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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:17:53 -0700 |
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diff --git a/25569-h/25569-h.htm b/25569-h/25569-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2bd49c5 --- /dev/null +++ b/25569-h/25569-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,10206 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /><title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of An African Adventure, by Isaac F. Marcosson.</title> + +<style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- +p { margin-top: .75em; +text-align: justify; +margin-bottom: .75em; +line-height: 130%; +} +h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { +text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ +clear: both; +} +hr { width: 33%; +margin-top: 2em; +margin-bottom: 2em; +margin-left: auto; +margin-right: auto; +clear: both; +} +table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} +body{margin-left: 10%; +margin-right: 10%; +} +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ +/* visibility: hidden; */ +position: absolute; +left: 92%; +font-size: smaller; +text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ +.linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ +.blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} +.sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; +padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; +float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; +font-size: smaller; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} +.bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} +.bl {border-left: solid 2px;} +.bt {border-top: solid 2px;} +.br {border-right: solid 2px;} +.bbox {border: solid 2px; padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} +.center {text-align: center;} +.right {text-align: right;} +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} +.u {text-decoration: underline;} +.caption {font-weight: bold;} +.figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} +.figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: +1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} +.figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; +margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} +.fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} +.poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} +.poem br {display: none;} +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} +.poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} +.poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} +.poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} +a > img { /* image that links to hi-res version */ border: 4px solid #CCC; } +.mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; +margin: 1em 5%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} +.mynote.white {background-color: inherit; color: inherit;} +/* specific to this book */ +table.bysameauthor { +width: 25em; text-align: center; border-collapse: collapse; } +table.bysameauthor td { +border: 2px solid black; padding: 0.5em; } +// --> +/* XML end ]]>*/ +</style> + +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of An African Adventure, by Isaac F. Marcosson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: An African Adventure + +Author: Isaac F. Marcosson + +Release Date: May 23, 2008 [EBook #25569] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN AFRICAN ADVENTURE *** + + + + +Produced by Mark C. Orton, Júlio Reis, Linda McKeown and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="mynote"> +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p><b>Table of Contents</b></p> +<p> +<a href="#title"><b>AN AFRICAN +ADVENTURE</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CONTENTS"><b>CONTENTS</b></a><br /> +<a href="#LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS"><b>LIST OF +ILLUSTRATIONS</b></a><br /> +<a href="#AN_AFRICAN_ADVENTURE"><b>AN AFRICAN +ADVENTURE</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I_SMUTS"><b>CHAPTER +I—SMUTS</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II_CAPE-TO-CAIRO"><b>CHAPTER +II—"CAPE-TO-CAIRO"</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III_RHODES_AND_RHODESIA"><b>CHAPTER +III—RHODES AND RHODESIA</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV_THE_CONGO_TODAY"><b>CHAPTER +IV—THE CONGO TODAY</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V_ON_THE_CONGO_RIVER"><b>CHAPTER +V—ON THE CONGO RIVER</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI_AMERICA_IN_THE_CONGO"><b>CHAPTER +VI—AMERICA IN THE CONGO</b></a><br /> +<a href="#INDEX"><b>INDEX</b></a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> +<h1><a name="title" id="title"></a>AN +AFRICAN ADVENTURE</h1> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p> +<table class="bysameauthor"> +<tbody> +<tr> +<td>BY THE SAME AUTHOR</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> +<p>ADVENTURES IN INTERVIEWING</p> +<p>PEACE AND BUSINESS</p> +<p><span class="smcap">S. O. S: America's +Miracle in France</span></p> +<p>THE BUSINESS OF WAR</p> +<p>THE REBIRTH OF RUSSIA</p> +<p>THE WAR AFTER THE WAR</p> +<p><span class="smcap">LEONARD WOOD: Prophet +of Preparedness</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +</tbody> +</table> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="center"> <a name="Illustration_KING_ALBERT" id="Illustration_KING_ALBERT"></a> <a href="images/illus-004-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-004-thumbnail.jpg" alt="KING ALBERT" title="KING ALBERT" /> </a> +<div class="caption">KING ALBERT</div> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg +3]</a></div> +<h1>AN AFRICAN ADVENTURE</h1> +<p class="center" style="margin-top: 4em;">BY</p> +<p class="center">ISAAC F. MARCOSSON</p> +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">AUTHOR +OF "ADVENTURES IN INTERVIEWING," ETC.</span></p> +<p class="center" style="margin-top: 4em;">NEW +YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY</p> +<p class="center">LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD</p> +<p class="center">MCMXXI</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p> +<p class="center">COPYRIGHT · 1921</p> +<p class="center">BY THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY</p> +<p class="center" style="margin-top: 1em;">COPYRIGHT +· 1921</p> +<p class="center">BY JOHN LANE COMPANY</p> +<p class="center" style="margin-top: 4em;">THE +PLIMPTON PRESS</p> +<p class="center">NORWOOD · MASS · +U·S·A</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class="center"><i>To</i><br /> +THOMAS F. RYAN<br /> +WHO FIRST BEHELD THE VISION<br /> +OF AMERICA IN THE CONGO</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p> +<h2>FOREWORD</h2> +<p>From earliest boyhood when I read the works of +Henry M. Stanley and books about Cecil Rhodes, +Africa has called to me. It was not until I met +General Smuts during the Great War, however, that I +had a definite reason for going there.</p> +<p>After these late years of blood and battle America +and Europe seemed tame. Besides, the economic +war after the war developed into a struggle as bitter +as the actual physical conflict. Discord and discontent +became the portion of the civilized world. I wanted +to get as far as possible from all this social unrest +and financial dislocation.</p> +<p>So much interest was evinced in the magazine +articles which first set forth the record of my journey +that I was prompted to expand them into this +book. It may enable the reader to discover a section +of the one-time Dark Continent without the hardships +which I experienced.</p> +<p style="text-align: right;">I. F. M.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">New York</span>, <i>April, +1921</i></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg +9]</a></div> +<h1><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h1> +<table> +<tbody> +<tr> +<td colspan="2" class="smcap">CHAPTER</td> +<td class="right smcap">PAGE</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="right">I.</td> +<td class="smcap">Smuts</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="right">II.</td> +<td class="smcap">"Cape-to-Cairo"</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="right">III.</td> +<td class="smcap">Rhodes and Rhodesia</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="right">IV.</td> +<td class="smcap">The Congo Today</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_139">139</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="right">V.</td> +<td class="smcap">On the Congo River</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_177">177</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="right">VI.</td> +<td class="smcap">America in the Congo</td> +<td class="right"><a href="#Page_225">225</a></td> +</tr> +</tbody> +</table> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></div> +<h1><a name="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS" id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h1> +<p> +King Albert <a href="#Page_2"><i>Frontispiece</i></a><br /> +Groote Schuur <a href="#Page_28"><i>facing page</i> +28</a><br /> +General J. C. Smuts <a href="#Page_44">44</a><br /> +Mr. Marcosson's Route in Africa <a href="#Page_56">56</a><br /> +Cecil Rhodes <a href="#Page_76">76</a><br /> +The Premier Diamond Mine <a href="#Page_90">90</a><br /> +Victoria Falls <a href="#Page_102">102</a><br /> +Cultivating Citrus Land in Rhodesia <a href="#Page_110">110</a><br /> +The Grave of Cecil Rhodes <a href="#Page_132">132</a><br /> +A Katanga Copper Mine <a href="#Page_138">138</a><br /> +Lord Leverhulme <a href="#Page_144">144</a><br /> +Robert Williams <a href="#Page_144">144</a><br /> +On the Lualaba <a href="#Page_150">150</a><br /> +A View on the Kasai <a href="#Page_150">150</a><br /> +A Station Scene at Kongola <a href="#Page_156">156</a><br /> +A Native Market at Kindu <a href="#Page_162">162</a><br /> +Native Fish Traps at Stanley Falls <a href="#Page_168">168</a><br /> +The Massive Bangalas <a href="#Page_176">176</a><br /> +Congo Women in State Dress <a href="#Page_176">176</a><br /> +Central African Pygmies <a href="#Page_182">182</a><br /> +Women Making Pottery <a href="#Page_190">190</a><br /> +The Congo Pickaninny <a href="#Page_190">190</a><br /> +The Heart of the Equatorial Forest <a href="#Page_198">198</a><br /> +Natives Piling Wood <a href="#Page_204">204</a><br /> +A Wood Post on the Congo <a href="#Page_204">204</a><br /> +Residential Quarters at Alberta <a href="#Page_210">210</a><br /> +The Comte de Flandre <a href="#Page_210">210</a><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> +A Typical Oil Palm Forest <a href="#Page_216">216</a><br /> +Bringing in the Palm Fruit <a href="#Page_216">216</a><br /> +A Specimen of Cicatrization <a href="#Page_220">220</a><br /> +A Sankuru Woman Playing Native Draughts <a href="#Page_220">220</a><br /> +The Belgian Congo <a href="#Page_224">224</a><br /> +Thomas F. Ryan <a href="#Page_228">228</a><br /> +Jean Jadot <a href="#Page_236">236</a><br /> +Emile Francqui <a href="#Page_242">242</a><br /> +A Belle of the Congo <a href="#Page_246">246</a><br /> +Women of the Batetelas <a href="#Page_246">246</a><br /> +Fishermen on the Sankuru <a href="#Page_254">254</a><br /> +The Falls of the Sankuru <a href="#Page_254">254</a><br /> +A Congo Diamond Mine <a href="#Page_260">260</a><br /> +How the Mines Are Worked <a href="#Page_260">260</a><br /> +Gravel Carriers at a Congo Mine <a href="#Page_266">266</a><br /> +Congo Natives Picking out Diamonds <a href="#Page_266">266</a><br /> +Washing out Gravel <a href="#Page_272">272</a><br /> +Donald Doyle and Mr. Marcosson <a href="#Page_272">272</a><br /> +The Park at Boma <a href="#Page_278">278</a><br /> +A Street in Matadi <a href="#Page_278">278</a><br /> +A General View of Matadi <a href="#Page_282">282</a><br /> +</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></div> +<h1><a name="AN_AFRICAN_ADVENTURE" id="AN_AFRICAN_ADVENTURE"></a>AN AFRICAN ADVENTURE</h1> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p> +<h1>AN AFRICAN ADVENTURE</h1> +<h1><a name="CHAPTER_I_SMUTS" id="CHAPTER_I_SMUTS"></a>CHAPTER +I—SMUTS</h1> +<h2>I</h2> +<p>Turn the searchlight on the political and economic +chaos that has followed the Great War +and you find a surprising lack of real leadership. +Out of the mists that enshroud the world welter +only three commanding personalities emerge. In England +Lloyd George survives amid the storm of party +clash and Irish discord. Down in Greece Venizelos, +despite defeat, remains an impressive figure of high +ideals and uncompromising patriotism. Off in South +Africa Smuts gives fresh evidence of his vision and +authority.</p> +<p>Although he was Britain's principal prop during +the years of agony and disaster, Lloyd George is, in +the last analysis, merely an eloquent and spectacular +politician with the genius of opportunism. One reason +why he holds his post is that there is no one to take his +place,—another commentary on the paucity of greatness. +There is no visible heir to Venizelos. Besides, +Greece is a small country without international touch +and interest. Smuts, youngest of the trio, looms up +as the most brilliant statesman of his day and his career +has just entered upon a new phase.</p> +<p>He is the dominating actor in a drama that not only +affects the destiny of the whole British Empire, but has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg +16]</a></span> +significance for every civilized nation. The quality of +striking contrast has always been his. The one-time +Boer General, who fought Roberts and Kitchener +twenty years ago, is battling with equal tenacity for the +integrity of the Imperial Union born of that war. Not +in all history perhaps, is revealed a more picturesque +situation than obtains in South Africa today. You +have the whole Nationalist movement crystallized into +a single compelling episode. In a word, it is contemporary +Ireland duplicated without violence and extremism.</p> +<p>I met General Smuts often during the Great War. +He stood out as the most intellectually alert, and in +some respects the most distinguished figure among the +array of nation-guiders with whom I talked, and I interviewed +them all. I saw him as he sat in the British +War Cabinet when the German hosts were sweeping +across the Western Front, and when the German submarines +were making a shambles of the high seas. I +heard him speak with persuasive force on public occasions +and he was like a beacon in the gloom. He had +come to England in 1917 as the representative of General +Botha, the Prime Minister of the Union of South +Africa, to attend the Imperial Conference and to remain +a comparatively short time. So great was the +need of him that he did not go home until after the +Peace had been signed. He signed the Treaty under +protest because he believed it was uneconomic and it +has developed into the irritant that he prophesied it +would be.</p> +<p>In those war days when we foregathered, Smuts +often talked of "the world that would be." The real +Father of the League of Nations idea, he believed that +out of the immense travail would develop a larger fraternity,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg +17]</a></span> +economically sound and without sentimentality. +It was a great and yet a practical dream.</p> +<p>More than once he asked me to come to South +Africa. I needed little urging. From my boyhood the +land of Cecil Rhodes has always held a lure for me. +Smuts invested it with fresh interest. So I went.</p> +<p>The Smuts that I found at close range on his native +heath, wearing the mantle of the departed Botha, carrying +on a Government with a minority, and with the +shadow of an internecine war brooding on the horizon, +was the same serene, clear-thinking strategist who had +raised his voice in the Allied Councils. Then the enemy +was the German and the task was to destroy the menace +of militarism. Now it was his own unreconstructed +Boer—blood of his blood,—and behind that Boer the +larger problem of a rent and dissatisfied universe, +waging peace as bitterly as it waged war. Smuts the +dreamer was again Smuts the fighter, with the fight of +his life on his hands.</p> +<p>Thus it came about that I found myself in Capetown. +Everybody goes out to South Africa from England on +those Union Castle boats so familiar to all readers of +English novels. Like the P. & O. vessels that Kipling +wrote about in his Indian stories, they are among the +favorite first aids to the makers of fiction. Hosts of +heroes in books—and some in real life—sail each +year +to their romantic fate aboard them.</p> +<p>It was the first day of the South African winter when +I arrived, but back in America spring was in full +bloom. I looked out on the same view that had thrilled +the Portuguese adventurers of the fifteenth century +when they swept for the first time into Table Bay. Behind +the harbor rose Table Mountain and stretching +from it downward to the sea was a land with verdure<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg +18]</a></span> +clad and aglare with the African sun that was to scorch +my paths for months to come.</p> +<p>Capetown nestles at the foot of a vast flat-topped +mass of granite unique among the natural elevations of +the world. She is another melting pot. Here mingle +Kaffir and Boer, Basuto and Britisher, East Indian and +Zulu. The hardy rancher and fortune-hunter from the +North Country rub shoulders with the globe-trotter. In +the bustling streets modern taxicabs vie for space with +antiquated hansoms bearing names like "Never Say +Die," "Home Sweet Home," or "Honeysuckle." All +the horse-drawn public vehicles have names.</p> +<p>You get a familiar feel of America in this South +African country and especially in the Cape Colony, +which is a place of fruits, flowers and sunshine resembling +California. There is the sense of newness +in the atmosphere, and something of the abandon that +you encounter among the people of Australia and certain +parts of Canada. It comes from life spent in the +open and the spirit of pioneering that within a comparatively +short time has wrested a huge domain from +the savage.</p> +<p>What strikes the observer at once is the sharp conflict +of race, first, between black and white, and then, +between Briton and Boer. South of the Zambesi +River,—and this includes Rhodesia and the Union of +South Africa,—the native outnumbers the white more +than six to one and he is increasing at a much greater +rate than the European. Hence you have an inevitable +conflict. Race lies at the root of the South African +trouble and the racial reconciliation that Rhodes and +Botha set their hopes upon remains an elusive quantity.</p> +<p>I got a hint of what Smuts was up against the moment +I arrived. I had cabled him of my coming and he sent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg +19]</a></span> +an orderly to the steamer with a note of welcome and +inviting me to lunch with him at the House of Parliament +the next day. In the letter, among other things +he said: "You will find this a really interesting country, +full of curious problems." How curious they were I +was soon to find out.</p> +<p>I called for him at his modest book-lined office in a +street behind the Parliament Buildings and we walked +together to the House. Heretofore I had only seen him +in the uniform of a Lieutenant General in the British +Army. Now he wore a loose-fitting lounge suit and a +slouch hat was jammed down on his head. In the +change from khaki to mufti—and few men can stand +up under this transition without losing some of the character +of their personal appearance,—he remained a +striking figure. There is something wistful in his face—an +indescribable look that projects itself not only +through you but beyond. It is not exactly preoccupation +but a highly developed concentration. This look +seemed to be enhanced by the ordeal through which he +was then passing. In his springy walk was a suggestion +of pugnacity. His whole manner was that of a man in +action and who exults in it. Roosevelt had the same +characteristic but he displayed it with much more animation +and strenuosity.</p> +<p>We sat down in the crowded dining room of the +House of Parliament where the Prime Minister had +invited a group of Cabinet Ministers and leading business +men of Capetown. Around us seethed a noisy +swirl which reflected the turmoil of the South African +political situation. Parliament had just convened after +an historic election in which the Nationalists, the bitter +antagonists of Botha and Smuts, had elected a majority +of representatives for the first time. Smuts was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> +hanging on to the Premiership by his teeth. A sharp +division of vote, likely at any moment, would have overthrown +the Government. It meant a régime hostile to +Britain that carried with it secession and the remote +possibility of civil war.</p> +<p>In that restaurant, as throughout the whole Union, +Smuts was at that moment literally the observed of all +observers. Far off in London the powers-that-be were +praying that this blonde and bearded Boer could successfully +man the imperial breach. Yet he sat there +smiling and unafraid and the company that he had +assembled discussed a variety of subjects that ranged +from the fall in exchange to the possibilities of the +wheat crop in America.</p> +<p>The luncheon was the first of various meetings with +Smuts. Some were amid the tumult of debate or in the +shadow of the legislative halls, others out in the country +at <i>Groote Schuur</i>, the Prime Minister's residence, +where +we walked amid the gardens that Cecil Rhodes loved, +or sat in the rooms where the Colossus "thought in terms +of continents." It was a liberal education.</p> +<p>Before we can go into what Smuts said during these +interviews it is important to know briefly the whole +approach to the crowded hour that made the fullest +test of his resource and statesmanship. Clearly to +understand it you must first know something about the +Boer and his long stubborn struggle for independence +which ended, for a time at least, in the battle and blood +of the Boer War.</p> +<p>Capetown, the melting pot, is merely a miniature of +the larger boiling cauldron of race which is the Union +of South Africa. In America we also have an astonishing +mixture of bloods but with the exception of the Bolshevists +and other radical uplifters, our population is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +loyally dedicated to the American flag and the institutions +it represents. With us Latin, Slav, Celt, and +Saxon have blended the strain that proved its mettle +as "Americans All" under the Stars and Stripes in +France. We have given succor and sanctuary to the +oppressed of many lands and these foreign elements, +in the main, have not only been grateful but have proved +to be distinct assets in our national expansion. We are +a merged people.</p> +<p>With South Africa the situation is somewhat different. +The roots of civilization there were planted by the +Dutch in the days of the Dutch East India Company +when Holland was a world power. The Dutchman is +a tenacious and stubborn person. Although the Huguenots +emigrated to the Cape in considerable force in the +seventeenth century and intermarried with the transplanted +Hollanders, the Dutch strain, and with it the +Dutch characteristics predominated. They have shaped +South African history ever since. This is why the Boer +is still referred to in popular parlance as "a Dutchman."</p> +<p>The Dutch have always been a proud and liberty-loving +people, as the Duke of Alva and the Spaniard +learned to their cost. This inherited desire for freedom +has flamed in the hearts of the Boers. In the early +African day they preferred to journey on to the wild +and unknown places rather than sacrifice their independence. +What is known as "The Great Trek" of +the thirties, which opened up the Transvaal and subsequently +the Orange Free State and Natal, was due +entirely to unrest among the Cape Boers. There is +something of the epic in the narrative of those doughty, +psalm-singing trekkers who, like the Mormons in the +American West, went forth in their canvas-covered +wagons with a rifle in one hand and the Bible in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg +22]</a></span> +other. They fought the savage, endured untold hardships, +and met fate with a grim smile on their lips. It +took Britain nearly three costly years to subdue their +descendants, an untrained army of farmers.</p> +<p>A revelation of the Boer character, therefore, is an +index to the South African tangle. His enemies call +the Boer "a combination of cunning and childishness." +As a matter of fact the Boer is distinct among individualists. +"Oom Paul" Kruger was a type. A +fairly familiar story will concretely illustrate what lies +within and behind the race. On one occasion his thumb +was nearly severed in an accident. With his pocket-knife +he cut off the finger, bound up the wound with a +rag, and went about his business.</p> +<p>The old Boer—and the type survives—was a +Puritan +who loved his five-thousand-acre farm where he +could neither see nor hear his neighbors, who read the +Good Word three times a day, drank prodigious quantities +of coffee, spoke "<i>taal</i>" the Dutch dialect, and +reared a huge family. Botha, for example, was one +of thirteen children, and his father lamented to his +dying day that he had not done his full duty by his +country!</p> +<p>Isolation was the Boer fetich. This instinct for +aloofness,—principally +racial,—animates the sincere wing +of the Nationalist Party today. Men like Botha and +Smuts and their followers adapted themselves to assimilation +but there remained the "bitter-end" element that +rebelled in arms against the constituted authority in +1914 and had to be put down with merciless hand. This +element now seeks to achieve through more peaceful +ends what it sought to do by force the moment Britain +became involved in the Great War. The reason for the +revolt of 1914, in a paragraph, was Britain's far-flung<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg +23]</a></span> +call to arms. The unreconstructed Boers refused to +fight for the Power that humbled them in 1902. They +seized the moment to make a try for what they called +"emancipation."</p> +<p>To go back for a moment, when the British conquered +the Cape and thousands of Englishmen streamed out to +Africa to make their fortunes, the Boer at once bristled +with resentment. His isolation was menaced. He regarded +the Briton as an "<i>Uitlander</i>"—an +outsider—and +treated him as an undesirable alien. In the Transvaal +and the Orange Free State he was denied the rights +that are accorded to law-abiding citizens in other countries. +Hence the Jameson Raid, which was an ill-starred +protest against the narrow, copper-riveted Boer +rule, and later the final and sanguinary show-down in +the Boer War, which ended the dream of Boer independence.</p> +<p>In 1910 was established the Union of South Africa, +comprising the Transvaal, the Orange Free State, Natal +and the Cape Colony which obtained responsible government +and which is to all intents and purposes a dominion +as free as Australia or Canada. England sends out +a Governor-General, usually a high-placed and titled +person but he is a be-medalled figure-head,—an ornamental +feature of the landscape. His principal labours +are to open fairs, attend funerals, preside at harmless +gatherings, and bestow decorations upon worthy persons. +First Botha, and later Smuts, have been the real +rulers of the country.</p> +<p>The Union Constitution decreed that bi-lingualism +must prevail. As a result every public notice, document, +and time-table is printed in both English and +Dutch. The tie of language is a strong one and this +eternal and unuttered presence of the "<i>taal</i>" has been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg +24]</a></span> +an asset for the Nationalists to exploit. It is a link with +the days of independence.</p> +<p>Following the Boer War came a sharp cleavage +among the Boers. That great farm-bred soldier and +statesman, Louis Botha, accepted the verdict and became +the leader of what might be called a reconciled +reconstruction. Firm in the belief that the future of +South Africa was greater than the smaller and selfish +issue of racial pride and prejudice, he rallied his open-minded +and far-seeing countrymen around him. Out +of this group developed the South African Party which +remains the party of the Dutch loyal to British rule. +To quote the program of principles, "Its political object +is the development of a South African spirit of national +unity and self-reliance through the attainment of the +lasting union of the various sections of the people."</p> +<p>Botha was made Premier of the Transvaal as soon +as the Colony was granted self-government and with the +accomplishment of Union was named Prime Minister +of the Federation. The first man that he called to the +standard of the new order to become his Colonial +Minister, or more technically, Minister of the Interior, +was Smuts, who had left his law office in Johannesburg +to fight the English in 1900 and who displayed the same +consummate strategy in the field that he has since shown +in Cabinet meeting and Legislative forum. With peace +he returned to law but not for long. Now began his +political career—he has held public office continuously +ever since—that is a vital part of the modern history of +South Africa.</p> +<p>In the years immediately following Union the genius +of Botha had full play. He wrought a miracle of +evolution. Under his influence the land which still bore +the scars of war was turned to plenty. He was a farmer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg +25]</a></span> +and he bent his energy and leadership to the rebuilding +of the shattered commonwealths. Their hope lay in the +soil. His right arm was Smuts, who became successively +Minister of Finance and Minister of Public +Defense.