River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1899-08-31
SAVED FROM CANNIBALS.
An OLD Negroes Appeal FOR Help AZ
HIS Captors Bore Him To-
ward the Congo.

n
HIS Cnptors Bore Him To-
ward the Congo.
The stories that missionaries send
home often throw vivid light upon he
dark and savage conditions that encom-
pass them. One of the teachers of this
American Baptist Missionary union, il.
his annual report, tells of a recent in
cident that occurred far up the Cong.
river among the natives living around
the shores of Lake Tumba, only a short
distance south of the big river.
Early one Sunday morning, as the
missionary and his wife were prepar-
ing for the duties Of the day, they heard
shout from the lake. An old man was
seen seated in a canoe, which a number
OF stalwart fellows We're padding as
fast as they could toward the little
rives that carries the waters of the lake
to the Congo, few miles north. The
old man was crying in a frantic and
despairing voice:
"Mpebe ma Monkasa."
These were the names by which the
missionary and his wife are known to
the natives. The old fellow called them
again and again, till he saw the white
man and his wife standing on the beach.
| Then he shouted to them
"Oh, come and save me! They are
taking me away to kill and eat me.
The missionary understood the situa-
ton at once. The place Is not more
| than a days travel from the mouth of
the great Mobangi tributary of the Con-
go. The banks of the Mobangi are
| lined with cannibal tribes, and it is one
of the greatest hotbeds OF cannibalism.
| Explorers have often told of the canoes
| SEM out from these tribes to the dis
| tricts little south of the Congo for no
| other purpose than TO buy slaves or
steal men to carry away to their homes
for their cannibal feasts. Here was an
/ old friend of the missionaries who had
fallen into the power Of these savage
! foragers. Not moment was to be
| lost, for the canoe was shooting past
the station and rapidly approaching
| the foot of the lake.
At word from the white man half
| dozen young blacks launched a canoe
in the lake and piled their paddles with
all their might. 1t was an exciting
chase. The cannibals, seeing they were
pursued, redoubled their energies to
reach the river a few miles north of
| them. 1t was boat race in dead earn
est, and the stake was human life.
| There were six of the purscers and
only four of the fugitive canoemen.
/ The chasing party had a larger sum
total of muscle, and this advantage be-
gan to tell. Slowly the missionary boat
gained on the cannibais, who saw at
last that they would certainly be caught
before they reached the river. Then
/ they padded like mad for the shore,
and the pursuers were only a few boat
lengths from them as they ran their
canoe up on the beach.
| The cannibals jumped out and three
of them made their escape into the
woods, carrying with them consider
able quantity of brass wire, the form
of money they use in buying slaves.
/ The fourth man was made a prisoner
and was taken back to the missionary
settlement with the poor old captive,
who was now trembling with joy as
a few moments before he had quaked
with fear. The missionary says that
if he had not called for help he would
probably have been killed before night.
The expected then happened. OF
course, the savages did not relish the
idea of returning to their people with
out any victim and with one of their
/ party missing. The white man felt GER
tain they would try to ransom their
comrade and, sure enough, the crest
| fallen maneaters after little while APP
peared within hailing distance. They
had brass wire, they shouted, and how
much did the white man want in ex-
change for their friend lie wanted all
they had, and after considerable parley-
/ ing a lot of wire was brought half way
to the station. The old man said he
was sure this wire was all his captors
had in the canoe, and finally it was ac-
cepted and the prisoner released. The
men probably made their way as best
| they could back to their tribe. The
wire was worth only 81, but the mis-
sionary says this was enough to keep
the old man in food for over nine
months, and the fair inference is that
| the cost of living on the upper Congo
has been reduced to bedrock basis.
The Congo State is vigorously sup
pressing cannibalism as far as its in
fiuence extends, and therefore the ma
tives who indulge in the practice no
longer dare, in accordance with their
former custom, to send large expedi-
/ tons out to buy slaves. Now and then,
however, small party engage in the
hazardous business, hoping by the
smallness of their numbers to escape
the attention of the whites.-N. Y. Sun.