The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-05-16
excel in scientific heading" Of the

excel IN OF the
ball.
Crossing the semliki into the Congo
Beige carter passing Ruwenzori, the
Mountains Of the Moon). the travellers
got some excellent pictures Of croco-
dies. Here the march through the
forest began. and on the Irumu trail
the first really primitive" Africans
were encountered. the ~cx-canndbsl
Bahema. They have none of the gaudy
trappings favored by those who live
carer the centres and routes of trade.
no glass beads and cheap print cloth.
Their ornaments. tools and weapons
are all OF native workmanship. They
skilfully forge iron and copper
wire into necklaces, arm bands and
anklets. They cook In large clay pots
OF native workmanship decorated with
r~udimentary designs. The men are big
and strong. but the women do the
work. The women's lips are pierced
for the wearing OF wooden plugs. and
a wooden skewer Is worn through
the nostrils. Along the travelled trails
cicatrization and dlshguration are
going out OF fashion. but in the re-
motcr districts these tribal markings
are as much practised as ever.
After the Bahema some pigmy
tribes were met. and In the heart Of
the forest the Walese. n warlike people
still cannibal. An uprising among them
was momcntarily expected. and their
subjusation promised to be no easy
task. The custom house at Irumu had
n stan including two Germans. three
Frenchmen. two Danes. two Dutch
men. a Norwegian. a Swede and a
Boer. but no Englishman. II IL badly
located for a frontier post. The white
officials send nearly two miles for their
drinking water. The Indian traders
are firmly established there.
At Avakubi the travellers saw n
m%ournful reminder OF the old days Of
rubber exploitation. The place is APP
preached through n long plantation
Of barren rubber trees. a monument to
a huge investment that never yielded
any return:
The soil Of the Haut fturi has not sum.
Glen, nourishment or lacks the proper
chemical ingredients to make rubber tree
planting profitable. The s,upendous waste
OF money and 0rort 10 seen In the i'm
menss and abandoned plantations, from
which. 90 far as we could ascertain. no
return whatever has been gathered.
Three or four years ago Avakubi must
have been a nourishinE station. but now
the carefully laid out walks are crum-
bling away. and the brick ohhcea and
onicials' dwellings are falling into ruin.
Only a few were occupied. Avakubi has
at present no commercial existence. yet
during the days Of the company and Wild
| rubber prosperity ten. sometimes fourteen.
| canoes a week left here for Basoko. There
were but three lonely officials and half
n dozen native soldiers left to represent
the Government.
No part Of this travellers story Is
more interesting than his scattered
references in the last part OF his book
to the reminders OF Staniey's expedi-
tons. 1t was at Banalia. where now
the traveller westward enters the
stronghold Of the sleeping sickness,
that the leader OF Stanley's rear COL
umn. Major Barttelot. was killed by a
treacherous native. In the native VII
lage back Of the post the travellers
came upon an old chief. Lupo. a tall
old man. with a face deeply pltted
with smallpox yet dlgnined in appear
ance as a chief should be. and on that
very day turning v his chieftain-
ship TO a younger man; Lupo. who
had been Stanley's guide up river
Here. too. they got a film showing a
smith OF the Banalia making spear
heads. knives and swords and welding
massive iron armlets on the wrists
and forearms of the new headman
The Banalia negroes are experts al
ironwork.