Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1922-06-30
BUTLER WRITES
FROM BELGIAN CONGO
FORMER LITTLE FALLS BOY
TELLS OF COUNTRY HE HAS
BEEN EXPLORING
CONTINUED from Pare III


with brilliant plumage. One some
bank also. ) - .@,s.- - -.
Basoka is an old state post and there
used at the time when the Belgians
and English drove the Arab slave trad;
ers out of the country. Basoka is the
post Of the Commissioner of the Aru-
by small steamer to Yambuya, a, trip
Of two days. Yambuya is an old post
OF stanley's. From here I started for
Banaiia with dug.outs up the Aruwimi
the many. rapids in the Aruwimi River
a steam boat can go no further up
stream than Yambuya. l left Yambuya
one morning with three large dug
of my supplies and the other two dug
outs We're loaded with supplies. Each
dug-out had ten native paddlers and a
to keep the men padding. 1t is neces-
sary for natives to sing and make lot
of noise in order to work we'll. If they
foat plenty noise they work hard ana
Otherwise they lament the fact that
they have to work. The first day out
Of va aam e" it Vas vas necessary to- cross
and one Of the others got through
alright. but the third struck big rock
and the current drove the dug-out
bgoe 3%6 pa gSek a and the
gage went to the bottom of the river.
The paddlers swan to safety. They
then called other natives and finally
tished everything out of the river.
Cal instruments were practically ruined
and had to spend a day on the river
bank adjusting, them and drying out
clothing. obtained another dug out
and continued on % Banalia with no
further mishaps. At Banalia there
We're three white men. state man, a
that ts1 region ao and iu six days to The North
Of there for about three months and
then moved on towards post caEed
Medic. This was trip of fifteen
carried by eight natives. In all 1 had
some two hundred porters carryins
boxes and various supplies =, With
caravan like that one generally travels
about five hours eacn morning. In
each village the native chief appears
and makes you present ot some
chickens and eggs but he expects your
the value of the chickens and eggs.
source of the Nava River. After being
in that region for short time re-
ceived cable from Europe to look
over the region to the south and south
east Of Avakubi. This was a journey
Of over three weeks over land t. get
journey in the usual fashion as de-
scribed above. in hammock or teepo
as it is called here. l finally arrived
at a little village called Banana in
wana natives as they are known here
At this point | sent men ahead to cut
a trail to the south: towards the lturl
River and l followed with the porters.
The first day in the bush I came on to
a camp composed of pygmies, some two
hundred Of them. l was right behind
the men with the knives who were
cutting the trail and we surprised the
pygnies. They did not know we were
any where near by. They all jumped
to their feet and saluted and one or
them who could talk SWahlll oHered TO
give me couple Of his men as guides:
These two men arrived with me that
evening where l pitched my tent and
made camp but said they would return
turn with meat for me the next. day.
The next day I saw nothing of the
pygmies and the day after that re-
turned to their camp to look over some
deserted their village. This region
| was in is part of what is known as
the lturi Forest and it is one mass OF
ahead of you into the bush for moro
than two or three feet at the most.
This place is Inhabited by pygmies on
ly. The larger natives are on the bls
in this part of the big forest for nearly
three years. 1t was over a. year after
passed through the pygmy Village be-
fore saw another p if13G 20 The ne RyEmy
white man. They pay no taxes because
the tax collector never can find them:
Ny first ten months in this forest !
made ma ca arrangements with the Mong-
Wana natives on the trail to brlns
bananas, rice, manioc, ETC., in TO my
camp for my workmen ana a. cn l1oi,';as
have no plantations and seldom any
fowls. After ten months time l was
joined by another white man, M:
Smith, an American engineer also. we
worked together for few months ana
Mr.. Smith returned to Europe leavlng
me alone again Shortly after this
received orders to start exploration III
the region l was in. l had about =
hundred native workmen to start with
and hundred natives with their FAM,
lies consume good many bananas ana
ments with the Mongwanas for the
bananas, rice, manloc, etc., out TOT
meat it was necessary to make ar
sible as that is their principal occupa-
tion hunting. i had almost given up
trying to get in communication with
them when one day five of these 1Ittle
said that they had heard my bugle
and came to- see what l was doing.
Zach man carried spear and DOW
to be the chief of quite large tribe I,e
of pygmies in the vicinity. re also aiSo
talked good Swahili. l asked him
why he did not bring me meat ana ne
with his men that evening; l gave
him some salt, which is highly priced
by the natives and few other little
things and he said he would return IN
for me: In the morning he returned
with three large clay pots filled with
honey and informed me that ne was
leaving to get his hunting nets, spears
etc, and that his men were willing TO
hunt for me for month. He SAID ne
would return in three days and sure
enough he did. Then he said he want
ed day to fix up a camp and that the
The third day he arrived with three
antelopes about the size of goats and
alive. not dead. The antelopes are
trapped in nets and caught and their
fight and the pygmy spears them but
Generally they are caught alive. After
that l had no trouble about meat. The
pygmies brought in antelopes' wild
pygmy chiefs arrived with their hunt
ers and hunted for me also. These
pygmies stayed and hunted for me un-
til about eight months later when
At this time they disappeared. sent
word to them to come back and tell
me why they had left so unceremon-
iously. They sent back word that they
did not know the other white man and
were afraid he might want them to
work with a shovel in the creek as the
workmen were doing. l finally assured
them that this was not the case and
they returned and hunted Tor me- AGAIN ar
ing me to ask the pygmies to bring
them meat but Invariably the pygmy
would say, mo, if do that the govern
ment man will ask me TO pay my va. TAX :,
Tho n],rnov is very Interesting and l