Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1894-07-19

he was found out. There I'm. ~.
nnrkablc tribe that delietl tho him -. te
dsed asscgais at his tax-gatherers s ny aao
We're the cave dwcllers of TSotan n0
and Msidis soldiers never donaa
follow them into their undarrsou
retreats. Msidi received his f, rst
itols very kindly, but when thn rov W.
state sent Its officers into tho Lana SVa .s
E!ng Made up his mind that the conn ruo
Try was not big enough for two sets ~
rulers. one day be raised a spear "a
throw af Capt. Bods2n. when the Euro a.
geon quick as flash, slot the I'D max
DEAD, and received his own daa a
Wounds from the blackssy around 81
most before Asldi fell. Now white st ~,
lions are scattered over, the ,cd,,n ~
and the native power is parceled o;t
among dozen small chiefs. who hova
sworn to be faithful subjects of the tho
sovereign Of the Congo State. 'Ae
An Ancient Empire CSuma,sa \
Inc strangest news from Africa IN .
long time was that the empirc If tho
Muata Yamvo had tumbled to niaca .e
Centuries before the world knew wha.
central Africa was the fame Of tha
Muata Yamvo. as the ruler of Iundo
was called, had reached beyond tho
sens. Geographers speculated inpe e%e
iously as to the position of the kincS"ss
a nas:gs traveller once Described his
itinerary to the capital of Lundo ons s
geosra piers used these data to fix thu
position Of the kings big town Tho ov
placed 1t on the maps about 800 mil es
from where 1t reilly was. The Gar'
mans and Portuguese have told w.
about all we know of Lunda. with It's
large population. it's Astounding hards
and its strange division of the snnrem us
power between the Muata Yamyn and
one OF his sisters. The statesmen NJ
the Berlin congress did not think ~ =
was wise for the Congo State to med.
die with the ugly customer in the south
ana they carefully drew the boundary
line SO as to exclude Lunda. They did
not know that ut that very time the
Muata Yamvo was beset with enemies
on all his borders, who Were whiting
OF big slices of his territory. There
seemed to be simultaneous movement
on all sides to despoil him, and he was
finally left with the mere vestige of his
former power and territory. He is no
longer feared, and Portugal and the
Congo State have agreed how they will
divide Luida between them.
A few weeks ago, Il steamer took Be.
hanzln, the young king of Dahomey,
away to an island home, and it is
doubtfls If he ever sees Africa again
He is the victim Of vanity. If he had
known enough to respect the treaty be
signed with the French he would have
been lor,ling it over his women war.
riors today. But he resumed his raids
for slaves into French territory, where
he had promised never to encroach
again, and when the French protested
he told them he would drive them into
the sea, and he really believed he could
do it. A few months later he was
skulking a wretched fugitive, in the
bush north Of Dahomey, where long
season Of semi-starvation finally Undue.
ed him to give himself up. There will
be no more Of the terrible human sac.
rifices that gave Dahomey its evil re.
pute.
So all these kings, and Lo Bengula,
whose tragic fate is we'll known, and
many of lesser note, have fallen, and
there is left now only Lewanika, on
the upper Zambesi who has big coun-
try and many thousands Of subjects.
He is sensible sort of barbarian,
and although he does not yearn for q
knowledge of the gospel, he takes q
very practical view Of the white teach.
ers WHO have come to him. He be.
lieves that If his people learn how to
read and write, and especially If they
become expert as carpenters, black.
smiths, cabinet makers and so on, his
power and prosperity will be increased.
He says he wants his people to become
wise like the Europeans The land Of
the Barotse is so extremely unhealthful
that white men are not likely to go
there in any numbers. The throne Of
Lewanika bids fair to be long conspi
cious as the sole survivors of the old re
gime of powerful African kings.
CYRUS G. ADAMS, in Globe-Demo'
crat.