Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-02-07

| N'Eula: at his court we were certain
! to be able to gather more infornEa
| ton than among the simple country
| folk" and. as for collecting, well. we
We're going to overhaul the royal
| treasury and exchange our European
| goods for the beautiful carvings OF
which we had already found some
! samples.
Then we soon found out that we
We're not quite as rich as We had
| imagined. of al our goods the only
! ones that We're acce ptable To tn" ma
tiVes We're bars of iron and match
| cts, the cheap CutlasSes they use for
| all sorts of purposes.
We felt the pinch coming. Hilton
| simpson ana l II last faced the posi-
ton and talked matters over: we found
| that W. had now not enough money
| either to get 20 kaSai OF L. return a.
! the Loange. Under those conditions
| We made up our minds 10 go on and
! try 10 ger through "u the cheap. w,
! called our men and asked what they
! thought about IL, and they all agreed
| Buya was great favorite with
! every one. and he. chiidlike. was the
only member of the caravan who die
| not see the clouds gathering over ouI
/
| himself III perfect safety rs long "a
he was with us He was panied L
see me squander my goods in pres
ems to chiefs who showed little good
will. and when they returned my
| gifts stingily he did not mind telling
them what he thought of them.
We used to give the men who car
ried our loads a little paper with our
| initials SO as To avoid discussions about
NJ hn Of he.
| but one day the Bakongo carriers
| found a little Reckitt's blue, and witt
| this tried TO forge these initials on ode
scraps of paper they had found in our
| camp. / refused to pay these and the
men became threatening; / was, how
| ever, adamant and detied them to dc
| their worst.
Buya took the matter in hand and
! held forth on the wickedness OF cheat
ing in a way which would have hon
| oced the teacher Of n Sunday school
except for the figures of speech il
which he INDUCED.
! One day Simpson distributed the
loads to the Bakcngo as they came on
| giving each a paper. Having found
that they could not initiate our initials
well enough to miSiead use, these por
ters conceived the ingenious idea OF
tearing our papers in two and pre-
senting each half separately for pay
ment.
| would not pay till the other halt
was produced; naturally, they could
| not identify it. and some men who had
| really carried loads went empty hand
ed. while others who had not earned
| 1t received their wages. | refused &c
| pay more than was due. Simpson
| when he arrived. found me surround
ed by a hostile crowd, armed and
| ready to use violence.
Then Buya's awful language over
awed them.
Bakongo, like Bushongo people, OBJ
| ject strongly to obscene words; Ba
yanzi, and Buya was a Muyanzi, dc
not. The kid told them things they
had never heard in their lives.
| The funniest part Of it was that the
| impudent little fellow did not shout OF
show any signs of excitement; he
| talked as if it were simply his duty tC
| impart certain information. more ir
sorrow than in anger. Candidly, II
| gave me pleasure to hear some one
curse the Bakongo and give them &
piece of his mind, when prudence anC
| wrong upbringing prevented me
| from doing so.
X * X
A T last the Bakongo men left, but
our character was besmirched
and We had made a false start in the
place.
The village had two chiefs: one, II
| seemed to me, a rather decent fellow
| the other, very old man, had all the
| appearances of a consummate scoun
! drel. When all the Bakongo porters
grumbling and swearing, had left, the
| old villain came to me and told ms
! that he had changed his mind 1--WE
had naturally asked him by messenger
| If he would have us in his village)
| and invited us to leave the place al
| once.
| I consented to do so, on condition
that he provided me with porters tc
carry my loads. This he refused, an(
told me peremptorily to clear out with
| out delay. What about my goods?'
1 asked. That was my business, no
his.
Meanwhile the faithful Bambala hat
pitched Cur tents and sat stolidly
round our belongings to prevent pill
fering. Seeing that his bullying hat
no effect on me, the old chief left witt
a nasty grin on his ugly face. Aftel
a while the younger chief came ant
gave me some fowls, and I responded
with a generous present. When WI
had arrived we had found the natives
unarmed, but now they were strutttn,
| dDoul With OO"S anu dTIOWS iShoy AL
use.
AS night fell we heard violen
palaver going on in the village. Tn
old chief was melting the men, tn
younger one pleading for moderation
| Next day the natives refused to sci
us food and would not show us Wher
to get water, but we still had supplies
and 1t was not long before the BAN
| bala found brook nearby.
The men had been forbidden to ente
the stockade, but Master Buya slmpl.
walked in and his youth preserves
him from harm. 1t Is true that on
| warrior, probably in fun, aimed at hin
with his bow, but Buya, cursing hi
father, mother and all his ancestors
ordered him to lower it at once-an'
he did!
Then Buya congratulated him, say
ing: IF you had not obeyed l woul
have told my master and then OF
would go your head, and you woul
be put into the pot! Not that l Xix
Bakongo; I like pig better! Buya'
reputation as a cannibal was know
everywhere, and he was greatl
pleased with the horror it inspired.
| X X X
RUYA and my little dog Sanga ha'
struck up great friendship
Now Buya had brought Sanga Wit