The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1916-02-19
1SCOVERING a vast new dia
mond field which the smart
est and widest awake of men


est and widest awake of men
in the diamond mining bust
ness didn't know anything about; dis
covering new tribe of African say.
ages in the very heart of the dark
continent which the smartest and wild
est awake OF professors didn't know
much about: getting shot at by hordes
OF resentful natives; barely escaping
being powdered into medicine" for
native use; suffering the chills and
1evers and tortures Of malaria and
other jungle diseases and coming safe
ly through it not only alive and com
paratively well but also with an inval-
liable collection from the art and eth
nologlcal standpoint of savage musi-
cal instruments, idols, fetiches. grass
weaving and instruments of warfare.
this in a paragraph is the star
Ting accomplishment of Frank NJ
Rapp. a young American mining engi-
neer. who recently landed in New
York from his expedition, still shak-
ing with fever.
The Bachokes of the great tribe of
the Bantus is the name OF the new
tribe that Mr. Rapp and his party dis
covered. 1t is all in one the richest,
the LATEST. the most immoral and the
most interesting of all the tribes OF in
terror Africa. To get to it you have
to sail up the great Congo river as far
as 1t is possible to float anything on
1t and dodge native bullets which
come as thick sometimes as a dozen
to the mile. And after you can go no
farther on the river it is necessary
to hire hundred or so natives and
go walking the rest Of the way just as
the famous Stanley did so many years
ago. A.
Live on Lofty Plateau.
The country of these Bachokes Is a
plateau about 200 feet in the air.
Only the river valleys are inhabited as
the sections between the rivers are but
little else than a desert waste. The
grass on the plateau is from eight to
fifteen feet high. while that in the val
leys only comes to the disgustingly
low height OF four or five feet. Here
the Bachokes reside and here too
reside some amazingly valuable dia-
mond fields-just how valuable and
just how situated Mr. Rapp refuses
to say for purely business reasons.
According to Mr.. Rapp the Bachokes
are p fairly wealthy tribe as far as
wealth among the African savages
goes. They are wealthy enough. the
men are. to sit around all day and
smoke and gossip. while the women
work the fields
As was the case with many an
other modern fortune the wealth Of
the Bachokes was founded upon the
misfortune and exploitation of their
fellow men. The Bachokes were the
original slave traders. They we're at
the source of the evil Upon them
It fell to attack the weaker tribes in
the interior Of Africa and to take cap
tive all that they did not slay or leave
dying Of wounds. These prisoners
we're passed on to the tribes inhabit-
ing the coast, who, In turn at the great
slave port Of st. Paul Loanda on the
west coast sold them to English,
American and other traders for Euro
pean and American consumption.
Through their shaving operations
the Bachokes came to roll In wealth.
II II Z poor Bachoke indeed who can
not wear 1t least three strings Of blue
sno red beads, buy very costly and
powerful spirit medicines from the
medicine man, keep . wife or two toll