</p> +<p>The belief that reconciliation had dawned was rudely +disturbed when the Great War crashed into civilization. +The extreme Nationalists rebelled and it was Botha, +aided by Smuts, who crushed them. Beyers, the ringleader, +was drowned while trying to escape across the +Vaal River, DeWet was defeated in the field, De la +Rey was accidentally shot, and Maritz became a fugitive. +Botha then conquered the Germans in German +South-West Africa and Smuts subsequently took over +the command of the Allied Forces in German East +Africa. When Botha died in 1919 Smuts not only +assumed the Premiership of the Union but he also inherited +the bitter enmity that General J. B. M. Hertzog +bore towards his lamented Chief.</p> +<p>Now we come to the crux of the whole business, past +and present. Who is Hertzog and what does he stand +for?</p> +<p>If you look at your history of the Boer War you +will see that one of the first Dutch Generals to take the +field and one of the last to leave it was Hertzog, an +Orange Free State lawyer who had won distinction on +the Bench. He helped to frame the Union Constitution +and on the day he signed it, declared that it was a distinct +epoch in his life. A Boer of the Boers, he seemed to +catch for the moment, the contagion that radiated from +Botha and spelled a Greater South Africa.</p> +<p>Botha made him Minister of Justice and all was well. +But deep down in his heart Hertzog remained unrepentant. +When the question of South Africa's contri<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>bution +to the Imperial Navy came up in 1912 he fought +it tooth and nail. In fiery utterances attacking the +Government he denounced Botha as a jingoist and an +imperialist. Just about this time he made the famous +speech in which he stated his ideal of South Africa. He +declared that Briton and Boer were "two separate +streams"—two nationalities each flowing in a separate +channel. The "two streams" slogan is now the Nationalist +battlecry.</p> +<p>Such procedure on the part of Hertzog demanded +prompt action on the part of Botha, who called upon his +colleague either to suppress his particular brand of +anathema or resign. Hertzog not only built a bigger +bonfire of denunciation but refused to resign.</p> +<p>Botha thereupon devised a unique method of ridding +himself of his uncongenial Minister. He resigned, the +Government fell, and the Cabinet dissolved automatically. +Hertzog was left out in the cold. The Governor-General +immediately re-appointed Botha Prime Minister +and he reorganized his Cabinet without the undesirable +Hertzog.</p> +<p>Hertzog became the Stormy Petrel of South Africa, +vowing vengeance against Botha and Britain. He +galvanized the Nationalist Party, which up to this time +had been merely a party of opposition, into what was +rapidly becoming a flaming secession movement. The +South African Party developed into the only really +national party, while its opponent, although bearing the +name of National, was solely and entirely racial.</p> +<p>The first real test of strength was in the election of +1915. The campaign was bitter and belligerent. The +venom of the Nationalist Party was concentrated on +Smuts. Many of his meetings became bloody riots. He +was the target for rotten fruit and on one occasion an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg +27]</a></span> +attempt was made on his life. The combination of the +Botha personality and the Smuts courage and reason +won out and the South African Party remained in +power.</p> +<p>Undaunted, Hertzog carried on the fight. He soon +had the supreme advantage of having the field to himself +because Botha was off fighting the Germans and +Smuts had gone to England to help mould the Allied +fortunes. The Nationalist leader made hay while the +red sun of war shone. Every South African who died +on the battlefield was for him just another argument +for separation from England.</p> +<p>When Ireland declared herself a "republic" Hertzog +took the cue and counted his cause in with that of the +"small nations" that needed self-determination. "Afrika +for the Afrikans," the old motto of the <i>Afrikander +Bond</i>, was unfurled from the masthead and the sedition +spread. It not only recruited the Boers who had an +ancient grievance against Great Britain, but many +others who secretly resented the Botha and Smuts intimacy +with "the conquerors." Some were sons and +grandsons of the old "<i>Vortrekkers</i>," who not only +delighted +to speak the "<i>taal</i>" exclusively but who had +never surrendered the ideal of independence.</p> +<p>While the Dutch movement in South Africa strongly +resembles the Irish rebellion there are also some marked +differences. In South Africa there is no religious +barrier and as a result there has been much intermarriage +between Briton and Boer. The English in South Africa +bear the same relation to the Nationalist movement +there that the Ulsterites bear to the Sinn Feiners in +Ireland. Instead of being segregated as are the followers +of Sir Edward Carson, they are scattered +throughout the country.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p> +<p>At the General Election held early in 1920,—general +elections are held every five years,—the results +were surprising. The Nationalists returned a majority +of four over the South African Party in Parliament. +It left Smuts to carry on his Government with a +minority. To add to his troubles, the Labour Party,—always +an uncertain proposition,—increased its representation +from a mere handful to twenty-one, while the +Unionists, who comprise the straight-out English-speaking +Party, whose stronghold is Natal, suffered +severe losses. Smuts could not very well count the latter +among his open allies because it would have alienated +the hard-shell Boers in the South African Party.</p> +<p>This was the situation that I found on my arrival in +Capetown. On one hand was Smuts, still Prime Minister, +taxing his every resource as parliamentarian and +pacificator to maintain the Union and prevent a revolt +from Britain—all in the face of a bitter and hostile +majority. On the other hand was Hertzog, bent on +secession and with a solid array of discontents behind +him. The two former comrades of the firing line, as +the heads of their respective groups, were locked in a +momentous political life-and-death struggle the outcome +of which may prove to be the precedent for +Ireland, Egypt, and India.</p> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-031-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-031-thumbnail.jpg" alt="GROOTE SCHUUR" title="GROOTE SCHUUR" /> </a> +<div class="caption">GROOTE SCHUUR — <i>Photograph +Copyright South African Railways</i></div> +</div> +<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></div> +<h2>II</h2> +<p>Yet Smuts continued as Premier which +means that he brought the life of Parliament +to a close without a sharp division. Moreover, +he manœuvered his forces into a position that +saved the day for Union and himself. How did he do it?</p> +<p>I can demonstrate one way and with a rather personal +incident. During the week I spent in Capetown +Smuts was an absorbed person as you may imagine. +The House was in session day and night and there were +endless demands on him. The best opportunities that +we had for talk were at meal-time. One evening I +dined with him in the House restaurant. When we +sat down we thought that we had the place to ourselves. +Suddenly Smuts cast his eye over the long room and saw +a solitary man just commencing his dinner in the opposite +corner. Turning to me he said:</p> +<p>"Do you know Cresswell?"</p> +<p>"I was introduced to him yesterday," I replied.</p> +<p>"Would you mind if I asked him to dine with us?"</p> +<p>When I assured him that I would be delighted, the +Prime Minister got up, walked over to Cresswell and +asked him to join us, which he did.</p> +<p>The significant part of this apparently simple performance, +which had its important outcome, was this. +Colonel F. H. P. Cresswell is the leader of the Labour +Party in South Africa. By profession a mining engineer, +he led the forces of revolt in the historic industrial +upheaval in the Rand in what Smuts denounced as a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg +30]</a></span> +"Syndicalist Conspiracy." Riot, bloodshed, and confusion +reigned for a considerable period at Johannesburg +and large bodies of troops had to be called out to +restore order. At the very moment that we sat down to +dine that night no one knew just what Cresswell and +the Labourites with their new-won power would do. +Smuts, as Minister of Finance, had deported some of +Cresswell's men and Cresswell himself narrowly escaped +drastic punishment.</p> +<p>When Smuts brought Cresswell over he said jokingly +to me:</p> +<p>"Cresswell is a good fellow but I came near sending +him to jail once."</p> +<p>Cresswell beamed and the three of us amiably discussed +various topics until the gong sounded for the +assembling of the House.</p> +<p>What was the result? Before I left Capetown and +when the first of the few occasions which tested the real +voting strength of Parliament arose, Cresswell and +some of his adherents voted with Smuts. I tell this +little story to show that the man who today holds the +destiny of South Africa in his hands is as skillful a +diplomat as he is soldier and statesman.</p> +<p>It was at one of these quiet dinners with Smuts at +the House that he first spoke about Nationalism. He +said: "The war gave Nationalism its death blow. But +as a matter of fact Nationalism committed suicide in +the war."</p> +<p>"But what is Nationalism?" I asked him.</p> +<p>"A water-tight nation in a water-tight compartment," +he replied. "It is a process of regimentation like the +old Germany that will soon merge into a new Internationalism. +What seems to be at this moment an orgy +of Nationalism in South Africa or elsewhere is merely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg +31]</a></span> +its death gasp. The New World will be a world of +individualism dominated by Britain and America.</p> +<p>"What about the future?" I asked him. His answer +was:</p> +<p>"The safety of the future depends upon Federation, +upon a League of Nations that will develop along +economic and not purely sentimental lines. The New +Internationalism will not stop war but it can regulate +exchange, and through this regulation can help to prevent +war.</p> +<p>"I believe in an international currency which will be +a sort of legal tender among all the nations. Why +should the currency of the country depreciate or rise +with the fortunes of war or with its industrial or other +complications? Misfortune should not be penalized +fiscally."</p> +<p>I brought up the question of the lack of accord which +then existed between Britain and America and suggested +that perhaps the fall in exchange had something to do +with it, whereupon he said: "Yes, I think it has. It +merely illustrates the point that I have just made about +an international currency."</p> +<p>We came back to the subject of individualism, which +led Smuts to say:</p> +<p>"The Great War was a striking illustration of the +difference between individualism and nationalism. +Hindenberg commanded the only army in the war. It +was a product of nationalism. The individualism of +the Anglo-Saxon is such that it becomes a mob but it +is an intelligent mob. Haig and Pershing commanded +such mobs."</p> +<p>I tried to probe Smuts about Russia. He was in +London when I returned from Petrograd in 1917 and I +recall that he displayed the keenest interest in what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg +32]</a></span> +I told him about Kerensky and the new order that I had +seen in the making. I heard him speak at a Russian +Fair in London. The whole burden of his utterance +was the hope that the Slav would achieve discipline and +organization. At that time Russia redeemed from autocracy +looked to be a bulwark of Allied victory. The +night we talked about Russia at Capetown she had +become the prey of red terror and the plaything of +organized assassination.</p> +<p>Smuts looked rather wistful when he said:</p> +<p>"You cannot defeat Russia. Napoleon learned this +to his cost and so will the rest of the world. I do not +know whether Bolshevism is advancing or subsiding. +There comes a time when the fiercest fires die down. +But the best way to revive or rally all Russia to the +Soviet Government is to invade the country and to +annex large slices of it."</p> +<p>These utterances were made during those more or +less hasty meals at the House of Parliament when the +Premier's mind was really in the Legislative Hall nearby +where he was fighting for his administrative life. +It was far different out at <i>Groote Schuur</i>, the home +of +the Prime Minister, located in Rondebosch, a suburb +about nine miles from Capetown. In the open country +that he loves, and in an environment that breathed the +romance and performance of England's greatest empire-builder, +I caught something of the man's kindling vision +and realized his ripe grasp of international events.</p> +<p><i>Groote Schuur</i> is one of the best-known +estates in +the world. Cecil Rhodes in his will left it to the Union +as the permanent residence of the Prime Minister. Ever +since I read the various lives of Rhodes I had had an +impatient desire to see this shrine of achievement. Here +Rhodes came to live upon his accession to the Premier<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg +33]</a></span>ship +of the Cape Colony; here he fashioned the British +South Africa Company which did for Rhodesia what +the East India Company did for India; here came +prince and potentate to pay him honour; here he dreamed +his dreams of conquest looking out at mountain and +sea; here lived Jameson and Kipling; here his remains +lay in state when at forty-nine the fires of his restless +ambition had ceased.</p> +<p><i>Groote Schuur</i>, which in Dutch means "Great +Granary," was originally built as a residence and store-house +for one of the early Dutch Governors of the Cape. +It is a beautiful example of the Dutch architecture that +you will find throughout the Colony and which is not +surpassed in grace or comfort anywhere. When Rhodes +acquired it in the eighties the grounds were comparatively +limited. As his power and fortune increased he +bought up all the surrounding country until today you +can ride for nine miles across the estate. You find +no neat lawns and dainty flower-beds. On the place, +as in the house itself, you get the sense of bigness and +simplicity which were the keynotes of the Rhodes +character.</p> +<p>One reason why Rhodes acquired <i>Groote Schuur</i> +was +that behind it rose the great bulk of Table Mountain. +He loved it for its vastness and its solitude. On the +back <i>stoep</i>, which is the Dutch word for porch, he +sat +for hours gazing at this mountain which like the man +himself was invested with a spirit of immensity.</p> +<p>It was a memorable experience to be at <i>Groote Schuur</i> +with Smuts, who has lived to see the realization of the +hope of Union which thrilled always in the heart of +Cecil Rhodes. I remember that on the first night I +went out the Prime Minister took me through the house +himself. It has been contended by Smuts' enemies<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> +that he was a "creature of Rhodes." I discovered that +Smuts, with the exception of having made a speech of +welcome when Rhodes visited the school that he attended +as a boy, had never even met the Englishman who left +his impress upon a whole land.</p> +<p><i>Groote Schuur</i> has been described so much +that it is +not necessary for me to dwell upon its charm and atmosphere +here. To see it is to get a fresh and intimate +realization of the personality which made the establishment +an unofficial Chancellery of the British Empire.</p> +<p>Two details, however, have poignant and dramatic +interest. In the simple, massive, bed-room with its +huge bay window opening on Table Mountain and a +stretch of lovely countryside, hangs the small map of +Africa that Rhodes marked with crimson ink and about +which he made the famous utterance, "It must be all +red." Hanging on the wall in the billiard room is the +flag with Crescent and Cape device that he had made to +be carried by the first locomotive to travel from Cairo +to the Cape. That flag has never been unfurled to the +breeze but the vision that beheld it waving in the heart +of the jungle is soon to become an accomplished fact.</p> +<p>It was on a night at <i>Groote Schuur</i>, as I +walked with +Smuts through the acres of hydrangeas and bougainvillea +(Rhodes' favorite flowers), with a new moon peeping +overhead that I got the real mood of the man. Pointing +to the faint silvery crescent in the sky I said: "General, +there's a new moon over us and I'm sure it means +good luck for you."</p> +<p>"No," he replied, "it's the man that makes the luck."</p> +<p>He had had a trying day in the House and was silent +in the motor car that brought us out. The moment we +reached the country and he sniffed the scent of the gardens +the anxiety and preoccupation fell away. He al<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>most +became boyish. But when he began to discuss +great problems the lightness vanished and he became +the serious thinker.</p> +<p>We harked back to the days when I had first seen +him in England. I asked him to tell me what he thought +of the aftermath of the stupendous struggle. He said:</p> +<p>"The war was just a phase of world convulsion. It +made the first rent in the universal structure. For years +the trend of civilization was toward a super-Nationalism. +It is easy to trace the stages. The Holy Roman Empire +was a phase of Nationalism. That was Catholic. Then +came the development of Nationalism, beginning with +Napoleon. That was Protestant. Now began the building +of water-tight compartments, otherwise known as +nations. Germany represented the most complete development.</p> +<p>"But that era of 'my country,' 'my power,'—it is +all a form of national ego,—is gone. The four great +empires,—Turkey, Germany, Russia and Austria,—have +crumbled. The war jolted them from their high +estate. It started the universal cataclysm. Centuries +in the future some perspective can be had and the results +appraised.</p> +<p>"Meanwhile, we can see the beginning. The world +is one. Humanity is one and must be one. The war, +at terrible cost, brought the peoples together. The +League of Nations is a faint and far-away evidence +of this solidarity. It merely points the way but it is +something. It is not academic formulas that will unite +the peoples of the world but intelligence."</p> +<p>Smuts now turned his thought to a subject not without +interest for America, for he said:</p> +<p>"The world has been brought together by the press, +by wireless, indeed by all communication which represents<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg +36]</a></span> +the last word in scientific development. Yet political +institutions cling to old and archaic traditions. Take +the Presidency of the United States. A man waits for +four months before he is inaugurated. The incumbent +may work untold mischief in the meantime. It is all due +to the fact that in the days when the American Constitution +was framed the stagecoach and the horse were +the only means of conveyance. The world now travels +by aeroplane and express train, yet the antiquated +habits continue.</p> +<p>"So with political parties and peoples, the British +Empire included. They need to be brought abreast +of the times. The old pre-war British Empire, for +example, is gone in the sense of colonies or subordinate +nations clustering around one master nation. The +British Empire itself is developing into a real League +of Nations,—a group of partner peoples."</p> +<p>"What of America and the future?" I asked him.</p> +<p>"America is the leaven of the future," answered +Smuts. "She is the life-blood of the League of Nations. +Without her the League is stifled. America will give +the League the peace temper. You Americans are a +pacific people, slow to war but terrible and irresistible +when you once get at it. The American is an individualist +and in that new and inevitable internationalism the +individual will stand out, the American pre-eminently."</p> +<p>Throughout this particular experience at <i>Groote +Schuur</i> I could not help marvelling on the contrast that +the man and the moment presented. We walked +through a place of surpassing beauty. Ahead brooded +the black mystery of the mountains and all around was +a fragrant stillness broken only by the quick, almost +passionate speech of this seer and thinker, animate with +an inspiring ideal of public service, whose mind leaped<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg +37]</a></span> +from the high places of poetry and philosophy on to +the hiving battlefield of world event. It seemed almost +impossible that nine miles away at Capetown raged the +storm that almost within the hour would again claim +him as its central figure.</p> +<p>The Smuts statements that I have quoted were made +long before the Presidential election in America. I do +not know just what Smuts thinks of the landslide that +overwhelmed the Wilson administration and with it that +well-known Article X, but I do know that he genuinely +hopes that the United States somehow will have a share +in the new international stewardship of the world. He +would welcome any order that would enable us to play +our part.</p> +<p>No one can have contact with Smuts without feeling +at once his intense admiration for America. One of his +ambitions is to come to the United States. It is characteristic +of him that he has no desire to see skyscrapers +and subways. His primary interest is in the great farms +of the West. "Your people," he once said to me, "have +made farming a science and I wish that South Africa +could emulate them. We have farms in vast area but +we have not yet attained an adequate development."</p> +<p>I was amazed at his knowledge of American literature. +He knows Hamilton backwards, has read diligently +about the life and times of Washington, and is +familiar with Irving, Poe, Hawthorne and Emerson. +One reason why he admires the first American President +is because he was a farmer. Smuts knows as much +about rotation of crops and successful chicken raising +as he does about law and politics. He said:</p> +<p>"I am an eighty per cent farmer and a Boer, and most +people think a Boer is a barbarian."</p> +<p>Despite his scholarship he remains what he delights<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg +38]</a></span> +to call himself, "a Boer." He still likes the simple Boer +things, as this story will show. During the war, while +he was a member of the British War Cabinet and when +Lloyd George leaned on him so heavily for a multitude +of services, a young South African Major, fresh from +the Transvaal, brought him a box of home delicacies. +The principal feature of this package was a piece of +what the Boers call "biltong," which is dried venison. +The Major gave the package to an imposing servant in +livery at the Savoy Hotel, where the General lived, to +be delivered to him. Smuts was just going out and encountered +the man carrying it in. When he learned +that it was from home, he grabbed the box, saying: +"I'll take it up myself." Before he reached his apartment +he was chewing away vigorously on a mouthful +of "biltong" and having the time of his life.</p> +<p>The contrast between Smuts and his predecessor +Botha is striking. These two men, with the possible +exception of Kruger, stand out in the annals of the +Boer. Kruger was the dour, stolid, canny, provincial +trader. The only time that his interest ever left the +confines of the Transvaal was when he sought an alliance +with William Hohenzollern, and that person, I might +add, failed him at the critical moment.</p> +<p>Botha was the George Washington of South Africa,—the +farmer who became Premier. He was big of +body and of soul,—big enough to know when he was +beaten and to rebuild out of the ruins. Even the Nationalists +trusted him and they do not trust Smuts. It is +the old story of the prophet in his own country. There +are many people in South Africa today who believe that +if Botha were alive there would be no secession movement.</p> +<p>The Boers who oppose him politically call Smuts<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg +39]</a></span> +"Slim Jannie." The Dutch word "slim" means tricky +and evasive. Not so very long ago Smuts was in +a conference with some of his countrymen who were not +altogether friendly to him. He had just remarked on +the long drought that was prevailing. One of the men +present went to the window and looked out. When asked +the reason for this action he replied:</p> +<p>"Smuts says that there's a drought. I looked out +to see if it was raining."</p> +<p>When you come to Smuts in this analogy you behold +the Alexander Hamilton of his nation, the brilliant +student, soldier, and advocate. Of all his Boer contemporaries +he is the most cosmopolitan. Nor is this +due entirely to the fact that he went to Cambridge +where he left a record for scholarship, and speaks English +with a decided accent. It is because he has what +might be called world sense. His career, and more especially +his part at the Peace Conference and since, is +a dramatization of it.</p> +<p>To the student of human interest Smuts is a fertile +subject. His life has been a cinema romance shot +through with sharp contrasts. Here is one of them. +When leaders of the shattered Boer forces gathered in +<i>Vereeniging</i> to discuss the Peace Terms with +Kitchener +in 1902, Smuts, who commanded a flying guerilla +column, was besieging the little mining town of O'okiep. +He received a summons from Botha to attend. It was +accompanied by a safe-conduct pass signed "D. Haig, +Colonel." Later Haig and Smuts stood shoulder to +shoulder in a common cause and helped to save civilization.</p> +<p>Smuts is more many-sided than any other contemporary +Prime Minister and for that matter, those that +have gone into retirement, that is, men like Asquith in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg +40]</a></span> +England and Clemenceau in France. Among world +statesmen the only mind comparable to his is that of +Woodrow Wilson. They have in common a high intellectuality. +But Wilson in his prime lacked the hard +sense and the accurate knowledge of men and practical +affairs which are among the chief Smuts assets.</p> +<p>Speaking of Premiers brings me to the inevitable +comparison between Smuts and Lloyd George. I have +seen them both in varying circumstances, both in public +and in private and can attempt some appraisal.</p> +<p>Each has been, and remains, a pillar of Empire. +Each has emulated the Admirable Crichton in the +variety and multiplicity of public posts. Lloyd George +has held five Cabinet posts in England and Smuts has +duplicated the record in South Africa. Each man is an +inspired orator who owes much of his advancement to +eloquent tongue. Their platform manner is totally +different. Lloyd George is fascinatingly magnetic in +and out of the spotlight while Smuts is more coldly logical. +When you hear Lloyd George you are stirred and +even exalted by his golden imagery. The sound of his +voice falls on the ear like music. You admire the daring +of his utterance but you do not always remember everything +he says.</p> +<p>With Smuts you listen and you remember. He has no +tricks of the spellbinder's trade. He is forceful, convincing, +persuasive, and what is more important, has +the quality of permanency. Long after you have left +his presence the words remain in your memory. If I +had a case in court I would like to have Smuts try it. +His specialty is pleading.</p> +<p>Lloyd George seldom reads a book. The only volumes +I ever heard him say that he had read were Mr. +Dooley and a collection of the Speeches of Abraham<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg +41]</a></span> +Lincoln. He has books read for him and with a +Roosevelt faculty for assimilation, gives you the impression +that he has spent his life in a library.</p> +<p>Smuts is one of the best-read men I have met. He +seems to know something about everything. He ranges +from Joseph Conrad to Kant, from Booker Washington +to Tolstoi. History, fiction, travel, biography, have +all come within his ken. I told him I proposed to go +from Capetown to the Congo and possibly to Angola. +His face lighted up. "Ah, yes," he said, "I have read +all about those countries. I can see them before me in +my mind's eye."</p> +<p>One night at dinner at <i>Groote Schuur</i> we +had sweet +potatoes. He asked me if they were common in +America. I replied that down in Kentucky where I was +born one of the favorite negro dishes was "'possum and +sweet potatoes." He took me up at once saying:</p> +<p>"Oh, yes, I have read about ''possum pie' in Joel +Chandler Harris' books." Then he proceeded to tell +me what a great institution "Br'er Rabbit" was.</p> +<p>We touched on German poetry and I quoted two lines +that I considered beautiful. When I remarked that +I thought Heine was the author he corrected me by +proving that they were written by Schiller.</p> +<p>Lloyd George could never carry on a conversation +like this for the simple reason that he lacks familiarity +with literature. He feels perhaps like the late Charles +Frohman who, on being asked if he read the dramatic +papers said: "Why should I read about the theatre. I +<i>make</i> dramatic history."</p> +<p>I asked Smuts what he was reading at the moment. +He looked at me with some astonishment and answered, +"Nothing except public documents. It's a good thing +that I was able to do some reading before I became +Prime Minister. I certainly have no time now."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p> +<p>Take the matter of languages. Lloyd George has +always professed that he did not know French, and on +all his trips to France both during and since the war +he carried a staff of interpreters. He understands a +good deal more French than he professes. His widely +proclaimed ignorance of the language has stood him in +good stead because it has enabled him to hear a great +many things that were not intended for his ears. It is +part of his political astuteness. Smuts is an accomplished +linguist. It has been said of him that he "can be +silent in more languages than any man in South Africa."</p> +<p>Lloyd George is a clever politician with occasional +inspired moments but he is not exactly a statesman as +Disraeli and Gladstone were. Smuts has the unusual +combination of statesmanship with a knowledge of every +wrinkle in the political game.