate that Islam
was superior TO the other religions.
Many OF them told me they considered
the three religions to be practically
Identical. because they all led TO the
same God They said there were great
and holy prophets among the cham
pions of all these religions. and there
was no reason to proclaim one better
than another. The commerce of Kong
is very ilourishing. The market Is
vertablc fair. Besides all sorts of
provisions. one may procure there Eu-
ropcan articles coming from the coast.
such rs cloths guns. powder. aud
hardware. There are also many do
nestle products in the market The
money consists OF cowry shells and
erc IA hat