The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1915-11-06

- down the west coast of the
NG continent that Livingstone and
Stanley made famous until you
have crossed the equator and eac
the Congo river, direct your course up
that majestic stream and in due sea-
son you will come to the town OF
Boma-that is. provided you have the
right kind of atlas.
Bona doesn't cut much of a figure
on the map. 1t is the capital of Bel
gian Congo and Americans have been
content for the most part to let it go
at that. But since the war broke out
food supplies have been %curtailed, and
now the people of Belgian Congo are
having a chance to sample American
products.
Credit for the opening of this new
field is due to a Detroit man, Harry
A. Mcbride, American consul at Bona.
That portion of Africa with which
l am familiar offers unlimited posi-
bilities for American prospectors and
manufacturers said Mr.. Mcbride,
when last at home on vacation. Bel
gian Congo, for example, is one-third
as large as the United States. 1t has
5000, 900 natives and only 5000 whites.
One thousand miles up the Congo
river from the coast-and that is quite
a way, you know-are diamond and
gold concessions held by Americans
that are said to be among the best
in the world and only need developing.
There are about thirty American pros
pectors in the district now, nearly all
from California. There will probably
be more before there are less, for once
a movement of that nature gets start
ed it spreads rapidly.
Natives Kill P~rospectors.
"In spite of what commerce and
the missionaries have done, prospect
ing is still fraught with great danger
in many localities. for the natives har-
Dor intense hatred for the whites and
will kill them upon the slightest prov
ocation.
1T might seem that controlling
these savages would be a simple thing.
AS a matter of fact, they know all the
time what is taking place, and no mat.
ter how remote the village no white
man can enter it in such a way as to
surprise the natives. They are look
ing for you every time. One reason
for this lies in the splendid system Of
wireless communication they main
tain. A log is followed out, usually
a good-si1ed one. Over the ends oil
this are stretched dried leopard skins
forming a head, and when a native
armed with a heavy club or a hammer
pounds on this log there follows
penetrating boom that can be heard
for miles through the forest. They
seem to have a generally recognized
code of signals. and the coming o
strangers is passed along the line witt
astonishing rapidity.
There is another time when these
crude drums come into play. This ii
when the tax collector makes hi'
rounds. All the natives are supposed
to pay an annual head tax. ranginl
from 81 to S2.40, according to theil
employment and income. Naturally
the collector is unpopular. Conse
quently, as he makes his rounds thu
dull boom of drums reverberatei
through the jungle, and when hi
reaches a village he is liable to fine
only the chief and a handful of sub
jects. Where are the others of thu
tribe? All! With much weeping ant
many proteststions the chief asserts
that a plague swept over them anC
they are all dead excepting the faith
full few. The lie is palpable, but al
there is 10 way of determining thu
number of those liable to taxation tn,
receipts suffer very materially. Il
fact, since a cessation of the atroci
ties credited to King Leopold and hi
agents was forced the revenues o