</p> +<p>Take his experience at the Paris Peace Conference. +He was distinguished not so much for what he did, +(and that was considerable), but for what he opposed. +No man was better qualified to voice the sentiment of +the "small nation." Born of proud and liberty-loving +people,—an infant among the giants—he was attuned +to every aspiration of an hour that realized many a one-time +forlorn national hope. Yet his statesmanship tempered +sentimental impulse.</p> +<p>In that gallery of treaty-makers Lloyd George, Clemenceau, +and Wilson focussed the "fierce light" that +beat about the proceedings. But it was Smuts, in the +shadow, who contributed largely to the mental power-plant +that drove the work. Lloyd George had to consider +the chapter he wrote in the great instrument as +something in the nature of a campaign document to be +employed at home, while Clemenceau guided a steamroller +that stooped for nothing but France. The more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> +or less unsophisticated idealism of Woodrow Wilson +foundered on these obstacles.</p> +<p>Smuts, with his uncanny sense of prophecy, foretold +the economic consequences of the peace. Looking ahead +he visualized a surly and unrepentant Germany, unwilling +to pay the price of folly; a bitter and disappointed +Austria gasping for economic breath; an +aroused and indignant Italy raging with revolt—all +the chaos that spells "peace" today. He saw the Treaty +as a new declaration of war instead of an antidote for +discord. His judgment, sadly enough, has been confirmed. +A deranged universe shot through with reaction +and confusion, and with half a dozen wars sputtering +on the horizon, is the answer. The sob and surge +of tempest-born nations in the making are lost in the +din of older ones threatened with decay and disintegration. +It is not a pleasing spectacle.</p> +<p>Smuts signed the Treaty but, as most people know, +he filed a memorandum of protest and explanation. He +believed the terms uneconomic and therefore unsound, +but it was worth taking a chance on interpretation, a desperate +venture perhaps, but anything to stop the blare +and bicker of the council table and start the work of +reconstruction.</p> +<p>At Capetown he told me that for days he wrestled +with the problem "to sign or not to sign." Finally, on +the day before the Day of Days in the Hall of Mirrors +at Versailles, he took a long solitary walk in the Champs +Elysee, loveliest of Paris parades. Returning to his +hotel he said to his secretary, Captain E. F. C. Lane, +"I have decided to sign, but I will tell the reason why." +He immediately sat down at his desk and in a handwriting +noted for its illegibility wrote the famous memorandum.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg +44]</a></span></p> +<h2>III</h2> +<p>What of the personal side of Smuts? While +he is intensely human it is difficult to connect +anecdote with him. I heard one at +Capetown, however, that I do not think has seen the +light of print. It reveals his methods, too.</p> +<p>When the Germans ran amuck in 1914 Smuts was +Minister of Defense of the Union of South Africa. +The Nationalists immediately began to make life uncomfortable +for him. Balked in their attempt to keep +the Union out of the struggle they took another tack. +After the Botha campaign in German South-West +Africa was well under way, a member of the Opposition +asked the Minister of Defense the following question in +Parliament: "How much has South Africa paid for +horses in the field and the Nationalists sought to make +some political capital out of an expenditure that they +remounts?" The Union forces employed thousands of +called "waste."</p> +<p>Smuts sent over to Army Headquarters to get the +figures. He was told that it would take twenty clerks +at least four weeks to compile the data.</p> +<p>"Never mind," was his laconic comment. The next +day happened to be Question Day in the House. As +soon as the query about the remount charge came up +Smuts calmly rose in his seat and replied:</p> +<p>"It was exactly eight million one hundred and sixty-nine +thousand pounds, ten shillings and sixpence." He +then sat down without any further remark.</p> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-049-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-049-thumbnail.jpg" alt="GENERAL J. C. SMUTS" title="GENERAL J. C. SMUTS" /> </a> +<div class="caption">GENERAL J. C. SMUTS —<i>Photograph +Copyright by Harris & Ewing</i></div> +</div> +<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></div> +<p>When one of his colleagues asked him where he got +this information he said:</p> +<p>"I dug it out of my own mind. It will take the +Nationalists a month to figure it out and by that time +they will have forgotten all about it." And it was +forgotten.</p> +<p>Smuts not only has a keen sense of humor but is +swift on the retort. While speaking at a party rally in +his district not many years after the Boer War he was +continually interrupted by an ex-soldier. He stopped +his speech and asked the man to state his grievance. +The heckler said:</p> +<p>"General de la Rey guaranteed the men fighting +under him a living."</p> +<p>Quick as a flash Smuts replied:</p> +<p>"Nonsense. What he guaranteed you was certain +death."</p> +<p>Like many men conspicuous in public life Smuts gets +up early and has polished off a good day's work before +the average business man has settled down to his job. +There is a big difference between his methods of work +and those of Lloyd George. The British Prime +Minister only goes to the House of Commons when he +has to make a speech or when some important question +is up for discussion. Smuts attends practically every +session of Parliament, at least he did while I was in +Capetown.</p> +<p>One reason was that on account of the extraordinary +position in which he found himself, any moment might +have produced a division carrying with it disastrous +results for the Government. The crisis demanded that +he remain literally on the job all the time. He left +little to his lieutenants. Confident of his ability in debate +he was always willing to risk a showdown but he +had to be there when it came.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p> +<p>I watched him as he sat in the House. He occupied +a front bench directly opposite Hertzog and where he +could look his arch enemy squarely in the eyes all the +time. I have seen him sit like a Sphinx for an hour +without apparently moving a muscle. He has cultivated +that rarest of arts which is to be a good listener. +He is one of the great concentrators. In this genius, for +it is little less, lies one of the secrets of his success. +During a lull in legislative proceedings he has a habit +of taking a solitary walk out in the lobby. More than +once I saw him pacing up and down, always with an ear +cocked toward the Assembly Room so he could hear +what was going on and rush to the rescue if necessary.</p> +<p>In the afternoon he would sometimes go into the +members' smoking room and drink a cup of coffee, the +popular drink in South Africa. In the old Boer household +the coffee pot is constantly boiling. With a cup +of coffee and a piece of "biltong" inside him a Boer +could fight or trek all day. Coffee bears the same relation +to the South African that tea does to the Englishman, +save that it is consumed in much larger quantities. +I might add that Smuts neither drinks liquor of any +kind nor smokes, and he eats sparingly. He admits that +his one dissipation is farming.</p> +<p>This comes naturally because he was born fifty years +ago on a farm in what is known as the Western Province +in the Karoo country. He did his share of the chores +about the place until it was time for him to go to school. +His father and his grandfather were farmers. Inbred +in him, as in most Boers, is an ardent love of country +life and especially an affection for the mountains. On +more than one occasion he has climbed to the top of +Table Mountain, which is no inconsiderable feat.</p> +<p>There are two ways of appraising Smuts. One is to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg +47]</a></span> +see him in action as I did at Capetown, while Parliament +was in session. The other is to get him with the background +of his farm at Irene, a little way station about +ten miles from Pretoria. Here, in a rambling one-story +house surrounded by orchards, pastures, and gardens, +he lives the simple life. In the western part of the +Transvaal he owns a real farm. He showed his shrewdness +in the acquisition of this property because he bought +it at a time when the region was dubbed a "desert." +Now it is a garden spot.</p> +<p>Irene has various distinct advantages. For one thing +it is his permanent home. <i>Groote Schuur</i> is the +property +of the Government and he owes his tenancy of it +entirely to the fortunes of politics. At Irene is planted +his hearthstone and around it is mobilized his considerable +family. There are six little Smutses. Smuts +married the sweetheart of his youth who is a rarely +congenial helpmate. It was once said of her that she +"went about the house with a baby under one arm and a +Greek dictionary under the other."</p> +<p>Most people do not realize that the Union of South +Africa has two capitals. Capetown with the House of +Parliament is the center of legislation, while Pretoria, +the ancient Kruger stronghold, with its magnificent new +Union buildings atop a commanding eminence, is the +fountain-head of administration. With Irene only ten +miles away it is easy for Smuts to live with his family +after the adjournment of Parliament, and go in to his +office at Pretoria every day.</p> +<p>I have already given you a hint of the Smuts personal +appearance. Let us now take a good look at him. His +forehead is lofty, his nose arched, his mouth large. You +know that his blonde beard veils a strong jaw. The eyes +are reminiscent of those marvelous orbs of Marshal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg +48]</a></span> +Foch only they are blue, haunting and at times inexorable. +Yet they can light up with humor and glow with +friendliness.</p> +<p>Smuts is essentially an out-of-doors person and his +body is wiry and rangy. He has the stride of a man +seasoned to the long march and who is equally at home +in the saddle. He speaks with vigour and at times not +without emotion. The Boer is not a particularly +demonstrative person and Smuts has some of the racial +reserve. His personality betokens potential strength,—a +suggestion of the unplumbed reserve that keeps +people guessing. This applies to his mental as well as +his physical capacity. Frankly cordial, he resents +familiarity. You would never think of slapping him on +the shoulder and saying, "Hello, Jan." More than +one blithe and buoyant person has been frozen into +respectful silence in such a foolhardy undertaking.</p> +<p>His middle name is Christian and it does not belie +a strong phase of his character. Without carrying his +religious convictions on his coat-sleeve, he has nevertheless +a fine spiritual strain in his make-up. He is an +all-round dependable person, with an adaptability to +environment that is little short of amazing.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p> +<h2>IV</h2> +<p>Now let us turn to another and less conspicuous +South African whose point of view, imperial, +personal and patriotic, is the exact opposite +of that of Smuts. Throughout this chapter has run the +strain of Hertzog, first the Boer General fighting gallantly +in the field with Smuts as youthful comrade; +then the member of the Botha Cabinet; later the bitter +insurgent, and now the implacable foe of the order that +he helped to establish. What manner of man is he and +what has he to say?</p> +<p>I talked to him one afternoon when he left the +floor leadership to his chief lieutenant, a son of +the late President Steyn of the Orange Free State. +Like his father, who called himself "President" to the +end of his life although his little republic had slipped +away from him, he has never really yielded to English +rule.</p> +<p>We adjourned to the smoking room where we had the +inevitable cup of South African coffee. I was prepared +to find a fanatic and fire-eater. Instead I faced a thin, +undersized man who looked anything but a general and +statesman. Put him against the background of a small +New England town and you would take him for an +American country lawyer. He resembles the student +more than the soldier and, like many Boers, speaks +English with a British accent. Nor is he without force. +No man can play the rôle that he has played in South<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg +50]</a></span> +Africa those past twenty-five years without having +substance in him.</p> +<p>When I asked him to state his case he said:</p> +<p>"The republican idea is as old as South Africa. There +was a republic before the British arrived. The idea came +from the American Revolution and the inspiration was +Washington. The Great Trek of 1836 was a protest +very much like the one we are making today.</p> +<p>"President Wilson articulated the Boer feeling with +his gospel of self-determination. He also voiced the +aspirations of Ireland, India and Egypt. It is a great +world idea—a deep moral conviction of mankind, this +right of the individual state, as of the individual for +freedom.</p> +<p>"Never again will Transvaal and Orange Free +State history be repeated. No matter how a nation +covets another—and I refer to British +covetousness,—if +the nation coveted is able to govern itself it cannot +and must not be assimilated. It is one result of the +Great War."</p> +<p>"What is the Nationalist ideal?" I asked.</p> +<p>"It is the right to self-rule," replied Hertzog. "But +there must be no conflict if it can be avoided. It must +prevail by reason and education. At the present time +I admit that the majority of South Africans do not +want republicanism. The Nationalist mission today is +to keep the torch lighted."</p> +<p>"How does this idea fit into the spirit of the League +of Nations?" I queried.</p> +<p>"It fits in perfectly," was the response. "We Nationalists +favor the League as outlined by Wilson. But I +fear that it will develop into a capitalistic, imperialistic +empire dominating the world instead of a league of +nations."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p> +<p>I asked Hertzog how he reconciled acquiescence to +Union to the present Nationalist revolt. The answer +was:</p> +<p>"The Nationalists supported the Government because +of their attachment to General Botha. Deep down in +his heart Botha wanted to be free and independent."</p> +<p>"How about Ireland?" I demanded.</p> +<p>The General smiled as he responded: "Our position +is different. It does not require dynamite, but education. +With us it is a simple matter of the will of the +people. I do not think that conditions in South Africa +will ever reach the state at which they have arrived in +Ireland."</p> +<p>Commenting on the Union and its relations to the +British Empire Hertzog continued:</p> +<p>"The Union is not a failure but we could be better +governed. The thing to which we take exception is that +the British Government, through our connection with +it, is in a position by which it gets an undue advantage +directly and indirectly to influence legislation. For example, +we were not asked to conquer German South-West +Africa; it was a command.</p> +<p>"Very much against the feeling of the old population, +that is the Dutch element, we were led into participation +in the war. Today this old population feels as strongly +as ever against South Africa being involved in European +politics. It feels that all this Empire movement +only leads in that direction and involves us in world +conflicts.</p> +<p>"One of the strongest reasons in favor of separation +and the setting up of a South African republic is to +get solidarity between the English and the Dutch. I +cannot help feeling that our interests are being constantly +subordinated to those of Great Britain. My firm<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> +conviction is that the freer we are, and the more independent +of Great Britain we become, the more we shall +favor a close co-operation with her. We do not dislike +the British as such but we do object to the Britisher +coming out as a subject of Great Britain with a superior +manner and looking upon the Dutchman as a dependent +or a subordinate. There will be a conflict so long as +they do not recognize our heroes, traditions and history. +In short, we are determined to have a republic of South +Africa and England must recognize it. To oppose it is +fatal."</p> +<p>"Will you fight for it?" I asked.</p> +<p>"I hardly think that it will come to force," said the +General. "It must prevail by reason and education. It +may not come in one year but it will come before many +years."</p> +<p>Hertzog's feeling is not shared, as he intimated, by +the majority of South Africans and this includes many +Dutchmen. An illuminating analysis of the Nationalist +point of view was made for me by Sir Thomas Smartt, +the leader of the Unionist Party and a virile force in +South African politics. He brought the situation +strikingly home to America when he said:</p> +<p>"The whole Nationalist movement is founded on race. +Like the Old Guard, the Boer may die but it is hard for +him to surrender. His heart still rankles with the outcome +of the Boer War. Would the American South +have responded to an appeal to arms in the common +cause made by the North in 1876? Probably not. Before +your Civil War the South only had individual +states. The Boers, on the other hand, had republics +with completely organized and independent governments. +This is why it will take a long time before com<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>plete +assimilation is accomplished. A second Boer War +is unthinkable."</p> +<p>We can now return to Smuts and find out just how +he achieved the miracle by which he not only retained +the Premiership but spiked the guns of the opposition.</p> +<p>When I left Capetown he was in a corner. The +Nationalist majority not only made his position precarious +but menaced the integrity of Union, and through +Union, the whole Empire. For five months,—the +whole session of Parliament,—he held his ground. +Every night when he went to bed at <i>Groote Schuur</i> he +did not know what disaster the morrow would bring +forth. It was a constant juggle with conflicting +interests, ambitions and prejudices. He was like a lion +with a pack snapping on all sides.</p> +<p>Now you can see why he sat in that front seat in the +House morning, noon and night. He placated the +Labourites, harmonized the Unionists, and flung down +the gauntlet openly to the Nationalists. Throughout +that historic session, and although much legislation was +accomplished, he did not permit the consummation of a +single decisive division. It was a triumph of parliamentary +leadership.</p> +<p>When the session closed in July,—it is then +mid-winter +in Africa,—he was still up against it. The +Nationalist majority was a phantom that dogged his +official life and political fortunes. The problem now was +to take out sane insurance against a repetition of the +trial and uncertainty which he had undergone.</p> +<p>Fate in the shape of the Nationalist Party played +into his hands. Under the stimulation of the Nationalists +a <i>Vereeniging</i> Congress was called at Bloenfontein +late last September. The Dutch word <i>Vereeniging</i> +means "reunion." Hertzog and Tielman Roos, the co-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg +54]</a></span>leader +of the secessionists, believed that by bringing the +leading representatives of the two leading parties together +the appeal to racial pride might carry the day. +Smuts did not attend but various members of his Cabinet +did.</p> +<p>Reunion did anything but reunite. The differences +on the republican issues being fundamental were likewise +irreconcilable. The Nationalists stood pat on secession +while the South African Party remained loyal +to its principles of Imperial unity. The meeting ended +in a deadlock.</p> +<p>Smuts, a field marshal of politics, at once saw that +the hour of deliverance from his dilemma had arrived. +The Nationalists had declared themselves unalterably +for separation. He converted their battle-cry into coin +for himself. He seized the moment to issue a call for +a new Moderate Party that would represent a fusion of +the South Africanists and the Unionists. In one of his +finest documents he made a plea for the consolidation of +these constructive elements.</p> +<p>In it he said:</p> +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Now that the Nationalist Party is firmly resolved to continue +its propaganda of fanning the fires of secession and of driving +the European races apart from each other and ultimately into +conflict with each other, the moderate elements of our population +have no other alternative but to draw closer to one another +in order to fight that policy.</p> +<p>A new appeal must, therefore, be made to all right-minded +South Africans, irrespective of party or race, to join the new +Party, which will be strong enough to safeguard the permanent +interests of the Union against the disruptive and destructive +policy of the Nationalists. Such a central political party will +not only continue our great work of the past, but is destined +to play a weighty rôle in the future peaceable development of +South Africa.</p> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p> +<p>The end of October witnessed the ratification of this +proposal by the Unionists. The action at once consolidated +the Premier's position. I doubt if in all political +history you can uncover a series of events more paradoxical +or perplexing or find a solution arrived at with +greater skill and strategy. It was a revelation of Smuts +with his ripe statesmanship put to the test, and not found +wanting.</p> +<p>At the election held four months later Smuts scored +a brilliant triumph. The South African Party increased +its representation by eighteen seats, while the +Nationalists lost heavily. The Labour Party was almost +lost in the wreckage. The net result was that the +Premier obtained a working majority of twenty-two, +which guarantees a stable and loyal Government for at +least five years.</p> +<p>It only remains to speculate on what the future holds +for this remarkable man. South Africa has a tragic +habit of prematurely destroying its big men. Rhodes +was broken on the wheel at forty-nine, and Botha succumbed +in the prime of life. Will Smuts share the same +fate?</p> +<p>No one need be told in the face of the Smuts performance +that he is a world asset. The question is, how +far will he go? A Cabinet Minister at twenty-eight, a +General at thirty, a factor in international affairs before +he was well into the forties, he unites those rare elements +of greatness which seem to be so sparsely apportioned +these disturbing days. That he will reconstruct South +Africa there is no doubt. What larger responsibilities +may devolve upon him can only be guessed.</p> +<p>Just before I sailed from England I talked with a +high-placed British official. He is in the councils of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg +56]</a></span> +Empire and he knows Smuts and South Africa. I asked +him to indicate what in his opinion would be the next +great milepost of Smuts' progress. He replied:</p> +<p>"The destiny of Smuts is interwoven with the destiny +of the whole British Empire. The Great War bound +the Colonies together with bonds of blood. Out of this +common peril and sacrifice has been knit a closer Imperial +kinship. During the war we had an Imperial +War Cabinet composed of overseas Premiers, which sat +in London. Its logical successor will be a United +British Empire, federated in policy but not in administration. +Smuts will be the Prime Minister of these +United States of Great Britain."</p> +<p>It is the high goal of a high career.</p> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-069-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-069-thumbnail.jpg" alt="THE HEAVY LINE INDICATES MR. MARCOSSON'S ROUTE IN AFRICA" title="THE HEAVY LINE INDICATES MR. MARCOSSON'S ROUTE IN AFRICA" /> +</a> +<div class="caption">THE HEAVY LINE INDICATES MR. +MARCOSSON'S ROUTE IN AFRICA</div> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></div> +<h1><a name="CHAPTER_II_CAPE-TO-CAIRO" id="CHAPTER_II_CAPE-TO-CAIRO"></a>CHAPTER +II—"CAPE-TO-CAIRO"</h1> +<h2>I</h2> +<p>When you take the train for the North at +Capetown you start on the first lap of what +is in many respects the most picturesque +journey in the world. Other railways tunnel mighty +mountains, cross seething rivers, traverse scorching +deserts, and invade the clouds, but none has so romantic +an interest or is bound up with such adventure and +imagination as this. The reason is that at Capetown +begins the southern end of the famous seven-thousand-mile +Cape-to-Cairo Route, one of the greatest dreams +of England's prince of practical dreamers, Cecil Rhodes. +Today, after thirty years of conflict with grudging +Governments, the project is practically an accomplished +fact.</p> +<p>Woven into its fabric is the story of a German conspiracy +that was as definite a cause of the Great War as +the Balkan mess or any other phase of Teutonic international +meddling. Along its highway the American +mining engineer has registered a little known evidence +of his achievement abroad. The route taps civilization +and crosses the last frontiers of progress. The South +African end discloses an illuminating example of profitable +nationalization. Over it still broods the personality +of the man who conceived it and who left his impress +and his name on an empire. Attention has been +directed anew to the enterprise from the fact that shortly +before I reached Africa two aviators flew from Cairo to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg +58]</a></span> +the Cape and their actual flying time was exactly sixty-eight +hours.</p> +<p>The unbroken iron spine that was to link North and +South Africa and which Rhodes beheld in his vision of +the future, will probably not be built for some years. +Traffic in Central Africa at the moment does not justify +it. Besides, the navigable rivers in the Belgian Congo, +Egypt, and the Soudan lend themselves to the rail and +water route which, with one short overland gap, now +enables you to travel the whole way from Cape to Cairo.</p> +<p>The very inception of the Cape-to-Cairo project gives +you a glimpse of the working of the Rhodes mind. He +left the carrying out of details to subordinates. When +he looked at the map of Africa,—and he was forever +studying maps,—and ran that historic line through it +from end to end and said, "It must be all red," he took +no cognizance of the extraordinary difficulties that lay +in the way. He saw, but he did not heed, the rainbow +of many national flags that spanned the continent. A +little thing like millions of square miles of jungle, successions +of great lakes, or wild and primitive regions +peopled with cannibals, meant nothing. Money and +energy were to him merely means to an end.</p> +<p>When General "Chinese" Gordon, for example, told +him that he had refused a roomful of silver for his +services in exterminating the Mongolian bandits Rhodes +looked at him in surprise and said: "Why didn't you take +it? What is the earthly use of having ideas if you +haven't the money with which to carry them out?" Here +you have the keynote of the whole Rhodes business +policy. A project had to be carried through regardless +of expense. It applied to the Cape-to-Cairo dream just +as it applied to every other enterprise with which he was +associated.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p> +<p>The all-rail route would cost billions upon billions, +although now that German prestige in Africa is ended +it would not be a physical and political impossibility. +A modification of the original plan into a combination +rail and river scheme permits the consummation of the +vision of thirty years ago. The southern end is all-rail +mainly because the Union of South Africa and Rhodesia +are civilized and prosperous countries. I made the entire +journey by train from Capetown to the rail-head at +Bukama in the Belgian Congo, a distance of 2,700 miles, +the longest continuous link in the whole scheme. This +trip can be made, if desirable, in a through car in about +nine days.</p> +<p>I then continued northward, down the Lualaba +River,—Livingstone +thought it was the Nile—then by +rail, and again on the Lualaba through the posts of +Kongolo, Kindu and Ponthierville to Stanleyville on +the Congo River. This is the second stage of the Cape-to-Cairo +Route and knocks off an additional 890 miles +and another twelve days. Here I left the highway to +Egypt and went down the Congo and my actual contact +with the famous line ended. I could have gone on, however, +and reached Cairo, with luck, in less than eight +weeks.</p> +<p>From Stanleyville you go to Mahagi, which is on +the border between the Congo and Uganda. This is +the only overland gap in the whole route. It covers +roughly,—and the name is no misnomer I am told,—680 +miles through the jungle and skirts the principal +Congo gold fields. A road has been built and motor +cars are available. The railway route from Stanleyville +to Mahagi, which will link the Congo and the Nile, is +surveyed and would have been finished by this time but +for the outbreak of the Great War. The Belgian<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> +Minister of the Colonies, with whom I travelled in the +Congo assured me that his Government would commence +the construction within the next two years, thus +enabling the traveller to forego any hiking on the long +journey.</p> +<p>Mahagi is on the western side of Lake Albert and is +destined to be the lake terminus of the projected Congo-Nile +Railway which will be an extension of the Soudan +Railways. Here you begin the journey that enlists +both railways and steamers and which gives practically +a straight ahead itinerary to Cairo. You journey on +the Nile by way of Rejaf, Kodok,—(the Fashoda that +was)—to Kosti, where you reach the southern rail-head +of the Soudan Railways. Thence it is comparatively +easy, as most travellers know, to push on through +Khartum, Berber, Wady Halfa and Assuan to the +Egyptian capital. The distance from Mahagi to Cairo +is something like 2,700 miles while the total mileage from +Capetown to Cairo, along the line that I have indicated, +is 7,000 miles.