The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1898-09-10
II N STATE.
Ready for Tourists IL They Dare {
Venture.

Ready for Tourists IL They Dare to
Venture.
The report drawn up by Mr.. w. c.
Pickersgill, British consul at Bona on
the Congo, on the condition of the Con-
go Independent State, which has just
been issued by the London Foreign Of
flee, is full of interest. There is also
a certain amount of humor infused into
1t that prevents it's perusal becoming
tedious. Mr.. Pickersgill's report ap-
pears to have been compiled chiefly
with a view to serving as a kind of
guide book to the intending tourist,
who, he says, must be a well-salted ami
NAL or a man prepared to die. With
this introduction he promises the ex-
cursionist who escapes ~dysentery and
fever a journey practically without dan
ger and supremacy interesting. The
trip to Stanley Pool from the mouth Of
the Congo is now much like one
through any country traversed by rail,
but from there on to Stanley Falls near
the point where the twenty-ffth meri-
dian east crosses the equator, about a
AAiiSS u ClAClp IN
passes through a domain of unreclaim-
ed savagery. Every few miles a new
tribe is met with language differing
from that of the one just left behind,
and no common language has yet been
invented or found capable of serving
for a medium of intercourse between
the administration and it's subjects or
Aor ~ 4-o1A Nv Dtp1yorcni Ill
believes that, with the best intentions
in the world, no government will be
able to bring the tribes scattered over
the immense area comprised within the
borders of the Congo State into a con.
dition Of national cohesion without a
certain amount of hammering. Below
Stanley Pool what is known as Xxi
Congo is generally understood, but
ceases to be understood above that
point. Above the Pool the country is
cut up into a labyrinth of channels and
tributaries of the main river, and the
native towns and government stations
that reveal themselves at distant in
tervals appear more like RATS upon a
deluge than parts of continent. The
Basin Of the Congo" is a term accur-
ately describing the country. The I'M
healthfulness of the most accessible
parts of the Congo State is a permanent
impeachment to it's progress and %consol-
idation; it seems to prey upon Euro
pean life. 1t is estimated that of every
ten whites sent out as officials nine are
either buried or invalided within three
years, and a calculation made showed
that the employees of the largest Bel,
gian trading company, a hundred and
twenty in number, maintained an av-
erage service of only seven months
out Of W years, for which they en-
gagged. Not more than 2 per cent oil
the Europeans, including the mission,
aries, who go out to the Congo, possess
constitutions capable Of resisting the
climate. With all these drawbacks the
tokens of successful effort which meet
the traveller are, Mr.. Pickersgill says
astonishing. At the same time he
seems to doubt whether the native is
much benefited. The white man car
never prove his claim to sole possession
by surviving as the t%ittest, and without
native cooperation nothing can be
done. The prohibition of the traffic il
liquid poisons is productive of good re.
suits, and the suppression of intertriba.
warfare within the sphere of influence
of the administration has created {
ems Of security making for improved
conditions. Cannibalism still exists
but is gradually disappearing befor,
what Is called public opinion, ~reinforc
ed probably by the halter or the rifle
Slave trading is or the way to aboli
ton and the natives are being drilled
into the habit of regular work" TIL
administration has made some effort
to institute a system of education, anC
schools under the Roman Catholic mis-
sionaries have been opened at severa
points, but the language difficulty
among the waits and strays composine
the pupils almost proves insuperable
The British and American Protestant
missionaries prefer to devote them.
selves to particular districts, and max,
their instruction local rather than gen,
eral.-EX.