Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-07

that the Belgians were to suppress the slave
trade, to put down cannibalism and to
shoulder the sixteen millions of seYages
IN the country well on the way TO civiliza-
tlon They were to take all the RESPONSE
bllity and pay all the bills and the rest of
the world was to have share of the
profits.
Since that time however, Belgium has
been spending money on the Congo right
along. 1t has put out bonds to the amount
of more than thirty illion dollars. and the
money has gone into building public works
making piers and improving the river. The
bonds have been issued. however, that
they give Belgium the right to annex the
Congo if she does not demand the money
for them. The result of this is that Lei
GUM practically owns the Congo today.
the Belgians will never give it up. and it
is as much Belgian territory as the Philip
pines are United States territory.
Belgian Africa.
The Congo basin belonging to Belgium is
one of the best slices of Africa. 1t contains
an enormous territory, extending across the
greater part of the African continent 1t is
seventy times as large as Belgium itself
and about one-fourth as large the whole
United States. 1t has 100000 square miles.
and no one yet knows how many people. l
have seen 1t estimated all the way from
fifteen millions to thirty millions, and there
are some who say it is double the latter
ropeanS, of whom more than half are Bel
gians. There are thirty Americans. ninety
eight English and large number of Portu-
guese, Italians, Dutch. Germans and men
II ON other countries of Europe.
The natives are negroes divided up into
many tribes, some large and some
small. There are tribes which num-
Der a hundred thousand and some which
can be counted by hundreds. Each tribe Is
known by its tattoo marks, but they are
all negroes, and some fine looking.
Others, such as the pygmes, are very
small, the men averaging about four feet
in height and the women much less. These
pygmies are much like our Negritoes. They
are different from the rest of the people,
in that they have no fixed villages. living
in brushwood huts, shifting their camps
from place to place.
Every one of these African tribes has its
king or chief, who has power of life and
death over his subjects. The Belgians deal
largely with the kings. They have bought
some lands of them, and they rule the ma
tives through them. The majority of the
people live in villages surrounded by high
stockades. There is a great difference in
the houses. Many are built of grass fas-
tened to framework of bamboo. There are
no such things chimneys or windows. A
fire is kept burning in the center of the
nut, and It's smoke gets out it can,
ering everything with SCOT Only the kings
and queens nave beds In their hutS; the
common people sleep on the floor.
Each village has its garden and palm
grove. The chief food products are pea
nuts and mandioca, the roots of the latter
forming the native bread. which is made
with fermented palm sap for yeast
Most of the work is done by the women.
They cultivate the gardens make the bread
and do the cooking. Some of the men are
fishers and hunters, and in some tribes
they have trades. being blacksmiths tai
lorS and house builders. Everything how
ever, is of the rudest description, and most
of the tribes are barbarous to an extreme.
Slavery and Cannibalis,n.
The Belgians claim that they are trying
to put down slavery, but their enemies say
they are forcing them to work their plan
tations. There is 10 doubt but that slavery
is still common in the greater part of the
territory. 1t has been SO for ages, and it
will take long time to break it up.
In times past slaves have been raised not
only for work, but for food. There are
some tribes In which human flesh is sold
the slaves being fattened with bananas.
fish and oil, that they may bring better
prices. The flesh of men is said to be
worth more than that of women and to
have d better flavor.
Many of the slaves are taken in war,
and common taunt of a Congo cannibal
to his adversary is:
you shall rest in my stomach tomor-
row."
The most common of the slave traders
have been the Arabs, who have gradually
moved down from northern Africa. They
are shrewder and Drawer than the Congo
negroes, and in the past they have made
a business of dealing in ivory and slaves.
Bands of them will collect a lot of ivory.
forcing the villagers to aid them in doing
so. They then kill off the useless members
of the village and force the others to carry
the ivory to the seacoast, where they sell
both ivory and bearers, the latter going as
slaves. In the interior slaves have been
very cheap. A bottle of gin a fair
price for one, and a few beads. buttons or
bright colored cloths was enough to buy a
whole family.