</p> +<p>This, in brief, is the way you make the trip that +Rhodes dreamed about, but not the way he planned it. +There are various suggestions for alternate routes after +you reach Bukama or, to be more exact, after you start +down the first stage of the journey on the Lualaba. At +Kabalo, where I stopped, a railroad runs eastward from +the river to Albertville, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. +Rhodes wanted to use the 400-mile waterway +that this body of water provides to connect the railway +that came down from the North with the line that begins +at the Cape. The idea was to employ train ferries. +King Leopold of Belgium granted Rhodes the right to +do this but Germany frustrated the scheme by refusing +to recognize the cession of the strip of Congo terri<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg +61]</a></span>tory +between Lake Tanganyika and Lake Kivu, which +was an essential link.</p> +<p>This incident is one evidence of the many attempts +that the Germans made to block the Cape-to-Cairo project. +Germany knew that if Rhodes, and through +Rhodes the British Empire, could establish through +communication under the British flag, from one end +of Africa to the other, it would put a crimp into the +Teutonic scheme to dominate the whole continent. She +went to every extreme to interfere with its advance.</p> +<p>This German opposition provided a reason why the +consummation of the project was so long delayed. +Another was, that except for the explorer and the big +game hunter, there was no particular provocation for +moving about in certain portions of Central Africa until +recently. But Germany only afforded one obstacle. +The British Government, after the fashion of governments, +turned a cold shoulder to the enterprise. History +was only repeating itself. If Disraeli had consulted +his colleagues England would never have acquired +the Suez Canal. So it goes.</p> +<p>Most of the Rhodesian links of the Cape-to-Cairo +Route were built by Rhodes and the British South +Africa Company, while the line from Broken Hill to +the Congo border was due entirely to the courage and +tenacity of Robert Williams, who is now constructing +the so-called Benguella Railway from Lobito Bay in +Portuguese Angola to Bukama. It will be a feeder to +the Cape-to-Cairo road and constitute a sort of back +door to Egypt. It will also provide a shorter outlet +to Europe for the copper in the Katanga district of the +Congo.</p> +<p>When you see equatorial Africa and more especially +that part which lies between the rail-head at Bukama<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg +62]</a></span> +and Mahagi, you understand why the all-rail route is not +profitable at the moment. It is for the most part an uncultivated +area principally jungle, with scattered white +settlements and hordes of untrained natives. The war +set back the development of the Congo many years. +Now that the world is beginning to understand the possibilities +of Central Africa for palm oil, cotton, rubber, +and coffee, the traffic to justify the connecting railways +will eventually come.</p> +<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></div> +<h2>II</h2> +<p>Shortly after my return from Africa I was +talking with a well-known American business +man who, after making the usual inquiries about +lions, cannibals and hair-breadth escapes, asked: "Is it +dangerous to go about in South Africa?" When I +assured him that both my pocket-book and I were safer +there than on Broadway in New York or State Street +in Chicago, he was surprised. Yet his question is typical +of a widespread ignorance about all Africa and even +its most developed area.</p> +<p>What people generally do not understand is that the +lower part of that one-time Dark Continent is one of +the most prosperous regions in the world, where the +home currency is at a premium instead of a discount; +where the high cost of living remains a stranger and +where you get little suggestion of the commercial rack +and ruin that are disturbing the rest of the universe. +While the war-ravaged nations and their neighbors are +feeling their dubious way towards economic reconstruction, +the Union of South Africa is on the wave of a +striking expansion. It affords an impressive contrast +to the demoralized productivity of Europe and for that +matter the United States.</p> +<p>South Africa presents many economic features of distinct +and unique interest. A glance at its steam transportation +discloses rich material. Fundamentally the +railroads of any country are the real measures of its +progress. In Africa particularly they are the mileposts<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg +64]</a></span> +of civilization. In 1876 there were only 400 miles on the +whole continent. Today there are over 30,000 miles. +Of this network of rails exactly 11,478 miles are in the +Union of South Africa and they comprise the second +largest mileage in the world under one management.</p> +<p>More than this, they are Government owned and +operated. Despite this usual handicap they pay. No +particular love of Government control,—which is invariably +an invitation for political influence to do its +worst,—animated the development of these railways. +As in Australia, where private capital refused to build, +it was a case of necessity. In South Africa there was +practically no private enterprise to sidestep the obligation +that the need of adequate transportation imposed. +The country was new, hostile savages still swarmed the +frontiers, and the white man had to battle with Zulu and +Kaffir for every area he opened. In the absence of +navigable rivers—there are none in the Union—the +steel rail had to do the pioneering. Besides, the +Boers had a strong prejudice against the railroads and +regarded the iron horse as a menace to their isolation.</p> +<p>The first steam road on the continent of Africa was +constructed by private enterprise from the suburb of +Durban in Natal into the town. It was a mile and three-quarters +in length and was opened for traffic in 1860. +Railway construction in the Cape Colony began about +the same time. The Government ownership of the lines +was inaugurated in 1873 and it has continued without +interruption ever since. The real epoch of railway +building in South Africa started with the great mineral +discoveries. First came the uncovering of diamonds +along the Orange River and the opening up of the +Kimberley region, which added nearly 2,000 miles of +railway. With the finding of gold in the Rand on what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg +65]</a></span> +became the site of Johannesburg, another 1,500 miles +were added.</p> +<p>Since most nationalized railways do not pay it is +interesting to take a look at the African balance sheet. +Almost without exception the South African railways +have been operated at a considerable net profit. These +profits some years have been as high as £2,590,917. +During the war, when there was a natural slump in +traffic and when all soldiers and Government supplies +were carried free of cost, they aggregated in 1915, for +instance, £749,125.</p> +<p>One fiscal feature of these South African railroads +is worth emphasizing. Under the act of Union "all +profits, after providing for interest, depreciation and +betterment, shall be utilized in the reduction of tariffs, +due regard being had to the agricultural and industrial +development within the Union and the promotion by +means of cheap transport of the settlement of an agricultural +population in the inland portions of the Union." +The result is that the rates on agricultural products, +low-grade ores, and certain raw materials are possibly +the lowest in the world. In other countries rates had +to be increased during the war but in South Africa no +change was made, so as not to interfere with the agricultural, +mineral and industrial development of the +country.</p> +<p>Nor is the Union behind in up-to-date transportation. +A big program for electrification has been blocked out +and a section is under conversion. Some of the power +generated will be sold to the small manufacturer and +thus production will be increased.</p> +<p>Stimulating the railway system of South Africa is a +single personality which resembles the self-made American +wizard of transportation more than any other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> +Britisher that I have met with the possible exception of +Sir Eric Geddes, at present Minister of Transport of +Great Britain and who left his impress on England's +conduct of the war. He is Sir William W. Hoy, whose +official title is General Manager of the South African +Railways and Ports. Big, vigorous, and forward-looking, +he sits in a small office in the Railway Station at +Capetown, with his finger literally on the pulse of +nearly 12,000 miles of traffic. During the war Walker +D. Hines, as Director General of the American Railways, +was steward of a vaster network of rails but his +job was an emergency one and terminated when that +emergency subsided. Sir William Hoy, on the other +hand, is set to a task which is not equalled in extent, +scope or responsibility by any other similar official.</p> +<p>Like James J. Hill and Daniel Willard he rose from +the ranks. At Capetown he told me of his great admiration +for American railways and their influence in the +system he dominates. Among other things he said: +"We are taking our whole cue for electrification from +the railroads of your country and more especially the +admirable precedent established by the Chicago, Milwaukee +& St. Paul Railway. I believe firmly in wide +electrification of present-day steam transport. The +great practical advantages are more uniform speed and +the elimination of stops to take water. It also affords +improved acceleration, greater reliability as to timing, +especially on heavy grades, and stricter adherence to +schedule. There are enormous advantages to single lines +like ours in South Africa. Likewise, crossings and train +movements can be arranged with greater accuracy, +thereby reducing delays. Perhaps the greatest saving +is in haulage, that is, in the employment of the heavy +electric locomotive. It all tends toward a denser traffic.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg +67]</a></span></p> +<p>"Behind this whole process of electrification lies the +need, created by the Great War, for coal conservation +and for a motive power that will speed up production of +all kinds. We have abundant coal in the Union of +South Africa and by consuming less of it on our railways +we will be in a stronger position to export it and +thus strengthen our international position and keep the +value of our money up."</p> +<p>Since Sir William has touched upon the coal supply +we at once get a link,—and a typical one—with the +ramified resource of the Union of South Africa. No +product, not even those precious stones that lie in the +bosom of Kimberley, or the glittering golden ore imbedded +in the Rand, has a larger political or economic +significance just now. Nor does any commodity figure +quite so prominently in the march of world events.</p> +<p>In peace, as in war, coal spells life and power. It +was the cudgel that the one-time proud and arrogant +Germany held menacingly over the head of the unhappy +neutral, and extorted special privilege. At the moment +I write, coal is the storm center of controversy that +ranges from the Ruhr Valley of Germany to the Welsh +fields of Britain and affects the destinies of statesmen +and of countries. We are not without fuel troubles, as +our empty bins indicate. The nation, therefore, with +cheap and abundant coal has a bargaining asset that +insures industrial peace at home and trade prestige +abroad.</p> +<p>South Africa not only has a low-priced and ample +coal supply but it is in a convenient point for distribution +to the whole Southern hemisphere,—in fact +Europe and other sections. On past production the +Union ranked only eleventh in a list of coal-producing +countries, the output being about 8,000,000 tons a year<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg +68]</a></span> +before the war and something over 10,000,000 tons in +1919. This output, however, is no guide to the magnitude +of its fields. Until comparatively recent times they +have been little exploited, not because of inferiority +but because of the restricted output prior to the new +movement to develop a bunker and export trade. Without +an adequate geological survey the investigations +made during the last twelve months indicate a potential +supply of over 60,000,000 tons and immense areas have +not been touched at all.</p> +<p>The war changed the whole coal situation. Labour +conflicts have reduced the British output; a huge part +of Germany's supply must go to France as an indemnity, +while our own fields are sadly under-worked, for a +variety of causes. All these conditions operate in favor +of the South African field, which is becoming increasingly +important as a source of supply.</p> +<p>Despite her advantage the prices remain astonishingly +low, when you compare them with those prevailing +elsewhere. English coal, which in 1912 cost about +nine shillings a ton at pithead, costs considerably more +than thirty shillings today. The average pithead price +of South African coal in 1915 was five shillings twopence +a ton and at the time of my visit to South Africa +in 1919 was still under seven shillings a ton. Capetown +and Durban, the two principal harbours of the Union, +are coaling stations of Empire importance. There you +can see the flags of a dozen nations flying from ships +that have put in for fuel. Thanks to the war these +ports are in the center of the world's great trade routes +and thus, geographically and economically their position +is unique for bunkering and for export.</p> +<p>The price of bunker coal is a key to the increased +overhead cost of world trade, as a result of the war. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg +69]</a></span> +Belgian boat on which I travelled from the shores of the +Congo to Antwerp coaled at Teneriffe, where the price +per ton was seven pounds. It is interesting to compare +this with the bunker price at Capetown of a little more +than two pounds per ton, or at Durban where the rate +is one pound ten shillings a ton. In the face of these +figures you can readily see what an economic advantage +is accruing to the Union of South Africa with reference +to the whole vexing question of coal supply.</p> +<p>We can now go into the larger matter of South +Africa's business situation in the light of peace and world +reconstruction. I have already shown how the war, +and the social and industrial upheaval that followed in +its wake have enlarged and fortified the coal situation +in the Union. Practically all other interests are similarly +affected. The outstanding factor in the prosperity +of the Union has been the development of war-born +self-sufficiency. I used to think during the conflict +that shook the world, that this gospel of self-containment +would be one of the compensations that Britain +would gain for the years of blood and slaughter. So far +as Britain is concerned this hope has not been realized. +When I was last in England huge quantities of German +dyes were being dumped on her shores to the loss +and dismay of a new coal-tar industry that had been +developed during the war. German wares like toys +and novelties were now pouring in. And yet England +wondered why her exchange was down!</p> +<p>In South Africa the situation has been entirely different. +She alone of all the British dominions is asserting +an almost pugnacious self-sufficiency. Cut off from +outside supplies for over four years by the relentless +submarine warfare, and the additional fact that nearly +all the ships to and from the Cape had to carry war<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg +70]</a></span> +supplies or essential products, she was forced to develop +her internal resources. The consequence is an expansion +of agriculture, industry and manufactures. Instead +of being as she was often called, "a country of +samples," she has become a domain of active production, +as is attested by an industrial output valued at +£62,000,000 in 1918. Before the war the British and +American manufacturer,—and there is a considerable +market for American goods in the Cape Colony,—could +undersell the South African article. That condition +is changed and the home-made article produced +with much cheaper labour than obtains either in Europe +or the United States, has the field.</p> +<p>Let me emphasize another striking fact in connection +with this South African prosperity. During the war +I had occasion to observe at first-hand the economic +conditions in every neutral country in Europe. I was +deeply impressed with the prosperity of Sweden, Spain +and Switzerland, and to a lesser extent Holland, who +made hay while their neighbors reaped the tares of +war. Japan did likewise. These nations were largely +profiteers who capitalized a colossal misfortune. They +got much of the benefit and little of the horror of the +upheaval.</p> +<p>Not so with South Africa. She played an active +part in the war and at the same time brought about a +legitimate expansion of her resources. One point in +her favor is that while she sent tens of thousands of her +sons to fight, her own territory escaped the scar and +ravage of battle. All the fighting in Africa, so far +as the Union was concerned, was in German South-West +Africa and German East Africa. After my years +in tempest-tossed Europe it was a pleasant change to +catch the buoyant, confident, unwearied spirit of South +Africa.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p> +<p>I have dwelt upon coal because it happens to be a +significant economic asset. Coal is merely a phase of +the South African resources. In 1919 the Union +produced £35,000,000 in gold and £7,200,000 in +diamonds. +The total mining production was, roughly, +£50,000,000. This mining treasure is surpassed by the +agricultural output, of which nearly one-third is exported. +Land is the real measure of permanent wealth. +The hoard of gold and diamonds in time becomes exhausted +but the soil and its fruits go on forever.</p> +<p>The moment you touch South African agriculture you +reach a real romance. Nowhere, not even in the winning +of the American West by the Mormons, do you get a +more dramatic spectacle of the triumph of the pioneer +over combative conditions. The Mormons made the +Utah desert bloom, and the Boers and their British colleagues +wrested riches from the bare veldt. The Mormons +fought Indians and wrestled with drought, while +the Dutch in Africa and their English comrades battled +with Kaffirs, Hottentots and Zulus and endured a no +less grilling exposure to sun.</p> +<p>The crops are diversified. One of the staples of South +Africa, for example, is the mealie, which is nothing +more or less than our own American corn, but not quite +so good. It provides the principal food of the natives +and is eaten extensively by the European as well. On +a dish of mealie porridge the Kaffir can keep the human +machine going for twenty-four hours. Its prototype in +the Congo is manice flour. In the Union nearly five +million acres are under maize cultivation, which is +exactly double the area in 1911. The value of the +maize crop last year was approximately a million six +hundred thousand pounds. Similar expansion has been +the order in tobacco, wheat, fruit, sugar and half a +dozen other products.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p> +<p>South Africa is a huge cattle country. The Boers +have always excelled in the care of live stock and it is +particularly due to their efforts that the Union today +has more than seven million head of cattle, which represents +another hundred per cent increase in less than ten +years.</p> +<p>This matter of live stock leads me to one of the really +picturesque industries of the Union which is the breeding +of ostriches, "the birds with the golden feathers." +Ask any man who raises these ungainly birds and he will +tell you that with luck they are far better than the proverbial +goose who laid the eighteen-karat eggs. The +combination of F's—femininity, fashion and +feathers—has +been productive of many fortunes. The business +is inclined to be fickle because it depends upon the +female temperament. The ostrich feather, however, is +always more or less in fashion. With the outbreak of +the war there was a tremendous slump in feathers, +which was keenly felt in South Africa. With peace, +the plume again became the thing and the drooping +industry expanded with get-rich-quick proportions.</p> +<p>Port Elizabeth in the Cape Colony is the center of +the ostrich feather trade. It is the only place in the +world, I believe, devoted entirely to plumage. Not long +before I arrived in South Africa £85,000 of feathers +were disposed of there in three days. It is no uncommon +thing for a pound of prime plumes to fetch £100. The +demand has become so keen that 350,000 ostriches in +the Union can scarcely keep pace with it. Before the +war there were more than 800,000 of these birds but the +depression in feathers coupled with drought, flood and +other causes, thinned out the ranks. It takes three +years for an ostrich chick to become a feather producer.</p> +<p>America has a considerable part in shaping the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg +73]</a></span> +ostrich feather market. As with diamonds, we are the +largest consumers. You can go to Port Elizabeth any +day and find a group of Yankees industriously bidding +against each other. On one occasion two New York +buyers started a competition that led to an eleven weeks +orgy that registered a total net sale of more than +£100,000 of feathers. They are still talking about it +down there.</p> +<p>South Africa has not only expanded in output but +her area is also enlarged. The Peace Conference gave +her the mandate for German South-West Africa, which +was the first section of the vanished Teutonic Empire in +Africa. It occupies more than a quarter of the whole +area of the continent south of the Zambesi River. While +the word "mandate" as construed by the peace sharks at +Paris is supposed to mean the amiable stewardship of +a country, it really amounts to nothing more or less than +an actual and benevolent assimilation. This assimilation +is very much like the paternal interest that holding +companies in the good old Wall Street days felt for +small and competitive concerns. In other words, it is +safe to assume that henceforth German South-West +Africa will be a permanent part of the Union.</p> +<p>The Colony's chief asset is comprised in the so-called +German South-West African Diamond Fields, which, +with the Congo Diamond Fields, provide a considerable +portion of the small stones now on the market. These +two fields are alike in that they are alluvial which means +that the diamonds are easily gathered by a washing +process. No shafts are sunk. It is precisely like gold +washing.</p> +<p>The German South-West mines have an American +interest. In the reorganization following the conquest +of German South-West Africa by the South African<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +Army under General Botha the control had to become +Anglo-Saxon. The Anglo-American Corporation +which has extensive interests in South Africa and which +is financed by London and New York capitalists, the +latter including J. P. Morgan, Charles H. Sabin and +W. B. Thompson, acquired these fields. It is an interesting +commentary on post-war business readjustment +to discover that there is still a German interest in these +mines. It makes one wonder if the German will ever +be eradicated from his world-wide contact with every +point of commercial activity.</p> +<p>It is not surprising, therefore, that South Africa, in +the light of all the facts that I have enumerated, should +be prosperous. Take the money, always a test of national +economic health. At Capetown I used the first +golden sovereign that I had seen since early in 1914. +This was not only because the Union happens to be a +great gold-producing country but because she has an +excess of exports over imports. Her money, despite +its intimate relation with that of Great Britain, which +has so sadly depreciated, is at a premium.</p> +<p>I got expensive evidence of this when I went to the +bank at Capetown to get some cash. I had a letter of +credit in terms of English pounds. To my surprise, I +only got seventeen shillings and sixpence in African +money for every English pound, which is nominally +worth twenty shillings. Six months after I left, this +penalty had increased to three shillings. To such an +extent has the proud English pound sterling declined +and in a British dominion too!</p> +<p>South Africa has put an embargo on the export of +sovereigns. One reason was that during the first three +years of the war a steady stream of these golden coins +went surreptitiously to East India, where an unusually<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg +75]</a></span> +high premium for gold rules, especially in the bazaars. +The goldsmiths find difficulty in getting material. The +inevitable smuggling has resulted. In order to put a +check on illicit removal, all passengers now leaving the +Union are searched before they board their ships. Nor +is it a half-hearted procedure. It is as drastic as the +war-time scrutiny on frontiers.</p> +<p>To sum up the whole business situation in the Union +of South Africa is to find that the spirit of production,—the +most sorely needed thing in the world today—is +that of persistent advance. I dwell on this because +it is in such sharp contrast with what is going on +throughout the rest of a universe that staggers under +sloth, and where the will-to-work has almost become a +lost art. That older and more complacent order which +is represented for example by France, Italy and England +may well seek inspiration from this South African +beehive.</p> +<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></div> +<h2>III</h2> +<p>With this economic setting for the whole +South African picture and a visualization +of the Cape-to-Cairo Route let us start on +the long journey that eventually took me to the heart +of equatorial Africa. The immediate objectives, so far +as this chapter is concerned, are Kimberley, Johannesburg +and Pretoria, names and towns that are synonymous +with thrilling chapters in the development of +Africa and more especially the Union.</p> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-085-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-085-thumbnail.jpg" alt="CECIL RHODES" title="CECIL RHODES" /> </a> +<div class="caption">CECIL RHODES — <i>Photograph +Copyright by W. & D. Downey</i></div> +</div> +<p>You depart from Capetown in the morning and for +hours you remain in the friendly company of the mountains. +Table Mountain has hovered over you during the +whole stay at the capital and you regretfully watch this +"Gray Father" fade away in the distance. In the evening +you pass through the Hex River country where the +canyon is reminiscent of Colorado. Soon there bursts +upon you the famous Karoo country, so familiar to all +readers of South African novels and more especially +those of Olive Schreiner, Richard Dehan and Sir +Percy Fitz Patrick. It is an almost treeless plain +dotted here and there with Boer homesteads. Their +isolation suggests battle with element and soil. The +country immediately around Capetown is a paradise +of fruit and flowers, but as you travel northward the +whole character changes. There is less green and more +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>brown. After the +Karoo comes the equally famous +veldt, studded with the <i>kopjes</i> that became a part +of the +world vocabulary with the Boer War. Behind these +low, long hills,—they suggest flat, rocky +hummocks—the +South African burghers made many a desperate +stand against the English.</p> +<p>When you see the <i>kopjes</i> you can readily +understand +why it took so long to conquer the Boers. The Dutch +knew every inch of the land and every man was a crack +shot from boyhood. In these hills a handful could hold +a small army at bay. All through this region you encounter +places that have become part of history. You +pass the ruins of Kitchener's blockhouses,—they really +ended the Boer War—and almost before you realize +it, you cross the Modder River, where British military +prestige got a bloody repulse. Instinctively there come +to mind the struggles of Cronje, DeWet, Joubert, and +the rest of those Boer leaders who made this region a +small Valhalla.</p> +<p>Late in the afternoon of the second day you suddenly +get a "feel" of industry. The veldt becomes populated +and before long huge smokestacks loom against the +sky. You are at Kimberly. The average man associates +this place with a famous siege in the Boer War and the +equally famous diamond mines. But it is much more +for it is packed with romance and reality. Here came +Cecil Rhodes in his early manhood and pulled off the +biggest business deal of his life; here you find the first +milepost that the American mining engineer set up in +the mineral development of Africa: here is produced +in greater quantities than in any other place in the world +the glittering jewel that vanity and avarice set their +heart upon.</p> +<p>Kimberley is one of the most unique of all the treas<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg +78]</a></span>ure +cities. It is practically built on a diamond mine in +the same way that Johannesburg rests upon a gold +excavation. When the great diamond rush of the +seventies overwhelmed the Vaal and Orange River regions, +what is now the Kimberley section was a rocky +plain with a few Boer farms. The influx of fortune-hunters +dotted the area with tents and diggings. Today +a thriving city covers it and the wealth produced—the +diamond output is ninety per cent of the world supply—exceeds +in value that of a big manufacturing community +in the United States.