The new age. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1902-190?, 1902-08-02
AN EDUCATIONAL EXPEP=
IMENT WITH CANNIBALS
THE CHARACTERISTICS AND PRO
eRess OF TWO BOYS FROM
CENTRAL AFRICA WHO ARE
IN AN AMERICAN SCHOOL.
One a Son Of a Chief, the other the
Son Of a Fisherman.
(By Samuel p. Werner of Stillman
Institute. Alabama.) y.

the relative conditions of men which
the last fey wears have been working
over the world
These African lads came into my
charge in the country of the Lunda
highlands of Central Africa several
, ears ago. at the time of the Belgian
cx- edition against the Arabs. IL may
be remembered that Kitchener's ad-
vance against the Mahdi from Egypt
was simultaneous with a movement
against the murderers of Emin Pasha
from the mouth of the Congo as a base
by Baron Dhanis, one of the success
sors of Henry NJ. Stanley. Dhanis as
cended the Congo. and then its great
est southern tributary, the Kasai, at
whose sources he recruited allies
from the Batetela tribe for the war
against the Arabs. Among these Ba-
tetela, were these two boys, Kassongo
Lusuna and Kondola Mukusa-
The elder lived at the large African
town between the Lomami and the
Lualaba rivers. At the time of this
expedition he was about twelve years
old. and the Batetela soldiers. Dhanis'
allies, took him along with other boys
to carry ammunition and food. Kas-
songo was present at the battle of Ny
angwe, when the Arabs were so sing
nally routed, and when the Batetela
are said to have Toasted on the re-
mains of their foes. Kassongo ad-
mits this canabalism; but he says it
was practiced because the Arabs used
to capture his people and feed them 10
the Manuema when meat was scarce,
and that his countrymen were deter
mined to avenge themselves in kind.
1t is just to Dhanis to say that he was
not responsible for this savagery on
the part of his anthropophagistic
allies.
Dhanis induced many of the Batetela
soldiers to take military service under
the Belgian government. These Ba-
tetela became famous all over Central
Africa for their bravery. intelligence
and industry. They were the main de-
pendence of the government in sub
DUNG refractory natives, and in es-
tablishing its authority over the i'm
mense domain given Co Belgium by
the Berlin conference. Many boys ac-
companied their elders to the posts
of the government, among these were
Kassongo and Kondola, child of the
Bakussu branch of the Batetela tribe.
Kassongo was the nephew of the Ba-
tetela king. an consequently he be-
longs to the African nobility. and. ac-
cording to the usage common in many
! tribes. he is the heir to the throne.
Kondola is a plebeian, the son of a
fisherman.
The country in which the boys lived
is the most remote from outside in.
fiuence of all Africa. The Batetela
had known less of the European civil.
lization than any people on earth. The
territory is two thousand miles from
either coast, and just south of the
equator. 1t lies beyond the heads OF
navigation of the rivers and not even
the ubiquitous Portuguese had trav
ersed it before Stanley met the Ba
tetela, and was forced ITO fight his way
down the Congo through them. Thes,
mem were ouch confirmed canibali
that it has been repeatedly assertec
that they ate their own dead and ha;
bone yards instead of cemeteries
They had repealed all attempts at con
quest, and their name was a synonym
for terror over an area larger thai
Texas. Kassongo and Kondola
therefore, were types of as savage
people as could be found on the globe
+ When the commandant of the for
, to which these volunteers went foun
, such a large camp-following of boy
, and women attached to his allies, h
. was puzzled to know what to do wit
r them. The predicatment becam
: most serious when the Batetela VIII
. had remained at home broke out int
Z rebellion against the Belgian author
/ ity. and thus rendered it impossible
A for any of the others to return or I
O be sent back. The commandant deciC
: ed to distribute the boys among tn
4 neighboring traders and missionarie
@ under the agreement that they shoul
y be cared for and educated in retur
@ for their labor. and duly restored I
If their free citizenship upon reachin
:. their majority. In this way the tW
Is lads finally fell to my charge. whel
h was at Wissmann Falls, at the hes
d of navigation of the great Kasai. Ka
m songa was then about fourteen, ar
IN Kondola ten years fage. parentles
at homeless waits from the great tide
mr. surging humanity in the recesses
remote Ethiopia. Thus they BEGAN