The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-07-12


 formed that the principal chief at the town of Bena Kasenga, whose name was Queta, could hire out men under his con trol. went to Quota and requested him to allow me to hire some of his men, if he had no objection. made him a small present as was customary. Among the men hired was one called Mamba Lukanda, a long. gawky youth. who was an industrious and faithful worker, and of somewhat more than ordinary intel ligence. It was not long before Mamba Lukanda became quite attached to his new life and surroundings. One day my surprise was great at receiving visit from Quota. when the old chief informed me that he wanted Mamba back. As had told Quota that Mamba was to work for me for a year, and his name had been put upon my list declared to the Congo Government as a licensed laborer could not let him go. Queta was pro voklngly insistent. and Mamba was equally anxious not to go back. Then the truth leaked out. This was one of the usual cases of Bakete speculation. Quota had been offered a good price for Mamba by the Bakuba and it turned out that Mamba was a slave. I had not known this until the affair took this turn. The Bakuba were slaughtering slaves by the thousands just then. eel ebrating the funeral of their king, old Lukengu. To allow Quota to sell the boy would be sending him almost straight to death. So I steadily refused. Quota became enraged, stormed and ragged. I knew that was legally right under the laws of the State, but did not wish to cause rupture with this influential old Mukete.s I concluded that the best way to quiet Quota was to pay him the price of the boy, and then set the boy free and hire him. After a good deal of grumbling, Quota consented to this, and I paid him a quit-claim of five pieces of cloth. about forty yards, which cost there about five dollars. I told Mamba he was free. but If he was honest he would work for me and pay for his free dom as he became able to do so. At the market value of his monthly labor, he could save twenty-four yards of cloth per year, and thus pay back the price of his freedom in two years time. This he ultimately did, and left him a com plete free man.
 Many cases of this kind came to my notice as time went on. more than could possibly relieve or attend to, though did in this way obtain the re- demption of over fifty men. women and children. the cost varying from two to seven dollars each. I was limited in means or would have done more. This method was entirely legitimate, in strict accord with the laws of the Government, and was all that could do without re- sorting to an appeal to the Government to use force, which they were really not able to do then, and the use of which would certainly plunge the counery into bloody war. It was a reform which had to come gradually, and where force could free one man, proper influence could induce a native trader to cease his traffic. and thus save hundreds. I anti cipate the time. however, when war must come to end the system once and for all.
 The incident of Chala and her infant
 son, Kassongo. is one of the most illus
 trative and pathetic encountered. Chala
 was a Muluba woman who was at work
 at our station. She had been there some
 months. and had become very greatly at-
 tached to the place. the new life. the freedom and the happy security from past misery. One day, however, she came run ming up to me with her child in her arms scared and crying, saying that some Zappo-Zaps had come and wanted to take her and Kassongo away. Soon crowd
 gathered around, and the zappo-Zaps also put in appearance and the situation was ssu1phuric. The zappos were heavily l armed. and they are the most indepen- dent, not to say impertinent, tribe in the country. I managed to get Chala's story from her in broken accents, between sobs. and convulsive clasping of the child to her breast, about as follows:
 My husband was a Muluba, a slave of
 that Zappo-Zap there. He bought me
 from my master with his own cloth
 which he earned by working for the
 white man at Gallikoko. and then he
 married me. He died at Gallikoko. and
 then took my son Kassongo. and came
 here to work. My husband was the
 Zappo's slave. but I was my husbands g
 slave. and when he died I ought to he free" Then a long drawn wall of ter TOT. To this the Zap grimly replied q could hardly help a reluctant admiration for his villainous sharpness and Aristo- tleian logic):
 well. whoever you belong to, the boy was my slaves son and belongs to me-"
 There was no denying the correctness saw the force of 1t. With a wild cry of despair Chala seized the child more firm ly to her bare bosom, and broke into a mad run to the bushes followed by the shouting natives. One of these latter ex- plained to me that unless frustrated in her design she mgiht herself kill the child rather than have 1t to fall into the hands
 of the slavers. It was the custom of these
 slavers very often to sell the mother and
 keep the child to make him one of their
 warriors, if he gave promise of strength and sense.
 I bade the work people to catch the
 woman and bring her back and when this was done and she came trembling back. sbe fell on her knees and threw sand on her breast, imploring me to save her and her child. I had no cloth for the purpose but Ngoma, a Mukongo from the coast. who had settled in a town of his l own behind me, solved the dilemma by proposing to buy the woman and her child
 and to keep her on his place. To this the Zaps consented. and the affair closed for | the time.
 Chaia was happily settled near by and her child grew and became a fine healthy | child. and the last saw of the child wal his little brown body scampering over the grounds. happy as a lark. Bundu, thG Portuguese octaroon Christian. my valet
 took special delight in redeeming these
 slaves, especially the children, and spent
 most of his earnings in that way. He had
 a regular household of little orphan waifs
 and strays. rescued in this way, whose
 antics were amusing to us all. and whose
 devotion to Bundu was passionate. Tc | see him with his family" trying to teacf
 them. feeding them. putting them to sucf little work as they could do, and acting the Godfather generally. was one of tht
 most pleasurable moments I enjoyed.
 could see that in every one of these pool little wretches Bundu was recalling hii own early life, and that he remembered
 his own sufferings. It was the mos