</p> +<p>At Kimberley you touch the intimate life of Rhodes. +He arrived in 1872 from Natal, where he had gone to +retrieve his health on a farm. The moment he staked +out a claim he began a remarkable career. In his early +Kimberley days he did a characteristic thing. He left +his claims each year to attend lectures at Oxford where +he got his degree in 1881, after almost continuous commuting +between England and Africa. Hence the +Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford created by his remarkable +will. History contains no more striking contrast perhaps +than the spectacle of this tall curly-haired boy with +the Caesar-like face studying a Greek book while he +managed a diamond-washing machine with his foot.</p> +<p>Rhodes developed the mines known as the DeBeers +group. His great rival was Barney Barnato, who gave +African finance the same erratic and picturesque tradition +that the Pittsburgh millionaires brought to American +finance. His real name was Barnett Isaacs. After +kicking about the streets of the East End of London +he became a music hall performer under the name by +which he is known to business history. The diamond +rush lured him to Kimberley, where he displayed the +resource and ingenuity that led to his organization of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg +79]</a></span> +the Central mine interests which grouped around the +Kimberley Mine.</p> +<p>A bitter competition developed between the Rhodes +and Barnato groups. Kimberley alternated between +boom and bankruptcy. The genius of diamond mining +lies in tempering output to demand. Rhodes realized +that indiscriminate production would ruin the market, +so he framed up the deal that made him the diamond +dictator. He made Barnato an offer which was refused. +With the aid of the Rothschilds in London Rhodes +secretly bought out the French interests in the Barnato +holdings for $6,000,000, which got his foot, so to speak, +in the doorway of the opposition. But even this did not +give him a working wedge. He was angling with other +big stockholders and required some weeks time to consummate +the deal. Meanwhile Barnato accumulated an +immense stock of diamonds which he threatened to dump +on the market and demoralize the price. The release of +these stones before the completion of Rhodes' negotiations +would have upset his whole scheme and neutralized +his work and expense.</p> +<p>He arranged a meeting with Barnato who confronted +him with the pile of diamonds that he was about to +throw on the market. Rhodes, so the story goes, took +him by the arm and said: "Barney, have you ever seen +a bucketful of diamonds? I never have. I'll make a +proposition to you. If these diamonds will fill a bucket, +I'll take them all from you at your own price."</p> +<p>Without giving his rival time to answer, Rhodes swept +the glittering fortune into a bucket which happened to +be standing nearby. It also happened that the stones +did not fill it. This incident shows the extent of the +Rhodes resource, for a man at Kimberly told me that +Rhodes knew beforehand exactly how many diamonds<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> +Barnato had and got the right sized bucket. Rhodes +immediately strode from the room, got the time he +wanted and consummated the consolidation which made +the name DeBeers synonymous with the diamond output +of the world. One trifling feature of this deal was +the check for $26,000,000 which Rhodes gave for some +of the Barnato interests acquired.</p> +<p>The deal with Barnato illustrated the practical operation +of one of the rules which guided Rhodes' business +life. He once said, "Never fight with a man if you can +deal with him." He lived up to this maxim even with +the savage Matabeles from whom he wrested Rhodesia.</p> +<p>Not long after the organization of the diamond trust +Rhodes gave another evidence of his business acumen. +He saw that the disorganized marketing of the output +would lead to instability of price. He therefore +formed the Diamond Syndicate in London, composed +of a small group of middlemen who distribute the whole +Kimberley output. In this way the available supply is +measured solely by the demand.</p> +<p>Rhodes had a peculiar affection for Kimberley. One +reason perhaps was that it represented the cornerstone +of his fortune. He always referred to the mines as +his "bread and cheese." He made and lost vast sums +elsewhere and scattered his money about with a lavish +hand. The diamond mines did not belie their name and +gave him a constant meal-ticket.</p> +<p>In Kimberley he made some of the friendships that +influenced his life. First and foremost among them was +his association with Doctor, afterwards Sir, Starr +Jameson, the hero of the famous Raid and a romantic +character in African annals. Jameson came to Kimberley +to practice medicine in 1878. No less intimate was +Rhodes' life-long attachment for Alfred Beit, who ar<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg +81]</a></span>rived +at the diamond fields from Hamburg in 1875 as an +obscure buyer. He became a magnate whose operations +extended to three continents. Beit was the balance +wheel in the Rhodes financial machine.</p> +<p>The diamond mines at Kimberley are familiar to +most readers. They differ from the mines in German +South-West Africa and the Congo in that they are +deep level excavations. The Kimberley mine, for example, +goes down 3,000 feet. To see this almost grotesque +gash in the earth is to get the impression of a +very small Grand Canyon of the Colorado. It is an +awesome and terrifying spectacle for it is shot through +with green and brown and purple, is more than a thousand +feet wide at the top, and converges to a visible +point a thousand feet below. You feel that out of this +color and depth has emerged something that itself incarnates +lure and mystery. Even in its source the diamond +is not without its element of elusiveness.</p> +<p>The diamonds at Kimberley are found in a blue earth, +technically known as kimberlite and commonly called +"blue ground." This is exposed to sun and rain for +six months, after which it is shaken down, run over a +grease table where the vaseline catches the real diamonds, +and allows the other matter to escape. After +a boiling process it is the "rough" diamond.</p> +<p>I spent a day in the Dutoitspan Mine where I saw +thousands of Kaffirs digging away at the precious blue +substance soon to be translated into the gleaming stone +that would dangle on the bosom or shine from the finger +of some woman ten thousand miles away. I got an evidence +of American cinema enterprise on this occasion +for I suddenly debouched on a wide level and under +the flickering lights I saw a Yankee operator turning +the crank of a motion picture camera. He was part of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg +82]</a></span> +a movie outfit getting travel pictures. A hundred naked +Zulus stared with open-eyed wonder at the performance. +When the flashlight was touched off they ran for their +lives.</p> +<p>This leads me to the conspicuous part that Americans +have played at Kimberley. Rhodes had great confidence +in the Americans, and employed them in +various capacities that ranged from introducing California +fruits into South Africa and Rhodesia to handling +his most important mining interests. When someone +asked him why he engaged so many he answered, +"They are so thorough."</p> +<p>First among the Americans that Rhodes brought to +Kimberley was Gardner F. Williams, a Michigander +who became General Manager of the DeBeers Company +in 1887 and upon the consolidation, assumed the same +post with the united interests. He developed the +mechanical side of diamond production and for many +years held what was perhaps the most conspicuous technical +and administrative post in the industry. He retired +in favor of his son, Alpheus Williams, who is the +present General Manager of all the diamond mines at +Kimberley.</p> +<p>A little-known American had a vital part in the +siege of Kimberley. Among the American engineers +who rallied round Gardner Williams was George +Labram. When the Boers invested the town they had +the great advantage of superiority in weight of metal. +Thanks to Britain's lack of preparedness, Kimberley +only had a few seven pounders, while the Boers had +"Long Toms" that hurled hundred pounders. At +Rhodes' suggestion Labram manufactured a big gun +capable of throwing a thirty-pound shell and it gave the +besiegers a big and destructive surprise. This gun, which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg +83]</a></span> +was called "Long Cecil," was built and booming in exactly +twenty-eight days. Tragically enough, Labram +was killed by a Boer shell while shaving in his room +at the Grand Hotel exactly a week after the first discharge +of his gun.</p> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>IV</h2> +<p>The part that Americans had in the development +of Kimberley is slight compared with +their participation in the exploitation of the +Rand gold mines. Not only were they the real pioneers +in opening up this greatest of all gold fields but they +loomed large in the drama of the Jameson Raid. One +of their number, John Hays Hammond, the best-known +of the group, was sentenced to death for his rôle in it. +The entire technical fabric of the Rand was devised +and established by men born, and who had the greater +part of their experience, in the United States.</p> +<p>The capital of the Rand is Johannesburg. When +you ride in a taxicab down its broad, well-paved streets +or are whirled to the top floor of one of its skyscrapers, +it is difficult to believe that thirty years ago this thriving +and metropolitan community was a rocky waste. We +are accustomed to swift civic transformations in America +but Johannesburg surpasses any exhibit that we can +offer in this line. Once called "a tin town with a gold +cellar," it has the atmosphere of a continuous cabaret +with a jazz band going all the time.</p> +<p>No thoroughly acclimated person would ever think +of calling Johannesburg by its full and proper name. +Just as San Francisco is contracted into "'Frisco," so +is this animated joytown called "Joburg." I made the +mistake of dignifying the place with its geographical<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg +85]</a></span> +title when I innocently remarked, "Johannesburg is a +live place." My companion looked at me with pity—it +was almost sorrow, and replied,</p> +<p>"We think that 'Joburg' (strong emphasis on 'Joburg') +is one of the hottest places in the world."</p> +<p>The word Rand is Dutch for ridge or reef. Toward +the middle of the eighties the first mine was discovered +on what is the present site of Johannesburg. The original +excavation was on the historic place known as +<i>Witwatersrand</i>, which means White Water Reef. +Kimberley +history repeated itself for the gold rush to the +Transvaal was as noisy and picturesque as the dash +on the diamond fields. It exceeded the Klondike movement +because for one thing it was more accessible and +in the second place there were no really adverse climatic +conditions. Thousands died in the snow and ice +of the Yukon trail while only a few hundred succumbed +to fever, exposure to rain, and inadequate food on the +Rand. It resembled the gold rush to California in 1849 +more than any other similar event.</p> +<p>The Rand gold fields, which in 1920 produced half +of the world's gold, are embodied in a reef about fifty +miles long and twenty miles wide. All the mines immediately +in and about Johannesburg are practically +exhausted. The large development today is in the eastern +section. People do everything but eat gold in +Johannesburg. Cooks, maids, waiters, bootblacks—indeed +the whole population—are interested, or at some +time have had an interest in a gold mine. Some historic +shoestrings have become golden cables. J. B. +Robinson, for example, one of the well-known magnates, +and his associates converted an original interest of +£12,000 into £18,000,000. This Rand history sounds +like an Aladdin fairy tale.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p> +<p>What concerns us principally, however, is the American +end of the whole show. Hardly were the first Rand +mines uncovered than they felt the influence of the +American technical touch. Among the first of our +engineers to go out were three unusual men, Hennen +Jennings, H. C. Perkins and Captain Thomas Mein. +Together with Hamilton Smith, another noted American +engineer who joined them later, they had all worked +in the famous El Callao gold mine in Venezuela. Subsequently +came John Hays Hammond, Charles Butters, +Victor M. Clement, J. S. Curtis, T. H. Leggett, Pope +Yeatman, Fred Hellman, George Webber, H. H. +Webb, and Louis Seymour. These men were the big +fellows. They marshalled hundreds of subordinate engineers, +mechanics, electricians, mine managers and +others until there were more than a thousand in the +field.</p> +<p>This was the group contemporaneous and identified +with the Jameson Raid. After the Boer War came +what might be called the second generation of American +engineers, which included Sidney Jennings, a brother +of Hennen, W. L. Honnold, Samuel Thomson, Ruel +C. Warriner, W. W. Mein, the son of Capt. Thomas +Mein, and H. C. Behr.</p> +<p>Why this American invasion? The reason was +simple. The American mining engineer of the eighties +and the nineties stood in a class by himself. Through +the gold development of California we were the only +people who had produced gold mining engineers of large +and varied practical experience. When Rhodes and +Barnato (they were both among the early nine mine-owners +in the Rand) cast about for capable men they +naturally picked out Americans. Hammond, for example, +was brought to South America in 1893 by Bar<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>nato +and after six months with him went over to Rhodes, +with whom he was associated both in the Rand and +Rhodesia until 1900.</p> +<p>Not only did Americans create the whole technical +machine but one of them—Hennen Jennings—really +saved the field. The first mines were "outcrop," that +is, the ore literally cropped out at the surface. This outcrop +is oxidized, and being free, is easily amalgamated +with mercury. Deeper down in the earth comes the unoxidized +zone which continues indefinitely. The iron +pyrites found here are not oxidized. They hold the +gold so tenaciously that they are not amalgamable. +They must therefore be abstracted by some other process +than with mercury. At the time that the outcrop in +the Rand become exhausted, what is today known as +the "cyanide process" had never been used in that part +of the world. The mine-owners became discouraged +and a slump followed. Jennings had heard of the +cyanide operation, insisted upon its introduction, and +it not only retrieved the situation but has become an +accepted adjunct of gold mining the world over. In +the same way Hammond inaugurated deep-level mining +when many of the owners thought the field was exhausted +because the outcrop indications had disappeared.</p> +<p>These Americans in the Rand made the mines and +they also made history as their part in the Jameson +Raid showed. Perhaps a word about the Reform movement +which ended in the Raid is permissible here. It +grew out of the oppression of the <i>Uitlander</i>—the +alien—by +the Transvaal Government animated by Kruger, +the President. Although these outsiders, principally +English and Americans, outnumbered the Boers three +to one, they were deprived of the rights of citizenship.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg +88]</a></span> +The Reformers organized an armed campaign to capture +Kruger and hold him as a hostage until they could +obtain their rights. The guns and ammunition were +smuggled in from Kimberley as "hardware" under the +supervision of Gardner Williams. It was easy to bring +the munitions as far as Kimberley. The Boers set up +such a careful watch on the Transvaal border, however, +that every subterfuge had to be employed to get +them across.</p> +<p>Dr. Jameson, who at that time was Administrator of +Southern Rhodesia, had a force of Rhodesian police on +the Transvaal border ready to come to the assistance +of the Committee if necessary. The understanding was +that Jameson should not invade the Transvaal until he +was needed. His impetuosity spoiled the scheme. Instead +of waiting until the Committee was properly +armed and had seized Kruger, he suddenly crossed the +border with his forces. The Raid was a fizzle and the +commander and all his men were captured by the Boers. +This abortive attempt was the real prelude to the Boer +War, which came four years later.</p> +<p>Most Americans who have read about this episode +believe that John Hays Hammond was the only countryman +of theirs in it. This was because he had a leading +and spectacular part and was one of the four ringleaders +sentenced to death. He afterwards escaped by the +payment of a fine of $125,000. As a matter of fact, +four other prominent American mining engineers were +up to their necks in the reform movement and got long +terms in prison. They were Capt. Thomas Mein, J. S. +Curtis, Victor M. Clement and Charles Butters. They +obtained their freedom by the payment of fines of +$10,000 each. This whole enterprise netted Kruger +something like $2,000,000 in cash.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p> +<p>The Jameson Raid did more than enrich old Kruger's +coffers and bring the American engineers in the Rand +to the fore. Indirectly it blocked a German scheme +that might have played havoc in Africa the moment +the inevitable Great War broke. If the Boer War had +not developed in 1899 it is altogether likely that, judging +from her whole campaign of world-wide interference, +Germany would have arranged so that it should +break out in 1914. In this unhappy event she could +have struck a death blow at England in South Africa +because in the years between the Boer War and 1914 +she created close-knit colonial organizations in South-West +and East Africa; built strategic railways; armed +and drilled thousands of natives, and could have invaded +the Cape Colony and the Transvaal.</p> +<p>In connection with the Jameson Raid is a story not +without interest. Jameson and Rudyard Kipling happened +to be together when the news of Roosevelt's coup +in Panama was published. The author read it first and +handed the paper to his friend with the question: "What +do you think of it?"</p> +<p>Jameson glanced at the article and then replied +somewhat sadly, "This makes the Raid look like thirty +cents."</p> +<p>I cannot leave the Rand section of the Union of +South Africa without a word in passing about Pretoria, +the administrative capital, which is only an hour's journey +from Johannesburg. Here you still see the old house +where Kruger lived. It was the throne of a copper-riveted +autocracy. No modern head of a country ever +wielded such a despotic rule as this psalm-singing old +Boer whose favorite hour for receiving visitors was at +five o'clock in the morning, when he had his first cup<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg +90]</a></span> +of strong coffee, a beverage which he continued to consume +throughout the day.</p> +<p>The most striking feature of the country around +Pretoria is the Premier diamond mine, twenty-five miles +east of the town and the world's greatest single treasure-trove. +The mines at Kimberley together constitute the +largest of all diamond fields but the Premier Mine is +the biggest single mine anywhere. It produces as much +as the four largest Kimberley mines combined, and +contributes eighteen per cent of the yearly output +allotted to the Diamond Syndicate.</p> +<p>It was discovered by Thomas M. Cullinan, who +bought the site from a Boer farmer for $250,000. The +land originally cost this farmer $2,500. The mine has +already produced more than five hundred times what +Cullinan paid for it and the surface has scarcely been +scraped. You can see the natives working in its two +huge holes which are not more than six hundred feet +deep. It is still an open mine. In the Premier Mine +was found the Cullinan diamond, the largest ever discovered +and which made the Koh-i-noor and all other +fabled gems look like small pebbles. It weighed 3,200 +karats and was insured for $2,500,000 when it was sent +to England to be presented to King Edward. The +Koh-i-noor, by the way, which was found in India only +weighs 186 karats.</p> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-101-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-101-thumbnail.jpg" alt="THE PREMIER DIAMOND MINE" title="THE PREMIER DIAMOND MINE" /> +</a> +<div class="caption">THE PREMIER DIAMOND MINE — <i>Photograph +Copyright by South African Railways</i></div> +</div> +<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></div> +<h2>V</h2> +<p>No attempt at an analysis of South Africa +would be complete without some reference to +the native problem, the one discordant note in +the economic and productive scheme. The race question, +as the Smuts dilemma showed, lies at the root of all +South African trouble. But the racial conflict between +Briton and Boer is almost entirely political and in no +way threatens the commercial integrity. Both the +Dutchman and the Englishman agree on the whole +larger proposition and the necessity of settling once +and for all a trouble that carries with it the danger of +sporadic outbreak or worse. Now we come to the whole +irritating labor trouble which has neither color, caste, +nor creed, or geographical line.</p> +<p>First let me bring the South African color problem +home to America. In the United States the whites outnumber +the blacks roughly ten to one. Our coloured +population represents the evolution of the one-time African +slave through various generations into a peaceful, +law-abiding, and useful social unit. The Southern "outrage" +is the rare exception. We have produced a Frederick +Douglass and a Booker Washington. Our Negro +is a Christian, fills high posts, and invades the professions.</p> +<p>In South Africa the reverse is true. To begin with, +the natives outnumber the whites four and one-half to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg +92]</a></span> +one—in Rhodesia they are twenty to one—and they +are increasing at a much greater rate than the Europeans. +Moreover, the native population draws on half +a dozen races, including the Zulus, Kaffirs, Hottentots +and Basutos. These Negroes represent an almost primitive +stage of development. They are mainly heathens +and a prey to savagery and superstition. The Cape +Colony is the only one that permits the black man to +go to school or become a skilled artisan. Elsewhere the +white retains his monopoly on the crafts and at the +same time refuses to do any labour that a Negro can +perform. Hence the great need of white immigration +into the Union. The big task, therefore, is to secure +adequate work for the Negro without permitting him to +gain an advantage through it.</p> +<p>It follows that the moment the Kaffir becomes efficient +and picks up a smattering of education he begins +to think about his position and unrest is fomented. It +makes him unstable as an employee, as the constant +desertions from work show. The only way that the gold +and diamond mines keep their thousands of recruited +native workers is to confine them in compounds. The +ordinary labourer has no such restrictions and he is +here today and gone tomorrow.</p> +<p>It is not surprising to discover that in a country +teeming with blacks there are really no good servants, +a condition with which the American housewife can +heartily sympathize. Before I went to Africa nearly +every woman I knew asked me to bring her back a +diamond and a cook. They were much more concerned +about the cook than the diamond. Had I kept every +promise that I made affecting this human jewel, I +would have had to charter a ship to convey them. The +only decent servant I had in Africa was a near-savage<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg +93]</a></span> +in the Congo, a sad commentary on domestic service +conditions.</p> +<p>The one class of stable servants in the Colony are +the "Cape Boys," as they are called. They are the +coloured offspring of a European and a Hottentot or a +Malay and are of all shades, from a darkish brown to +a mere tinge. They dislike being called "niggers." +The first time I saw these Cape Boys was in France during +the war. South Africa sent over thousands of them +to recruit the labour battalions and they did excellent +work as teamsters and in other capacities. The Cape +Boy, however, is the exception to the native rule +throughout the Union, which means that most native +labour is unstable and discontented.</p> +<p>Not only is the South African native a menace to +economic expansion but he is likewise something of a +physical danger. In towns like Pretoria and Johannesburg +there is a considerable feeling of insecurity. +Women shrink from being left alone with their servants +and are filled with apprehension while their little +ones are out under black custodianship. The one native +servant, aside from some of the Cape Boys, who has +demonstrated absolute fidelity, is the Zulu whom you +see in largest numbers in Natal. He is still a proud and +kingly-looking person and he carried with him a hint +of the vanished greatness of his race. Perhaps one +reason why he is safe and sane reposes in his recollection +of the repeated bitter and bloody defeats at the +hands of the white men. Yet the Zulu was in armed +insurrection in Natal in the nineties.</p> +<p>South Africa enjoys no guarantee of immunity from +black uprising even now in the twentieth century when +the world uses the aeroplane and the wireless. During +the past thirty years there have been outbreaks through<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg +94]</a></span>out +the African continent. As recently as 1915 a fanatical +form of Ethiopianism broke out in Nyassaland which +lies north-east of Rhodesia, under the sponsorship of +John Chilembwe, a negro preacher who had been educated +in the United States. The natives rose, killed a +number of white men and carried off the women. Of +course, it was summarily put down and the leaders +executed. But the incident was significant.</p> +<p>Prester John, whose story is familiar to readers of +John Buchan's fine romance of the same name, still has +disciples. Like Chilembwe he was a preacher who had +acquired so-called European civilization. He dreamed +of an Africa for the blacks and took his inspiration from +the old kings of Abyssinia. He too met the fate of +all his kind but his spirit goes marching on. In 1919 a +Pan-African Congress was held in Paris to discuss some +plan for what might be called Pan-Ethiopianism. The +following year a negro convention in New York City +advocated that all Africa should be converted into a +black republic.</p> +<p>One example of African native unrest was brought +strikingly to my personal attention. At Capetown I +met one of the heads of a large Cape Colony school for +Negroes which is conducted under religious auspices. +The occasion was a dinner given by J. X. Merriman, +the Grand Old Man of the Cape Colony. This particular +educator spoke with glowing enthusiasm about +this institution and dwelt particularly upon the evolution +that was being accomplished. He gave me a pressing +invitation to visit it. He happened to be on the train +that I took to Kimberley, which was also the first stage +of his journey home and he talked some more about the +great work the school was doing.</p> +<p>When I reached Kimberley the first item of news<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg +95]</a></span> +that I read in the local paper was an account of an uprising +in the school. Hundreds of native students rebelled +at the quality of food they were getting and went +on the rampage. They destroyed the power-plant and +wrecked several of the buildings. The constabulary had +to be called out to restore order.</p> +<p>In many respects most Central and South African +Negroes never really lose the primitive in them despite +the claims of uplifters and sentimentalists. Actual contact +is a disillusioning thing. I heard of a concrete +case when I was in the Belgian Congo. A Belgian +judge at a post up the Kasai River acquired an intelligent +Baluba boy. All personal servants in Africa are +called "boys." This particular native learned French, +acquired European clothes and became a model servant. +When the judge went home to Belgium on leave +he took the boy along. He decided to stay longer than +he expected and sent the negro back to the Congo. No +sooner did the boy get back to his native heath than he +sold his European clothes, put on a loin cloth, and +squatted on the ground when he ate, precisely like +his savage brethren. It is a typical case, and merely +shows that a great deal of so-called black-acquired civilization +in Africa falls away with the garb of civilization.</p> +<p>The only African blacks who have really assimilated +the civilizing influence so far as my personal observation +goes are those of the West Coast. Some of the +inhabitants of Sierra Leone will illustrate what I mean. +Scores have gone to Oxford and Cambridge and have +become doctors, lawyers and competent civil servants. +They resemble the American Negro more than any +others in Africa. This parallel even goes to their fondness +for using big words. I saw hundreds of them hold<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>ing +down important clerical positions in the Belgian +Congo where they are known as "Coast-men," because +they come from the West Coast.</p> +<p>I had an amusing experience with one when I was +on my way out of the Congo jungle. I sent a message +by him to the captain of the little steamboat that took +me up and down the Kasai River. In this message I +asked that the vessel be made ready for immediate departure. +The Coast-man, whose name was Wilson—they +all have English names and speak English fluently—came +back and said:</p> +<p>"I have conveyed your expressed desire to leave immediately +to the captain of your boat. He only returns +a verbal acquiescence but I assure you that he will leave +nothing undone to facilitate your speedy departure."</p> +<p>He said all this with such a solemn and sober face that +you would have thought the whole destiny of the British +Empire depended upon the elaborateness of his utterance.</p> +<p>To return to the matter of unrest, all the concrete +happenings that I have related show that the authority +of the white man in Africa is still resented by the natives. +It serves to emphasize what Mr. Lothrop Stoddard, +an eminent authority on this subject, so aptly calls "the +rising tide of colour." We white people seldom stop +to realize how overwhelmingly we are outnumbered. +Out of the world population of approximately 1,700,000,000 +persons (I am using Mr. Stoddard's figures), +only 550,000,000 are white.</p> +<p>A colour conflict is improbable but by no means impossible. +We have only to look at our own troubles +with the Japanese to get an intimate glimpse of what +might lurk in a yellow tidal wave. The yellow man +humbled Russia in the Russo-Japanese War and he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> +smashed the Germans at Kiao Chow in the Great War. +The fact that he was permitted to fight shoulder to +shoulder with the white man has only added to his cockiness +as we have discovered in California.</p> +<p>Remember too that the Germans stirred up all Islam +in their mad attempt to conquer the world. The Mohammedan +has not forgotten what the Teutonic propagandists +told him when they laid the cunning train of +bad feeling that precipitated Turkey into the Great +War. These seeds of discord are bearing fruit in many +Near Eastern quarters. One result is that a British +army is fighting in Mesopotamia now. A Holy War +is merely the full brother of the possible War of Colour. +In East Africa the Germans used thousands of native +troops against the British and Belgians. The blacks +got a taste, figuratively, of the white man's blood and +it did his system no good.</p> +<p>Throughout the globe there are 150,000,000 blacks +and all but 30,000,000 of them are south of the Sahara +Desert in Africa. They lack the high mental development +of the yellow man as expressed in the Japanese, +but even brute force is not to be despised, especially +where it outnumbers the whites to the extent that they +do in South Africa. I am no alarmist and I do not +presume to say that there will be serious trouble. I +merely present these facts to show that certainly so far +as affecting production and economic security in general +is concerned, the native still provides a vexing and +irritating problem, not without danger.</p> +<p>The Union of South Africa is keenly alive to this +perplexing native situation. Its policy is what might +be called the Direct Rule, in which the whole administration +of the country is in the hands of the Europeans and +which is the opposite of the Indirect Rule of India, for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg +98]</a></span> +example, which recognizes Rajahs and other potentates +and which permits the brown man to hold a variety +of public posts.</p> +<p>The Government of the Cape Colony is becoming +convinced that Booker Washington's idea is the sole +salvation of the race. That great leader maintained +that the hope for the Negro in the United States and +elsewhere lay in the training of his hands. Once those +hands were skilled they could be kept out of mischief. +I recall having discussed this theory one night with +General Smuts at Capetown and he expressed his hearty +approval of it.</p> +<p>The lamented Botha died before he could put into +operation a plan which held out the promise of still +another kind of solution. It lay in the soil. He contended +that an area of forty million acres should be set +aside for the natives, where many could work out their +destinies themselves. While this plan offered the opportunity +for the establishment of a compact and perhaps +dangerous black entity, his feeling was that by the +avoidance of friction with the whites the possibility of +trouble would be minimized. This scheme is likely to be +carried out by Smuts.</p> +<p>Since the Union of South Africa profited by the +whirligig of war to the extent of acquiring German +South-West Africa it only remains to speak of the new +map of Africa, made possible by the Great Conflict. +Despite the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France one +fails to see concrete evidence of Germany's defeat in +Europe. Her people are still cocky and defiant. There +is no mistake about her altered condition in Africa. +Her flag there has gone into the discard along with the +wreck of militarism. The immense territory that she +acquired principally by browbeating is lost, down to +the last square mile.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p> +<p>Up to 1884 Germany did not own an inch of African +soil. Within two years she was mistress of more than +a million square miles. Analyze her whole performance +on the continent and a definite cause of the World War +is discovered. It is part of an international conspiracy +studded with astonishing details.</p> +<p>Africa was a definite means to world conquest. Germany +knew of her vast undeveloped wealth. It is now +no secret that her plan was to annex the greater part of +French, Belgian, Italian and Portuguese Africa in the +event that she won. The Berlin-to-Bagdad Railway +would have hitched up the late Teutonic Empire with +the Near East and made it easy to link the African +domain with this intermediary through the Turkish dominions. +Here was an imposing program with many +advantages. For one thing it would have given Germany +an untold store of raw materials and it would +also have put her into a position to dictate to Southern +Asia and even South America.</p> +<p>The methods that Germany adopted to acquire her +African possessions were peculiarly typical. Like the +madness that plunged her into a struggle with civilization +they were her own undoing. Into a continent +whose middle name, so far as colonization goes, is intrigue +she fitted perfectly. Practically every German +colony in Africa represented the triumph of "butting +in" or intimidation. The Kaiser That Was regarded +himself as the mentor, and sought to recast continents +in the same grand way that he lectured his minions.</p> +<p>The first German colony in Africa was German +South-West, as it was called for short, and grew out of a +deal made between a Bremen merchant and a native +chief. On the strength of this Bismarck pinched out an +area almost as big as British East Africa. Before<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg +100]</a></span> +twelve months had passed the German flag flew over +what came to be known as German East Africa, and +also over Togoland and the The Cameroons on the +West Coast.</p> +<p>Germany really had no right to invade any of this +country but she was developing into a strong military +power and rather than have trouble, the other nations +acquiesced. Once intrenched, she started her usual interference. +The prize mischief-maker of the universe, +she began to stir up trouble in every quarter. She embroiled +the French at Agadir and got into a snarl with +Portugal over Angola.</p> +<p>The Kaiser's experience with Kruger is typical. +When the Jameson Raid petered out William Hohenzollern +sent the dictator of the Transvaal a telegram of +congratulation. The old Boer immediately regarded +him as an ally and counted on his aid when the Boer +War started. Instead, he got the double-cross after +he had sent his ultimatum to England. At that time +the Kaiser warily side-stepped an entanglement with +Britain for the reason that she was too useful.</p> +<p>It is now evident that a large part of the Congo atrocity +was a German scheme. The head and front of the +exposé movement was Sir Roger Casement of London. +He sought to foment a German-financed revolution in +Ireland and was hanged as a traitor in the Tower.</p> +<p>Behind this atrocity crusade was just another evidence +of the German desire to control Africa. By +rousing the world against Belgium, Germany expected +to bring another Berlin Congress, which would be expected +to give her the stewardship of the Belgian Congo. +The result would have been a German belt across +Africa from the Indian to the Atlantic Oceans. She +could thus have had England and France at a disad<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg +101]</a></span>vantage +on the north, and England and Portugal where +she wanted them, to the south. Hence the Great War +was not so much a matter of German meddling in the +Balkans as it was her persistent manipulation of other +nations' affairs in Africa. She was playing "freeze-out" +on a stupendous scale. You can see why Germany +was so much opposed to the Cape-to-Cairo Route. It +interfered with her ambitions and provided a constant +irritant to her "benevolent" plans.</p> +<p>So much for the war end. Turn to the peace aspect. +With Germany eliminated from the African scheme the +whole region can enter upon a harmonious development. +More than this, the fact that she is now deprived of +colonies prevents her from recovering the world-wide +economic authority she commanded before the war. A +congested population allows her no more elbow room at +home. Before she went mad her whole hope of the +future lay in a colonization where her flag could fly in +public, and in a penetration which cunningly masked the +German hand. The world is now wise to the latter procedure.</p> +<p>The new colour scheme of the African map may now +be disclosed. The Union of South Africa, as you have +seen, has taken over German South-West Africa; Great +Britain has assumed the control of all German East +Africa with the exception of Ruanda and Urundu, +which have become part of the Belgian Congo. Togoland +is divided between France and Britain, while the greater +part of The Cameroons is merged into the Lower French +West African possessions of which the French Congo +is the principal one. Britain gets the Cameroon Mountains.</p> +<p>The one-time Dark Continent remains dark only for +Germany.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-115-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-115-thumbnail.jpg" alt="VICTORIA FALL" title="VICTORIA FALLS" /> </a> +<div class="caption">VICTORIA FALLS — <i>Photograph +Copyright British South Africa Co.</i></div> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></div> +<h1><a name="CHAPTER_III_RHODES_AND_RHODESIA" id="CHAPTER_III_RHODES_AND_RHODESIA"></a>CHAPTER +III—RHODES AND RHODESIA</h1> +<h2>I</h2> +<p>For fifty-eight hours the train from Johannesburg +had travelled steadily northward, past +Mafeking and on through the apparently endless +stretches of Bechuanaland. Alternately frozen and +baked, I had swallowed enough dust to stock a small-sized +desert. Dawn of the third day broke and with +it came a sharp rap on my compartment door. I had +been dreaming of a warm bath and a joltless life when +I was rudely restored to reality. The car was stationary +and a blanketed Matabele, his teeth chattering with the +cold, peered in at the window.</p> +<p>"What is it?" I asked.</p> +<p>"You are in Rhodesia and I want to know who you +are," boomed a voice out in the corridor.</p> +<p>I opened the door and a tall, rangy, bronzed man—the +immigration inspector—stepped inside. He looked +like a cross between an Arizona cowboy and an Australian +overseas soldier. When I proved to his satisfaction +that I was neither Bolshevik nor Boche he departed +with the remark: "We've got to keep a watch on +the people who come into this country."</p> +<p>Such was my introduction to Rhodesia, where the +limousine and the ox-team compete for right of way on +the veldt and the 'rickshaw yields to the motor-cycle in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg +104]</a></span> +the town streets. Nowhere in the world can you find a +region that combines to such vivid and picturesque extent +the romance and hardship of the pioneer age with +the push and practicality of today. Here existed the +"King Solomon's Mines" of Rider Haggard's fancy: +here the modern gold-seekers of fact sought the treasures +of Ophir; here Nature gives an awesome manifestation +of her power in the Victoria Falls.</p> +<p>It is the only country where a great business corporation +rules, not by might of money but by chartered +authority. Linked with that rule is the story of a conflict +between share-holder and settler that is unique in +the history of colonization. It is the now-familiar and +well-nigh universal struggle for self-determination +waged in this instance between all-British elements and +without violence.</p> +<p>All the way from Capetown I had followed the trail +of Cecil Rhodes, which like the man himself, is distinct. +It is not the succession of useless and conventional monuments +reared by a grateful posterity. Rather it is expressed +in terms of cities and a permanent industrial +and agricultural advance. "Living he was the land," +and dead, his imperious and constructive spirit goes +marching on. The Rhodes impress is everywhere. +Now I had arrived at the cap-stone of it all, the domain +that bears his name and which he added to the British +Empire.</p> +<p>Less than two hours after the immigration inspector +had given me the once-over on the frontier I was in +Bulawayo, metropolis of Rhodesia, which sprawls over +the veldt just like a bustling Kansas community spreads +out over the prairie. It is definitely American in energy +and atmosphere. Save for the near-naked blacks you +could almost imagine yourself in Idaho or Montana back +in the days when our West was young.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p> +<p>Before that first day ended I had lunched and dined +in a club that would do credit to Capetown or Johannesburg; +had met women who wore French frocks, and had +heard the possibilities of the section acclaimed by a dozen +enthusiasts. Everyone in Rhodesia is a born booster. +Again you get the parallel with our own kind.</p> +<p>To the average American reader Rhodesia is merely +a name, associated with the midnight raid of stealthy +savage and all the terror and tragedy of the white man's +burden amid the wild confines. All this happened, to +be sure, but it is part of the past. While South Africa +still wrestles with a serious native problem, Rhodesia +has settled it once and for all. It would be impossible +to find a milder lot than the survivors and sons of the +cruel and war-like Lobengula who once ruled here like +a despot of old. His tribesmen—the Matabeles—were +put in their place by a strong hand and they remain +put.</p> +<p>Bulawayo was the capital of Lobengula's kingdom. +The word means "Place of Slaughter," and it did not +belie the name. You can still see the tree under which +the portly potentate sat and daily dispensed sanguinary +judgment. His method was quite simple. If anyone +irritated or displeased him he was haled up "under the +greenwood" and sentenced to death. If gout or rheumatism +racked the royal frame the chief executed the +first passerby and then considered the source of the +trouble removed. The only thing that really departed +was the head of the innocent victim. Lobengula had +sixty-eight wives, which may account for some of his +eccentricities. Chaka, the famous king of the Zulus, +whose favourite sport was murdering his sons (he feared +a rival to the throne), was an amateur in crime alongside +the dusky monarch whom the British suppressed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> +and thereby gained what is now the most prosperous +part of Southern Rhodesia.</p> +<p>The occupation and development of Rhodesia are so +comparatively recent—(Rhodes and Dr. Jameson +were fighting the Matabeles at Bulawayo in 1896)—that +any account of the country must at the outset include +a brief historical approach to the time of my visit +last May. Probe into the beginnings of any African +colony and you immediately uncover intrigue and militant +imperialism. Rhodesia is no exception.</p> +<p>For ages the huge continent of which it is part was +veiled behind mystery and darkness. The northern and +southern extremes early came into the ken of the explorer +and after him the builder. So too with most of +the coast. But the vast central belt, skirted by the arid +reaches of Sahara on one side and unknown territory on +the other, defied civilization until Livingstone, Stanley, +Speke, and Grant blazed the way. Then began the +scramble for colonies.</p> +<p>Early in the eighties more than one European power +cast covetous glances at what might be called the South +Central area. Thanks to the economic foresight of +King Leopold, Belgium had secured the Congo. Between +this region which was then a Free State, and the +Transvaal, was an immense and unappropriated country,—a +sort of no man's land, rich with minerals, teeming +with forests and peopled by savages. Two +territories, Matabeleland, ruled by Lobengula, and +Mashonaland, inhabited by the Mashonas, who were to +all intents and purposes vassals to Lobengula, were the +prize portions. Another immense area—the present +British protectorate of Bechuanaland—was immediately +south and touched the Cape Colony and the Transvaal. +Portuguese East Africa lay to the east but the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> +backbone of Africa south of the Congo line lay ready +to be plucked by venturesome hands.</p> +<p>Nor were the hands lacking for the enterprise. Germany +started to strengthen the network of conspiracy +that had already yielded her a million square miles of +African soil and she was reaching out for more. Control +of Africa meant for her a big step toward world +conquest. Paul Kruger, President of the Transvaal +Republic, which touched the southern edge of this unclaimed +domain, saw in it the logical extension of his +dominions.</p> +<p>Down at Capetown was Rhodes, dreaming of a +Greater Britain and determined to block the Kaiser and +Kruger. It was largely due to his efforts while a member +of the Cape Parliament that Britain was persuaded +to annex Bechuanaland as a Crown Colony. Forestalled +here, Kruger was determined to get the rest of +the country beyond Bechuanaland and reaching to the +southern border of the Congo. His emissaries began +to dicker with chiefs and he organized an expedition to +invade the territory. Once more Rhodes beat him to +it, this time in history-making fashion.</p> +<p>Following his theory that it is better to deal with +a man than fight him, he sent C. D. Rudd, Rochfort +Maguire, and F. R. ("Matabele") Thompson up to deal +directly with Lobengula. They were ideal envoys for +Thompson in particular knew every inch of the country +and spoke the native languages. From the crafty chieftain +they obtained a blanket concession for all the mineral +and trading rights in Matabeleland for £1,200 a +year and one thousand rifles. Rhodes now converted +this concession into a commercial and colonizing achievement +without precedent or parallel. It became the +Magna Charta of the great British South Africa Com<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg +108]</a></span>pany, +which did for Africa what the East India Company +did for India. Counting in Bechuanaland, it +added more than 700,000 square miles to the British +Empire.</p> +<p>Like the historic document so inseparably associated +with the glories of Clive and Hastings, its Charter +shaped the destiny of the empire and is associated with +battle, blood, and the eventual triumph of the Anglo-Saxon +over the man of colour. Other chartered companies +have wielded autocratic power over millions of +natives but the royal right to exist and operate, bestowed +by Queen Victoria upon the British South Africa Company—the +Chartered Company as it is commonly +known—was the first that ever gave a corporation +the administrative authority over a politically active +country with a white population. The record of its rule +is therefore distinct in the annals of Big Business.</p> +<p>It was in 1899 that Rhodes got the Charter. In his +conception of the Rhodesia that was to be—(it was +first called Zambesia)—he had two distinct purposes +in view. One was the larger political motive which was +to widen the Empire and keep the Germans and Boers +from annexing territory that he believed should be +British. This was Rhodes the imperialist at work. The +other aspect was the purely commercial side and revealed +the same shrewdness that had registered so successfully +in the creation of the Diamond Trust at Kimberley. +This was Rhodes the business man on the job.</p> +<p>The Charter itself was a visualization of the Rhodes +mind and it matched the Cape-to-Cairo project in bigness +of vision. It gave the Company the right to acquire +and develop land everywhere, to engage in shipping, to +build railway, telegraph and telephone lines, to establish +banks, to operate mines and irrigation undertakings and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg +109]</a></span> +to promote commerce and manufacture of all kinds. +Nothing was overlooked. It meant the union of business +and statesmanship.</p> +<p>Under the Charter the Company was given administrative +control of an area larger than that of Great +Britain, France and Prussia. It divided up into Northern +and Southern Rhodesia with the Zambesi River as +the separating line. Northern Rhodesia remains a +sparsely settled country—there are only 2,000 +white inhabitants to 850,000 natives—and the only +industry of importance is the lead and zinc development +at Broken Hill. Southern Rhodesia, where there are +35,000 white persons and 800,000 natives, has been the +stronghold of Chartered interests and the battleground +of the struggle to throw off corporate control. It is +the Rhodesia to be referred to henceforth in this chapter +without prefix.</p> +<p>The Charter is perpetual but it contained a provision +that at the end of twenty-five years, (1914) and at the +end of each succeeding ten years, the Imperial Government +has the power to alter, amend or rescind the instrument +so far as the administration of Rhodesia is concerned. +No vital change in the original document has +been made so far, but by the time the next cycle expires +in 1924 it is certain that the Company control will have +ended and Rhodesia will either be a part of the Union +of South Africa or a self-determining Colony.</p> +<p>The Company is directed by a Board of Directors in +London, but no director resides in the country itself. +Thus at the beginning the fundamental mistake was +made in attempting to run an immense area at long +range. With the approval of the Foreign Office the +Company names an Administrator,—the present one +is Sir Drummond Chaplin,—who, like the average<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg +110]</a></span> +Governor-General, has little to say. The Company has +exercised a copper-riveted control and this rigid rule +led to its undoing, as you will see later on.</p> +<p>The original capitalization was +£1,000,000,—it was +afterwards increased to £9,000,000,—but it is only a +part of the stream of pounds sterling that has been +poured into the country. In all the years of its existence +the company has never paid a dividend. It is only since +1914 that the revenue has balanced expenditures. More +than 40,000 shareholders have invested in the enterprise. +Today the fate of the country rests practically +on the issue between the interests of these shareholders +on one hand and the 35,000 inhabitants on the other. +Once more you get the spectacle, so common to American +financial history, of a strongly intrenched vested +interest with the real exploiter or the consumer arrayed +against it. The Company rule has not been harsh but +it has been animated by a desire to make a profit. The +homesteaders want liberty of movement without handicap +or restraint. An irreconcilable conflict ensued.</p> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-125-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-125-thumbnail.jpg" alt="CULTIVATING CITRUS LAND IN RHODESIA" title="CULTIVATING CITRUS LAND IN RHODESIA" /> </a> +<div class="caption">CULTIVATING CITRUS LAND IN RHODESIA +— <i>Photograph Copyright by British South Africa Co.</i></div> +</div> +<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></div> +<h2>II</h2> +<p>We can now go into the story of the occupation +of Rhodesia, which not only unfolds a +stirring drama of development but discloses +something of an epic of adventure. With most corporations +it is an easy matter to get down to business once +a charter is granted. It is only necessary to subscribe +stock and then enter upon active operations, whether +they produce soap, razors or automobiles. The market +is established for the product.</p> +<p>With the British South Africa Company it was a far +different and infinitely more difficult performance, to +translate the license to operate into action. Matabeleland +and Mashonaland were wild regions where war-like +tribes roamed or fought at will. There were no roads. +The only white men who had ventured there were hunters, +traders, and concession seekers. Occupation preceded +exploitation. A white man's civilization had to be +set up first. The rifle and the hoe went in together.</p> +<p>In June, 1890, the Pioneer Column entered. Heading +it were two men who left an impress upon African +romance. One was Dr. Jameson, hero of the Raid and +Rhodes' most intimate friend. The first time I met +him I marvelled that this slight, bald, mild little man +should have been the central figure in so many heroic +exploits. The other was the famous hunter, F. C. +Selous, who was Roosevelt's companion in British East +Africa. Under them were less than two hundred white +men, including Captain Heany, an American, who now<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg +112]</a></span> +invaded a country where Lobengula had an army of +20,000 trained fighters, organized into <i>impis</i>—(regiments)—after +the Zulu fashion and in every respect a +formidable force. Although the old chief had granted +the concession, no one trusted him and Jameson and +Selous had to feel their way, sleep under arms every +night, and build highways as they went.</p> +<p>Upon Lobengula's suggestion it was decided to +occupy Mashonaland first. This was achieved without +any trouble and the British flag was raised on what is +now the site of Salisbury, the capital of Southern +Rhodesia. Most of the members of the expedition remained +as settlers, and farms sprang up on the veldt. +The Company had to organize a police force to patrol +the land and keep off predatory natives. But this +was purely incidental to the larger troubles that now +crowded thick and fast. In the South the Boers +launched an expedition to occupy Matabeleland by force +and it had to be headed off. To the east rose friction with +the Portuguese and a Rhodesian contingent was compelled +to occupy part of Portuguese East Africa until +the boundary line was adjusted.</p> +<p>In 1893 came the first of the events that made +Rhodesia a storm center. A Matabele regiment raided +the new town of Victoria and killed some of the Company's +native servants. The Matabeles then went on the +warpath and Dr. Jameson took the field against them. +For five weeks a bitter struggle raged. It ended with +the defeat and disappearance of Lobengula and the +occupation of Bulawayo by the Company forces. This +brought the whole of Matabeleland under the direct +authority of the British South Africa Company. The +campaign cost the Company $500,000.</p> +<p>Three years of peace and progress followed. Rail<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg +113]</a></span>way +construction started in two directions. One line +was headed from the south through Bechuanaland toward +Bulawayo and another from Beira, the Indian +Ocean port in Portuguese East Africa, westward toward +Salisbury. Gold mines were opened and farms +extended. At the end of 1895 came the Jameson Raid. +Practically the entire force under the many-sided Doctor +was recruited from the Rhodesian police and they +were all captured by the Boers. Rhodesia was left +defenceless.</p> +<p>The Matabeles seized this moment to strike again. +Ever since the defeat of 1893 they had been restless and +discontented. Various other causes contributed to the +uprising. One is peculiarly typical of the African +savage. An outbreak of rinderpest, a disease hitherto +unknown in Southern Africa, came down from the +North and ravaged the cattle herds. In order to check +the advance of the pest the Government established a +clear belt by shooting all the cattle in a certain area. It +was impossible for the Matabeles to understand the wisdom +of this procedure. They only saw it as an outrage +committed by the white men on their property for they +were extensive cattle owners. In addition many died +after eating infected meat and they also held the settlers +responsible. The net result of it all was a sudden descent +upon the white settlements and scores of white men, +women and children were slaughtered.</p> +<p>This time the operations against them were on a large +scale. The present Lord Plumer, who commanded the +Fourth British Army in France against the Germans,—he +was then a Lieutenant Colonel—came up with eight +hundred soldiers and drove the Matabeles into the fastnesses +of the Matopos,—a range of hills fifty miles long +and more than twenty wide. Here the savages took +refuge in caves and could not be driven out.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p> +<p>You now reach one of the remarkable feats in the life +of Cecil Rhodes. The moment that the second Matabele +war began he hastened northward to the country that +bore his name. As soon as the Matabeles took refuge +in the Matopos he boldly went out to parley with them. +With three unarmed companions, one of them an interpreter, +he set up a camp in the wilds and sent emissaries +to the syndicate of the chiefs who had succeeded Lobengula. +He had become Premier of the Cape Colony, was +head of the great DeBeers Diamond Syndicate, and had +other immense interests. He was also Managing Director +of the British South Africa Company and the biggest +stockholder. He was determined to protect his +interests and at the same time preserve the integrity +of the country that he loved so well.</p> +<p>He exposed himself every night to raids by the most +blood-thirsty savages in all Africa. Plumer's command +was camped nearly five miles away but Rhodes +refused a guard.</p> +<p>Rhodes waited patiently and his perseverance was +eventually rewarded. One by one the chiefs came down +from the hills and succumbed to the persuasiveness and +personality of this remarkable man who could deal with +wild and naked warriors as successfully as he could dictate +to a group of hard-headed business men. After two +months of negotiating the Matabeles were appeased and +permanent peace, so far as the natives were concerned, +dawned in Rhodesia. After his feat in the Matopos the +Matabeles called Rhodes "The Man Who Separated the +Fighting Bulls." It was during this period in Rhodesia +that Rhodes discovered the place which he called "The +View of the World," and where his remains now lie in +lonely grandeur.</p> +<p>At Groote Schuur, the Rhodes house near Capetown,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg +115]</a></span> +which he left as the permanent residence of the Prime +Minister of the Union of South Africa, I saw a prized +souvenir of the Matopos conferences with the Matabeles. +On the wall in Rhodes' bedroom hangs the faded picture +of an old and shriveled Matabele woman. When I +asked General Smuts to tell me who she was he replied: +"That is the woman who acted as the chief negotiator +between Rhodes and the rebels." I afterwards found +out that she was one of the wives of Umziligazi, father +of Lobengula, and a noted Zulu chieftain. Rhodes +never forgot the service she rendered him and caused the +photograph of her to be taken.</p> +<p>Following the last Matabele insurrection the Imperial +Government which is represented in Rhodesia by a Resident +Commissioner assumed control of the natives. The +Crown was possibly guided by the precedent of Natal, +where a premature Responsible Government was followed +by two Zulu wars which well-nigh wrecked the +province. It has become the policy of the Home Government +not to permit a relatively small white population +to rule the natives. Whatever the influence, +Rhodesia has had no trouble with the natives since +Rhodes made the peace up in the hills of the Matopos.</p> +<p>The moment that the war of force ended, another +and bloodless war of words began and it has continued +ever since. I mean the fight for self-government that +the settlers have waged against the Chartered Company. +This brings us to a contest that contributes a significant +and little-known chapter to the whole narrative of self-determination +among the small peoples.</p> +<p>Through its Charter the British South Africa Company +was able to fasten a copper-rivetted rule on +Rhodesia. Most of the Directors in London, with the +exception of men like Dr. Jameson, knew very little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg +116]</a></span> +about the country. There was no resident Director in +Africa and the members of the Board only came out +just before the elections. The Administrator was +always a Company man and until 1899 his administrative +associates in the field were the members of an +Executive Council nominated by the Company. Meanwhile +thousands of men had invested their fortunes in +the land and the inevitable time came when they believed +that they should have a voice in the conduct of its +affairs.</p> +<p>This sentiment became so widespread that in 1899 +the country was given a Legislative Council which for +the first time enabled the Rhodesians to elect some of +their own people to office. At first they were only +allowed three members, while the Company nominated +six others. This always gave the Chartered interests +a majority. Subsequently, as the clamour for popular +representation grew, the number of elected representatives +was increased to thirteen, while those nominated +by Charter remained the same. To get a majority +under the new deal it was only necessary for the Company +to get the support of four elected members and on +account of its relatively vast commercial interest it was +usually easy to do this.</p> +<p>It would be difficult to find an exact parallel to this +situation. In America we have had many conflicts with +what our campaign orators call "Special Privilege," +an institution which thrived before the searchlight of +publicity was turned on corporate control and prior to +the time when fangs were put into the stewardship of +railways. These contestants were sometimes decided at +the polls with varying degrees of success. Perhaps the +nearest approach to the Rhodesian line-up was the struggle +of the California wheat growers against the Southern<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg +117]</a></span> +Pacific Railway, which Frank Norris dramatized in his +book, "The Octopus."</p> +<p>All the while the feeling for Responsible Government +in Rhodesia grew. A strong group which opposed the +Chartered régime sprang up. At the beginning of the +struggle the line was sharply drawn between the Charter +adherents on one side and unorganized opponents on +the other. By 1914 the issue was sharply defined. The +first twenty-five years of the Charter were about to end +and the insurgents realized that it was an opportune +moment for a show of strength. The opposition had +three plans. Some advocated the conversion of Rhodesia +into a Crown Colony, others strongly urged admission +to the Union of South Africa, while still another +wing stood for Responsible Government. It was decided +to unite on a common platform of Responsible +Government.</p> +<p>For the first time the Company realized that it had a +fight on its hands and Dr. Jameson, who had become +president of the corporation, went out to Rhodesia and +made speeches urging loyalty to the Charter. His +appearance stirred memories of the pioneer days and +almost without exception the old guard rallied round +him. A red-hot campaign ensued with the result that +the whole pro-Charter ticket, with one exception, was +elected, although the antis polled 45 per cent of the +total vote.</p> +<p>Out of this defeat came a partial victory for the +Progressives. +The Imperial Government saw the handwriting +on the wall and acting within its powers, which +permitted an administrative change in the Charter at +the end of every ten years, granted a Supplemental +Charter which provided that the Legislative Council +could by an absolute majority of all its members pass a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg +118]</a></span> +resolution "praying the Crown to establish in Southern +Rhodesia the form of Government known as Responsible +Government," provided that it could financially +support this procedure. It gave the insurgents fresh +hope and it made the Company realize that sooner or +later its authority must end.</p> +<p>Then the Great War broke. Every available man +that could possibly be spared went to the Front and the +life of the Council was extended until 1920, when a conclusive +election was to be held. Meanwhile the Company, +realizing that it must sooner or later bow to the +people's will, got busy with an attempt to realize on its +assets. Chief among them were the millions of acres of +so-called "unalienated" or Crown land in Southern +Rhodesia. The Chartered Company claimed this land +as a private asset. The settlers alleged that it belonged +to them. The Government said it was an imperial +possession. The Privy Council in London upheld the +latter contention. Thereupon the Company filed a claim +for $35,000,000.00 against the Government to cover the +value of this land and its losses throughout the years +of administration.</p> +<p>Yielding to pressure the Legislative Council in 1919 +asked the British Government to declare itself on the +question of replacing the Charter with some form of +Government suited to the needs of the country. Lord +Milner, the Colonial Secretary, answered in what came +to be known as the "Milner Despatch." In it he said +that he did not believe the territory "in its present stage +of development was equal to the financial burden of Responsible +Government." He mildly suggested representative +government under the Crown.</p> +<p>The general expectation throughout Rhodesia was +that no election would be held until a Government Com<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg +119]</a></span>mission +then sitting, had inquired into the validity of the +Company's immense claim for damages. Early in +March 1920, however, the Legislative Council gave notice +that the election was set for April 30th. It proved +to be the most exciting ever held in Rhodesia. The Chartered +Company made no fight. The contest was really +waged between the two wings of the anti-Charter crowd. +One favored Responsible Government and the other, +admission to the Union of South Africa.</p> +<p>The arguments for Responsible Government briefly +were these: That under the Supplemental Charter it was +the only constitutional change possible; that the financial +burden was not too heavy; that the native question +was no bar; that the Imperial Government would never +saddle the country with the huge debt of the Company; +that under the Union a hateful bi-lingualism would be +introduced; that taxation would not be excessive, and +that finally, the right of self-determination as to Government +was the birthright of the British people.</p> +<p>The adherents of Union contended that the original +idea of Cecil Rhodes was to make Rhodesia a part of +the Union of South Africa; that by this procedure the +vexing problem of customs with the Union would be +solved; that the system of self-government in South +Africa meets every requirement of self-determination. +Moreover, the point was made that by becoming a part +of the Union the whole railway question would be +settled. At present the Rhodesian railways have three +ends, one in South Africa at Vryburg, another on the +Belgian border, and a third at the sea at Beira. It was +claimed that through the Union, Rhodesia would benefit +by becoming a part of the nationalized railway system +there and get the advantage of a British port at the Cape +instead of Beira, which is Portuguese. In other words,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg +120]</a></span> +Union meant stability of credit, politics, finance and +industry.</p> +<p>The outcome of the election was that twelve Responsible +Government candidates, one of them a woman, +were elected. Women voted for the first time in Rhodesia +and they solidly opposed the union with South +Africa. The thirteenth member elected stood for the +conversion of the country into a Crown Colony under +representative government. Throughout the campaign +the Chartered Company remained neutral, although it +was obviously opposed to Responsible Government. +The feeling throughout Rhodesia is that it favors Union +because it could dispose of its assets to better advantage.</p> +<p>I arrived in Rhodesia immediately after the election. +The country still sizzled with excitement. Curiously +enough, the head, brains and front of the fight for union +with South Africa was a former American, now a +British subject and who has been a ranchman in Rhodesia +for some years. He prefers to be nameless.</p> +<p>In the light of the landslide at the polls it naturally +followed that the new Legislative Council at its first +meeting passed a resolution declaring for Responsible +Government. The vote was twelve to five. Since this +was not an absolute majority, as required by the Supplementary +Charter, it is expected that the Imperial +Government will decide against granting this form of +government just now. The next procedure will probably +be a request for representative government under +the Crown or some modification of the Charter, and for +an Imperial loan. Rhodesia has no borrowing power +and the country needs money just as much as its needs +men. The adherents of Union claim that on a straight +show-down between Crown Colony or Union at the next +election, Union will win. From what I gathered in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg +121]</a></span> +conversation with the leaders of both factions, there +would have been a bigger vote, possibly victory for +Union, but for the Nationalist movement in South +Africa, which I described in a previous chapter. The +Rhodesians want no racial entanglements.</p> +<p>Northern Rhodesia has no part in the fight against the +Charter. It is only a question of time, however, when +she will be merged into Southern Rhodesia for, with the +passing of the Company, her destiny becomes identical +with that of her sister territory. Northern Rhodesia's +chief complaint against the Company was that it did +not spend any money within her borders. After reading +the story of the crusade for Responsible Government +you can understand the reason why.</p> +<p>Whatever happens, Charter rule in Rhodesia is +doomed and the great Company, born of the vision and +imperialism of Cecil Rhodes, and which battled with the +wild man in the wilderness, will eventually vanish from +the category of corporations. But Rhodesia remains a +thriving part of the British Empire and the dream of the +founder is realized.</p> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> +III</h2> +<p>Rhodesia produces much more than trouble +for the Chartered Company. She is pre-eminently +a land of ranches and farms. Here +you get still another parallel with the United States +because it is no uncommon thing to find a farm of +50,000 acres or more.</p> +<p>I doubt if any other new region in the world contains +a finer or sturdier manhood than Rhodesia. Like the +land itself it is a stronghold of youth. Likewise, no +other colony, and for that matter, no other matured +country exercises such a rigid censorship upon settlers. +Until the high cost of living disorganized all economic +standards, no one could establish himself in Rhodesia +without a minimum capital of £1,000. So far as farming +is concerned, this is now increased to £2,000. Therefore, +you do not see the signs of failure which so often +dot the semi-virgin landscape. Knowing this, you can +understand why the immigration inspector gives the +incoming travellers a rigid cross-examination at the +frontier.</p> +<p>Also it is simon-pure British, and more like Natal in +this respect than any other territory under the Union-jack. +I had a convincing demonstration in a personal +experience. I made a speech at the Bulawayo Club. The +notice was short but I was surprised to find more than +a hundred men assembled after dinner, many in evening<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg +123]</a></span> +clothes. Some had travelled all day on horseback or in +buckboards to get there, others had come hundreds of +miles by motor car.</p> +<p>I never addressed a more responsive audience. What +impressed me was the kindling spirit of affection they +manifested for the Mother Country. In conversation +with many of them afterwards it was interesting to hear +the sons of settlers referring to the England that they +had never seen, as "home." That night I realized as +never before,—not even amid the agony and sacrifice +of the Somme or the Ancre in France,—one reason +why the British Empire is great and why, despite all +muddling, it carries on. It lies in the feeling of imperial +kinship far out at the frontiers of civilization. The +colonial is in many respects a more devoted loyalist than +the man at home.</p> +<p>Wherever I went I found the Rhodesian +agriculturist—and +he constitutes the bulk of the white population,—essentially +modern in his methods. He reminds me +more of the Kansas farmer than any other alien agriculturists +that I have met. He uses tractors and does +things in a big way. There is a trail of gasoline all over +the country. Motorcycles have become an ordinary +means of transport for district officials and engineers, +who fly about over the native paths that are often the +merest tracks. You find these machines in the remotest +regions. The light motor car is also beginning to be +looked upon as a necessary part of the outfit of the +farmer.</p> +<p>There was a time when the average Rhodesian believed +that gold was the salvation of the country. +Repeated "booms" and the inevitable losses have +brought the people to agree with the opinion of one of +the pioneers, that "the true wealth of the country lies<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg +124]</a></span> +in the top twelve inches of the soil." Agriculture is +surpassing mining as the principal industry.</p> +<p>The staple agricultural product is maize, which is +corn in the American phraseology. Until a few years +ago the bulk of it was consumed at home. Recently, +however, on account of the farm expansion, there is an +increasing surplus for export to the Union of South +Africa, the Belgian Congo, and even to Europe.</p> +<p>The facts about maize are worth considering. Every +year 200,000,000 bags, each weighing 200 pounds, are +consumed throughout the world. Heretofore the principal +sources of supply have been the Argentine and the +United States. We have come to the time, however, +when we absorb practically our whole crop. Formerly +we exported about 10,000,000 bags. There is no decrease +in corn consumption despite prohibition. Hence +Rhodesia is bound to loom large in the situation. Last +year she produced more than a million bags. Maize is a +crop that revels in sunshine and in Rhodesia the sun +shines brilliantly throughout the year practically without +variation. This enables the product to be sun-dried.</p> +<p>Other important crops are tobacco, beans, peanuts +(which are invariably called monkey nuts in that part +of the universe), wheat and oranges. Under irrigation, +citrus fruits, oats and barley do well.</p> +<p>Cattle are a bulwark of Rhodesian prosperity. The +immense pasturage areas are reminiscent of Texas and +Montana. For a hundred years before the white settlers +came, the Matabeles and the Mashonas raised live stock. +The natives still own about 700,000 head, nearly as +many as the whites. I was interested to find that the +British South Africa Company has imported a number +of Texas ranchmen to act as cattle experts and advise +the ranchers generally. This is due to a desire to begin<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg +125]</a></span> +a competition with the Argentine and the United States +in chilled and frozen meats. One of the greatest British +manufactures of beef extracts owns half a dozen ranches +in Rhodesia and it is not unlikely that American meat +men will follow. Mr. J. Ogden Armour is said to be +keenly interested in the country with the view of expanding +the resources of the Chicago packers. This is one +result of the World War, which has caused the producer +of food everywhere to bestir himself and insure future +supplies.</p> +<p>In connection with Rhodesian farming and cattle-raising +is a situation well worthy of emphasis. There is +no labour problem. You find, for example, that miracle +of miracles which is embodied in a native at work. It is in +sharp contrast with South Africa and the Congo, where, +with millions of coloured people it is almost impossible to +get help. The Rhodesian black still remains outside the +leisure class. Whether it is due to his fear of the whites +or otherwise, he is an active member of the productive +order.</p> +<p>The native will work for the white man but, save to +raise enough maize for himself, he will not become an +agriculturist. I heard a typical story about Lewaniki, +Chief of the Barotses, who once ruled a large part of +what is now Northern Rhodesia. Someone asked him +to get his people to raise cotton. His answer was:</p> +<p>"What is the use? They cannot eat it."</p> +<p>In Africa the native's world never extends beyond his +stomach. I was soon to find costly evidence of this in +the Congo.</p> +<p>The African native is quite a character. He is not +only a born actor but has a quaint humor. In the center +of the main street at Bulawayo is a bronze statue of +Cecil Rhodes, bareheaded, and with his face turned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg +126]</a></span> +toward the North. Just as soon as it was unveiled the +Matabeles expressed considerable astonishment over it. +They could not understand why the figure never moved. +Shortly afterwards a great drought came. A native +chief went to see the Resident Commissioner and solemnly +told him that he was quite certain that there +would be no rain "until they put a hat on Mr. Rhodes' +head."</p> +<p>The Lewaniki anecdote reminds me of an admirable +epigram that was produced in Rhodesia. Out there +food is commonly known as "skoff," just as "chop" is +the equivalent in the Congo. A former Resident Commissioner, +noted for the keenness of his wit, once +asked a travelling missionary to dine with him. After +the meal the guest insisted upon holding a religious +service at the table. In speaking of the performance +the Commissioner said: "My guest came to 'skoff' and +remained to pray."</p> +<p>Whenever you visit a new land you almost invariably +discover mental alertness and progressiveness that often +put the older civilizations to shame. Let me illustrate. +Go to England or France today and you touch the really +tragic aftermath of the war. You see thousands of +demobilized officers and men vainly searching for work. +Many are reduced to the extremity of begging. It has +become an acute and poignant problem, that is not +without its echo over here.</p> +<p>Rhodesia, through the British South Africa Company, +is doing its bit toward solution. It has set aside +500,000 acres which are being allotted free of charge to +approved soldier and sailor settlers from overseas. Not +only are they being given the land but they are provided +with expert advice and supervision. The former service +men who are unable to borrow capital with which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> +to exploit the land, are merged into a scheme by which +they serve an apprenticeship for pay on the established +farms and ranches until they are able to shift for +themselves.</p> +<p>The Chartered Company, despite its political machine, +has developed Rhodesia "on its own," and in +rather striking fashion. It operates dairies, gold mines, +citrus estates, nurseries, ranches, tobacco warehouses, +abattoirs, cold storage plants and dams, which insures +adequate water supply in various sections. It is a +profitable example of constructive paternalism whose +results will be increasingly evident long after the famous +Charter has passed into history.</p> +<p>No phase of the Company's activities is more important +than its construction of the Rhodesian railways. +They represent a double-barrelled private ownership +in that they were built and are operated by the Company. +There are nearly 2,600 miles of track. One section +of the system begins down at Vryburg in Bechuanaland, +where it connects with the South African Railways, +and extends straight northward through Bulawayo +and Victoria Falls to the Congo border. The +other starts at Beira on the Indian Ocean and runs west +through Salisbury, the capital, to Bulawayo.</p> +<p>These railways have a remarkable statistical distinction +in that there is one mile of track for every thirteen +white inhabitants. No other system in the world can +duplicate it. The Union of South Africa comes +nearest with 143 white inhabitants per mile or just +eleven times as many. Canada has 27, Australia 247, +the United States and New Zealand 400 each, while +the United Kingdom has over 200 inhabitants for every +mile of line.</p> +<p>Rhodesia is highly mineralized. Coal occurs in three<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg +128]</a></span> +areas and one of them, Wankie,—a vast field,—is +extensively operated. Gold is found over the greater +part of the country. Here you not only touch an American +interest but you enter upon the region that Rider +Haggard introduced to readers as the setting of some of +his most famous romances. We will deal with the practical +side first.</p> +<p>Rhodes had great hopes of Rhodesia as a gold-producing +country. He wanted the economic value of +the country to rank with the political. Thousands of +years ago the natives dug mines and many of these +ancient workings are still to be seen. They never exceed +forty or fifty feet in depth. Many leading authorities +claimed that the South Arabians of the Kingdom of +Saba often referred to in the Bible were the pioneers +in the Rhodesian gold fields and sold the output to the +Phoenicians. Others contended that the Phoenicians +themselves delved here. Until recently it was also maintained +by some scientists and Biblical scholars that +modern Southern Rhodesia was the famed land of +Ophir, whence came the gold and precious stones that +decked the persons and palaces of Solomon and David. +This, however, has been disproved, and Ophir is still +the butt of archaeological dispute. It has been "located" +in Arabia, Spain, Peru, India and South-East Africa.</p> +<p>Rhodes knew all about the old diggings so he engaged +John Hays Hammond, the American engineer, to +accompany him on a trip through Rhodesia in 1894 and +make an investigation of the workings. His report +stated that the rock mines were undoubtedly ancient, +that the greatest skill in mining had been displayed and +that scores of millions of pounds worth of the precious +metal had been extracted. It also proved that practically +all this treasure had been exported from the coun<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg +129]</a></span>try +for no visible traces remain. This substantiates the +theory that perhaps it did go to the Phoenicians or to a +potentate like King Solomon. Hammond wrote the +mining laws of Rhodesia which are an adaptation of the +American code.</p> +<p>The Rhodesian gold mines, which are operated by +the Chartered Company and by individuals, have never +fully realized their promise. One reason, so men like +Hammond tell me, is that they are over-capitalized and +are small and scattered. Despite this handicap the country +has produced £45,227,791 of gold since 1890. The +output in 1919 was worth £2,500,000. In 1915 it was +nearly £4,000,000.</p> +<p>Small diamonds in varying quantities have also been +found in Rhodesia. In exchange for having subscribed +heavily to the first issue of British South Africa Company +stock, the DeBeers which Rhodes formed received +a monopoly on the diamond output and with it the assurance +of a rigid enforcement of the so-called Illicit Diamond +Buying Act. This law, more commonly known as +"I. D. B." and which has figured in many South +African novels, provided drastic punishment for dishonest +dealing in the stones. More than one South +African millionaire owed the beginnings of his fortune +to evasion of this law.</p> +<p>Just about the time that Rhodes made the Rhodesian +diamond deal a prospector came to him and said: "If +I bring you a handful of rough diamonds what will I get?"</p> +<p>"Fifteen years," was the ready retort. He was never +at a loss for an answer.</p> +<p>We can now turn to the really romantic side of the +Rhodesian mineral deposits. One of the favorite pilgrimages +of the tourist is to the Zimbabwe ruins, located +about seventeen miles from Victoria in Southern Rho<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg +130]</a></span>desia. +They are the remains of an ancient city and must +at various times have been the home of large populations. +There seems little doubt that Zimbabwe was the work of +a prehistoric and long-forgotten people.</p> +<p>Over it hangs a mantle of mystery which the fictionist +has employed to full, and at times thrilling advantage. +In this vicinity were the "King Solomon's Mines," that +Rider Haggard wrote about in what is perhaps his +most popular book. Here came "Allan Quartermain" +in pursuit of love and treasure. The big hill at Zimbabwe +provided the residence of "She," the lovely and +disappearing lady who had to be obeyed. The ruins in +the valley are supposed to be those of "the Dead City" +in the same romance. The interesting feature of all +this is that "She" and "King Solomon's Mines" were +written in the early eighties when comparatively nothing +was known of the country. Yet Rider Haggard, with +that instinct which sometimes guides the romancer, +wrote fairly accurate descriptions of the country long +before he had ever heard of its actual existence. Thus +imagination preceded reality.</p> +<p>The imagination miracles disclose in the Haggard +books are surpassed by the actual wonder represented +by Victoria Falls. Everybody has heard of this stupendous +spectacle in Rhodesia but few people see it +because it is so far away. I beheld it on my way from +Bulawayo to the Congo. Like the Grand Canyon of +the Colorado, it baffles description.</p> +<p>The first white man to visit the cataract was Dr. +Livingstone, who named it in honor of his Queen. This +was in 1855. For untold years the natives of the region +had trembled at its fury. They called it <i>Mois-oa-tunga</i>, +which means "Smoke That Sounds." When you see +the falls you can readily understand why they got this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg +131]</a></span> +name. The mist is visible ten miles away and the terrific +roar of the falling waters can be heard even farther.</p> +<p>The fact that the casual traveller can see Victoria +Falls from the train is due entirely to the foresight and +the imagination of Cecil Rhodes. He knew the publicity +value that the cataract would have for Rhodesia +and he combined the utilitarian with his love of the +romantic. In planning the Rhodesian railroad, therefore, +he insisted that the bridge across the gorge of the +Zambesi into which the mighty waters flow after their +fall, must be sufficiently near to enable the spray to wet +the railway carriages. The experts said it was impossible +but Rhodes had his way, just as Harriman's will +prevailed over that of trained engineers in the construction +of the bridge across Great Salt Lake.</p> +<p>The bridge across the Zambesi is a fit mate in audacity +to the falls themselves. It is the highest in the world +for it rises 400 feet above the low water level. Its main +parabolic arch is a 500 foot span while the total length +is 650 feet. Although its construction was fraught with +contrast hazard it only cost two lives, despite the fact +that seven hundred white men and two thousand natives +were employed on it. In the building of the Firth of +Forth bridge which was much less dangerous, more than +fifty men were killed.</p> +<p>I first saw the Falls in the early morning when the +brilliant African sun was turned full on this sight of +sights. It was at the end of the wet season and the flow +was at maximum strength. The mist was so great that +at first I could scarcely see the Falls. Slowly but defiantly +the foaming face broke through the veil. Niagara +gives you a thrill but this toppling avalanche awes +you into absolute silence.</p> +<p>The Victoria Falls are exactly twice as broad and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg +132]</a></span> +two and one-half times as high as Niagara Falls. This +means that they are over a mile in breadth and four +hundred and twenty feet high. The tremendous flow +has only one small outlet about 100 yards wide. The +roar and turmoil of this world of water as it crashes +into the chasm sets up what is well called "The Boiling +Pot." From this swirling melee the Zambesi rushes with +unbridled fury through a narrow and deep gorge, extending +with many windings for forty miles.</p> +<p>In the presence of this marvel, wars, elections, economic +upheavals, the high cost of living, prohibition,—all +"that unrest which men miscall delight"—fade into +insignificance. Life itself seems a small and pitiful +thing. You are face to face with a force of Nature that +is titanic, terrifying, and irresistible.</p> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-149-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-149-thumbnail.jpg" alt="THE GRAVE OF CECIL RHODES" title="THE GRAVE OF CECIL RHODES" /> </a> +<div class="caption">THE GRAVE OF CECIL RHODES</div> +</div> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>IV</h2> +<p>Since we bid farewell to Cecil Rhodes in this +chapter after having almost continuously touched +his career from the moment we reached Capetown, +let us make a final measure of his human side,—and he +was intensely human—particularly with reference to +Rhodesia, which is so inseparably associated with him. +His passion for the country that bore his name exceeded +his interest in any of his other undertakings. He liked +the open life of the veldt where he travelled in a sort +of gypsy wagon and camped for the night wherever the +mood dictated. It enabled him to gratify his fondness +for riding and shooting.</p> +<p>He was always accompanied by a remarkable servant +named Tony, a half-breed in whom the Portuguese +strain predominated. Tony bought his master's clothes, +paid his bills, and was a court of last resort "below +stairs." Rhodes declared that his man could produce +a satisfactory meal almost out of thin air.</p> +<p>Rhodes and Tony were inseparable. Upon one occasion +Tony accompanied him when he was commanded by +Queen Victoria to lodge at Sandringham. While +there Rhodes asked Tony what time he could get breakfast, +whereupon the servant replied:</p> +<p>"Royalty does not breakfast, sir, but you can have +it in the dining-room at half past nine." Tony seemed +to know everything.</p> +<p>Throughout Rhodesia I found many of Rhodes' old +associates who affectionately referred to him as "The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg +134]</a></span> +Old Man." I was able to collect what seemed to +be some new Rhodes stories. A few have already been +related. Here is another which shows his quickness in +capitalizing a situation.</p> +<p>In the days immediately following the first Matabele +war Rhodes had more trouble with concession-hunters +than with the savages, the Boers, or the Portuguese. +Nearly every free-lance in the territory produced some +fake document to which Lobengula's alleged mark was +affixed and offered it to Rhodes at an excessive price.</p> +<p>One of these gentry framed a plan by which one of the +many sons of Lobengula was to return to Matabeleland, +claim his royal rights, and create trouble generally. +The whole idea was to start an uprising and derange +the machinery of the British South Africa Company. +The name of the son was N'jube and at the time the +plan was devised he held a place as messenger in the diamond +fields at Kimberley. By the system of intelligence +that he maintained, Rhodes learned of the frame-up, the +whereabouts of the boy, and furthermore, that he was +in love with a Fingo girl. These Fingoes were a sort +of bastard slave people. Marriage into the tribe was a +despised thing, and by a native of royal blood, meant +the abrogation of all his claims to the succession.</p> +<p>Rhodes sent for N'jube and asked him if he wanted to +marry the Fingo girl. When he replied that he did, the +great man said: "Go down to the DeBeers office, get +£50 and marry the girl. I will then give you a job for +life and build you a house."</p> +<p>N'jube took the hint and the money and married the +girl. Rhodes now sent the following telegram to the +conspirator at Bulawayo:</p> +<p>"Your friend N'jube was divided between love and +empire, but he has decided to marry the Fingo girl.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg +135]</a></span> +It is better that he should settle down in Kimberley and +be occupied in creating a family than to plot at Bulawayo +to stab you in the stomach."</p> +<p>This ended the conspiracy, and N'jube lived happily +and peacefully ever afterwards.</p> +<p>Rhodes was an incorrigible imperialist as this story +shows. Upon one occasion at Bulawayo he was discussing +the Carnegie Library idea with his friend and +associate, Sir Abe Bailey, a leading financial and political +figure in the Cape Colony.</p> +<p>"What would you do if you had Carnegie's money?" +asked Bailey.</p> +<p>"I wouldn't waste it on libraries," he replied. "I +would seize a South American Republic and annex it to +the United States."</p> +<p>Rhodes had great admiration for America. He once +said to Bailey: "The greatest thing in the world would +be the union of the English-speaking people. I wouldn't +mind if Washington were the capital." He believed +implicitly in the invincibility of the Anglo-Saxon race, +and he gave his life and his fortune to advance the +British part of it.</p> +<p>For the last I have reserved the experience that will +always rank first in my remembrance of Rhodesia. It +was my visit to the grave of Rhodes. Most people who +go to Rhodesia make this pilgrimage, for in the well-known +tourist language of Mr. Cook, like Victoria +Falls, it is "one of the things to see." I was animated +by a different motive. I had often read about it and I +longed to view the spot that so eloquently symbolized +the vision and the imagination of the man I admired.</p> +<p>The grave is about twenty-eight miles from Bulawayo, +in the heart of the Matopo Hills. You follow the +road along which the body was carried nineteen years<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg +136]</a></span> +ago. You see the native hut where Rhodes often lived +and in which the remains rested for the night on the +final journey. You pass from the green low-lands to +the bare frontiers of the rocky domain where the Matabeles +fled after the second war and where the Father +of Rhodesia held his historic parleys with them.</p> +<p>Soon the way becomes so difficult that you must +leave the motor and continue on foot. The Matopos are +a wild and desolate range. It is not until you are well +beyond the granite outposts that there bursts upon you +an immense open area,—a sort of amphitheatre in +which the Druids might have held their weird ritual. +Directly ahead you see a battlement of boulders projected +by some immemorial upheaval. Intrenched between +them is the spot where Rhodes rests and which is +marked by a brass plate bearing the words: "Here Lie +the Remains of Cecil John Rhodes." In his will he +directed that the site be chosen and even wrote the simple +inscription for the cover.</p> +<p>When you stand on this eminence and look out on +the grim, brooding landscape, you not only realize why +Rhodes called it "The View of the World," but you also +understand why he elected to sleep here. The loneliness +and grandeur of the environment, with its absence +of any sign of human life and habitation, convey that +sense of aloofness which, in a man like Rhodes, is the inevitable +penalty that true greatness exacts. The ages +seem to be keeping vigil with his spirit.</p> +<p>For eighteen years Rhodes slept here in solitary state. +In 1920 the remains of Dr. Jameson were placed in a +grave hewn out of the rock and located about one hundred +feet from the spot where his old friend rests. It +is peculiarly fitting that these two men who played such +heroic part in the rise of Rhodesia should repose within +a stone's throw of each other.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p> +<p>During these last years I have seen some of the great +things. They included the British Grand Fleet in battle +array, Russia at the daybreak of democracy, the long +travail of Verdun and the Somme, the first American +flag on the battlefields of France, Armistice Day amid +the tragedy of war, and all the rest of the panorama that +those momentous days disclosed. But nothing perhaps +was more moving than the silence and majesty that +invested the grave of Cecil Rhodes. Instinctively there +came to my mind the lines about him that Kipling wrote +in "The Burial":</p> +<blockquote> +<p>It is his will that he look forth<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Across the world he +won—</span><br /> +The granite of the ancient North—<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Great spaces washed with +sun.</span><br /> +</p> +</blockquote> +<p>When I reached the bottom of the long incline on my +way out I looked back. The sun was setting and those +sentinel boulders bulked in the dying light. They +seemed to incarnate something of the might and power +of the personality that shaped Rhodesia, and made of it +an annex of Empire.</p> +<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></div> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-157-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-157-thumbnail.jpg" alt="A KATANGA COPPER MINE" title="A KATANGA COPPER MINE" /> </a> +<div class="caption">A KATANGA COPPER MINE</div> +</div> +<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h1><a name="CHAPTER_IV_THE_CONGO_TODAY" id="CHAPTER_IV_THE_CONGO_TODAY"></a>CHAPTER +IV—THE CONGO TODAY</h1> +<h2>I</h2> +<p>Unfold the map of Africa and you see a huge +yellow area sprawling over the Equator, reaching +down to Rhodesia on the south-east, and +converging to a point on the Atlantic Coast. Equal in +size to all Latin and Teutonic Europe, it is the abode of +6,000 white men and 12,000,000 blacks. No other section +of that vast empire of mystery is so packed with +hazard and hardship, nor is any so bound up with +American enterprise. Across it Stanley made his way +in two epic expeditions. Livingstone gave it the glamour +of his spiritualizing influence. Fourteen nations +stood sponsor at its birth as a Free State and the whole +world shook with controversy about its administration. +Once the darkest domain of the Dark Continent, it is +still the stronghold of the resisting jungle and the last +frontier of civilization. It is the Belgian Congo.</p> +<p>During these past years the veil has been lifted from +the greater part of Africa. We are familiar with life +and customs in the British, French, and to a certain degree, +the Portuguese and one-time German colonies. +But about the land inseparably associated with the economic +statesmanship of King Leopold there still hangs +a shroud of uncertainty as to régime and resource. Few +people go there and its literature, save that which grew +out of the atrocity campaign, is meager and unsatisfactory. +To the vast majority of persons, therefore,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> +the country is merely a name—a dab of colour on the +globe. Its very distance lends enchantment and heightens +the lure that always lurks in the unknown. What +is it like? What is its place in the universal productive +scheme? What of its future?</p> +<p>I went to the Congo to find out. My journey there +was the logical sequel to my visit to the Union of South +Africa and Rhodesia, which I have already described. +It seemed a pity not to take a plunge into the region +that I had read about in the books of Stanley. In my +childhood I heard him tell the story of some of his +African experiences. The man and his narrative were +unforgettable for he incarnated both the ideal and the +adventure of journalism. He cast the spell of the +Congo River over me and I lingered to see this mother of +waters. Thus it came about that I not only followed +Stanley's trail through the heart of Equatorial Africa +but spent weeks floating down the historic stream, which +like the rivers that figured in the Great War, has a distinct +and definite human quality. The Marne, the +Meuse, and the Somme are the Rivers of Valour. The +Congo is the River of Adventure.</p> +<p>In writing, as in everything else, preparedness is all +essential. I learned the value of carrying proper credentials +during the war, when every frontier and police +official constituted himself a stumbling-block to progress. +For the South African end of my adventure I +provided myself with letters from Lloyd George and +Smuts. In the Congo I realized that I would require +equally powerful agencies to help me on my way. +Wandering through sparsely settled Central Africa with +its millions of natives, scattered white settlements, and +restricted and sometimes primitive means of transport, +was a far different proposition than travelling in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg +141]</a></span> +Cape Colony, the Transvaal, or Rhodesia, where there +are through trains and habitable hotels.</p> +<p>I knew that in the Congo the State was magic, and +the King's name one to conjure with. Accordingly, I +obtained what amounted to an order from the Belgian +Colonial Office to all functionaries to help me in every +possible way. This order, I might add, was really a command +from King Albert, with whom I had an hour's private +audience at Brussels before I sailed. As I sat in the +simple office of the Palace and talked with this shy, tall, +blonde, and really kingly-looking person, I could not +help thinking of the last time I saw him. It was at La +Panne during that terrible winter of 1916-1917, when the +Germans were at the high tide of their success. The +Belgian ruler had taken refuge in this bleak, sea-swept +corner of Belgium and the only part of the country that +had escaped the invader. He lived in a little châlet near +the beach. Every day the King walked up and down +on the sands while German aeroplanes flew overhead +and the roar of the guns at Dixmude smote the ear. +He was then leading what seemed to be a forlorn hope +and he betrayed his anxiety in face and speech. Now I +beheld him fresh and buoyant, and monarch of the only +country in Europe that had really settled down to +work.</p> +<p>King Albert asked me many questions about my trip. +He told me of his own journey through the Congo in +1908 (he was then Prince Albert), when he covered +more than a thousand miles on foot. He said that he +was glad that an American was going to write something +about the Congo at first hand and he expressed +his keen appreciation of the work of American capital in +his big colony overseas. "I like America and Americans," +he said, "and I hope that your country will not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> +forget Europe." There was a warm clasp of the hand +and I was off on the first lap of the journey that was to +reel off more than twenty-six thousand miles of strenuous +travel before I saw my little domicile in New York +again.</p> +<p>Before we invade the Congo let me briefly outline +its history. It can be told in a few words although the +narrative of its exploitations remains a serial without +end. Prior to Stanley's memorable journey of exploration +across Equatorial Africa which he described in +"Through the Dark Continent," what is now the Congo +was a blank spot on the map. No white man had traversed +it. In the fifties Livingstone had opened up part +of the present British East Africa and Nyassaland. In +the Luapula and its tributaries he discovered the headwaters +of the Congo River and then continued on to +Victoria Falls and Rhodesia. After Stanley found the +famous missionary at Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika in +1872, he returned to Zanzibar. Hence the broad expanse +of Central Africa from Nyassaland westward +practically remained undiscovered until Stanley crossed +it between 1874 and 1877, when he travelled from +Stanley Falls, where the Congo River actually begins, +down its expanse to the sea.</p> +<p>As soon as Stanley's articles about the Congo began +to appear, King Leopold, who was a shrewd business +man, saw an opportunity for the expansion of his little +country. Under his auspices several International Committees +dedicated to African study were formed. He +then sent Stanley back to the Congo in 1879, to organize +a string of stations from the ocean up to Stanley Falls, +now Stanleyville. In 1885 the famous Berlin Congress +of Nations, presided over by Bismarck, recognized the +Congo Free State, accepted Leopold as its sovereign,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg +143]</a></span> +and the jungle domain took its place among recognized +governments. The principal purposes animating the +founders were the suppression of the slave trade and +the conversion of the territory into a combined factory +and a market for all the nations. It was largely due +to Belgian initiative that the traffic in human beings +which denuded all Central Africa of its bone and sinew +every year, was brought to an end.</p> +<p>The world is more or less familiar with subsequent +Congo history. In 1904 arose the first protest against +the so-called atrocities perpetrated on the blacks, and +the Congo became the center of an international dispute +that nearly lost Belgium her only colonial possession. +In the light of the revelations brought about by the +Great War, and to which I have referred in a previous +chapter, it is obvious that a considerable part of this +crusade had its origin in Germany and was fomented +by Germanophiles of the type of Sir Roger Casement, +who was hanged in the Tower of London. During the +World War E. D. Morel, his principal associate in the +atrocity campaign, served a jail sentence in England for +attempting to smuggle a seditious document into an +enemy country.</p> +<p>With the atrocity business we are not concerned. +The only atrocities that I saw in the Congo were the +slaughter of my clothes on the native washboard, usually +a rock, and the American jitney that broke down and +left me stranded in the Kasai jungle. As a matter of +fact, the Belgian rule in the Congo has swung round +to another extreme, for the Negro there has more freedom +of movement and less responsibility for action than +in any other African colony. To round out this brief +history, the Congo was ceded to Belgium in 1908 and has +been a Belgian colony ever since.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span></p> +<p>We can now go on with the journey. From Bulawayo +I travelled northward for three days past Victoria +Falls and Broken Hill, through the undeveloped reaches +of Northern Rhodesia, where you can sometimes see +lion-tracks from the car windows, and where the naked +Barotses emerge from the wilds and stare in big-eyed +wonder at the passing trains. Until recently the telegraph +service was considerably impaired by the curiosity +of elephants who insisted upon knocking down the +poles.</p> +<p>While I was in South Africa alarming reports were +published about a strike in the Congo and I was afraid +that it would interfere with my journey. This strike +was without doubt one of the most unique in the history +of all labor troubles. The whole Congo administration +"walked out," when their request for an increase in pay +was refused. The strikers included Government agents, +railway, telegraph and telephone employes, and steamboat +captains. Even the one-time cannibals employed +on all public construction quit work. It was a natural +procedure for them. Not a wheel turned; no word +went over the wires; navigation on the rivers ceased. +The country was paralyzed. Happily for me it was +settled before I left Bulawayo.</p> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-165a-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-165a-thumbnail.jpg" alt="LORD LEVERHULME" title="LORD LEVERHULME" /> </a> +<div class="caption">LORD LEVERHULME</div> +</div> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-165b-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-165b-thumbnail.jpg" alt="ROBERT WILLIAMS" title="ROBERT WILLIAMS" /> </a> +<div class="caption">ROBERT WILLIAMS</div> +</div> +<p>Late at night I crossed the Congo border and stopped +for the customs at Sakania. At once I realized the +potency that lay in my royal credentials for all traffic +was tied up until I was expedited. I also got the initial +surprise of the many that awaited me in this part of the +world. In the popular mind the Congo is an annex of +the Inferno. I can vouch for the fact that some sections +break all heat records. The air that greeted me, however, +might have been wafted down from Greenland's icy +mountain, for I was chilled to the bone. In the flicker<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg +145]</a></span>ing +light of the station the natives shivered in their +blankets. The atmosphere was anything but tropical +yet I was almost within striking distance of the Equator. +The reason for this frigidity was that I had entered the +confines of the Katanga, the most healthful and highly +developed province of the Congo and a plateau four +thousand feet above sea level.</p> +<p>The next afternoon I arrived at Elizabethville, named +for the Queen of the Belgians, capital of the province, +and center of the copper activity. Here I touched two +significant things. One was the group of American +engineers who have developed the technical side of mining +in the Katanga as elsewhere in the Congo; the other +was a contact with the industry which produces a considerable +part of the wealth of the Colony.</p> +<p>There is a wide impression that the Congo is entirely +an agricultural country. Although it has unlimited +possibilities in this direction, the reverse, for the moment, +is true. The 900,000 square miles of area (it is eighty-eight +times the size of Belgium) have scarcely been +scraped by the hand of man, although Nature has been +prodigal in her share of the development. Wild rubber, +the gathering of which loosed the storm about King +Leopold's head, is nearly exhausted because of the one-time +ruthless harvesting. Cotton and coffee are infant +industries. The principal product of the soil, commercially, +is the fruit of the palm tree and here Nature again +does most of the ground work.</p> +<p>Mining is, in many respects, the chief operation and +the Katanga, which is really one huge mine, principally +copper, is the most prosperous region so far as bulk of +output is concerned. Since this area figures so prominently +in the economic annals of the country it is worth +more than passing attention. Like so many parts of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg +146]</a></span> +Africa, its exploitation is recent. For years after +Livingstone planted the gospel there, it continued to +be the haunt of warlike tribes. The earliest white visitors +observed that the natives wore copper ornaments +and trafficked in a rude St. Andrew's cross—it was the +coin of the country—fashioned out of metal. When +prospectors came through in the eighties and nineties +they found scores of old copper mines which had been +worked by the aborigines many decades ago. Before +the advent of civilization the Katanga blacks dealt +mainly in slaves and in copper.</p> +<p>The real pioneer of development in the Katanga is +an Englishman, Robert Williams, a friend and colleague +of Cecil Rhodes, and who constructed, as you +may possibly recall, the link in the Cape-to-Cairo Railway +from Broken Hill in Northern Rhodesia to the +Congo border. He has done for Congo copper what +Lord Leverhulme has accomplished for palm fruit and +Thomas F. Ryan for diamonds. Congo progress is +almost entirely due to alien capital.</p> +<p>Williams, who was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, went +out to Africa in 1881 to take charge of some mining +machinery at one of the Kimberley diamond mines. +Here he met Rhodes and an association began which +continued until the death of the empire builder. On his +death-bed Rhodes asked Williams to continue the Cape-to-Cairo +project. In the acquiescence to this request +the Katanga indirectly owes much of its advance. Thus +the constructive influence of the Colossus of South +Africa extends beyond the British dominions.</p> +<p>In building the Broken Hill Railway Williams was +prompted by two reasons. One was to carry on the +Rhodes project; the other was to link up what he +believed to be a whole new mineral world to the needs of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg +147]</a></span> +man. Nor was he working in the dark. Late in the +nineties he had sent George Grey, a brother of Sir +Edward, now Viscount Grey, through the present +Katanga region on a prospecting expedition. Grey +discovered large deposits of copper and also tin, lead, +iron, coal, platinum, and diamonds. Williams now +organized the company known as the Tanganyika Concessions, +which became the instigator of Congo copper +mining. Subsequently the Union Miniere du Haut +Kantanga was formed by leading Belgian colonial capitalists +and the Tanganyika Concessions acquired more +than forty per cent of its capital. The Union Miniere +took over all the concessions and discoveries of the +British corporation. The Union Miniere is now the +leading industrial institution in the Katanga and its +story is really the narrative of a considerable phase of +Congo development.</p> +<p>Within ten years it has grown from a small prospecting +outfit in the wilderness, two hundred and fifty +miles from a railway, to an industry employing at the +time of my visit more than 1,000 white men and 15,000 +blacks. It operates four completely equipped mines +which produced nearly 30,000 tons of copper in 1917, +and a smelter with an annual capacity of 40,000 tons +of copper. A concentrator capable of handling 4,000 +tons of ore per day is nearing completion. This bustling +industrial community was the second surprise that +the Congo disclosed.</p> +<p>Equally remarkable is the mushroom growth of +Elizabethville, the one wonder town of the Congo. In +1910, when the railway arrived, it was a geographical +expression,—a spot in the jungle dominated by the +huge ant-hills that you find throughout Central Africa, +some of them forty feet high. The white population<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg +148]</a></span> +numbered thirty. I found it a thriving place with over +2,000 whites and 12,000 blacks. There are one third as +many white people in the Katanga Province as in all +the rest of the Congo combined, and its area is scarcely +a fourth of that of the colony.</p> +<p>The father of Elizabethville is General Emile Wangermee, +one of the picturesque figures in Congo history. +He came out in the early days of the Free State, fought +natives, and played a big part in the settlement of the +country. He has been Governor-General of the Colony, +Vice-Governor-General of the Katanga and is now +Honorary Vice-Governor. In the primitive period he +went about, after the Congo fashion, on a bicycle, in +flannel shirt and leggins and he continued this rough-and-ready +attire when he became a high-placed civil +servant.</p> +<p>Upon one occasion it was announced that the Vice-Governor +of the Katanga would visit Kambove. The +station agent made elaborate preparations for his reception. +Shortly before the time set for his arrival a +man appeared on the platform looking like one of the +many prospectors who frequented the country. The +station agent approached him and said, "You will have +to move on. We are expecting the Vice-Governor of +the Katanga." The supposed prospector refused to +move and the agent threatened to use force. He was +horrified a few minutes later to find his rough customer +being received by all the functionaries of the district. +Wangermee had arrived ahead of time and had not +bothered to change his clothes.</p> +<p>When I rode in a motor car down Elizabethville's +broad, electric-lighted avenues and saw smartly-dressed +women on the sidewalks, beheld Belgians playing tennis +on well-laid-out courts on one side, and Englishmen at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg +149]</a></span> +golf on the other, it was difficult to believe that ten +years ago this was the bush. I lunched in comfortable +brick houses and dined at night in a club where every +man wore evening clothes. I kept saying to myself, +"Is this really the Congo?" Everywhere I heard +English spoken. This was due to the large British +interest in the Union Miniere and the presence of so +many American engineers. The Katanga is, with the +exception of certain palm fruit areas, the bulwark of +British interests in the Congo. The American domain +is the Upper Kasai district.</p> +<p>Conspicuous among the Americans at Elizabethville +was Preston K. Horner, who constructed the smelter +plant and who was made General Manager of the Union +Miniere in 1913. He spans the whole period of Katanga +development for he first arrived in 1909. Associated +with him were various Americans including Frank +Kehew, Superintendent of the smelter, Thomas Carnahan, +General Superintendent of Mines, Daniel Butner, +Superintendent of the Kambove Mine, the largest of +the Katanga group, Thomas Yale, who is in charge of +the construction of the immense concentration plant at +Likasi, and A. Brooks, Manager of the Western Mine. +For some years A. E. Wheeler, a widely-known American +engineer, has been Consulting Engineer of the +Union Miniere, with Frederick Snow as assistant. +Since my return from Africa Horner has retired as +General Manager and Wheeler has become the ranking +American. Practically all the Yankee experts in the +Katanga are graduates of the Anaconda or Utah Mines.</p> +<p>With Horner I travelled by motor through the whole +Katanga copper belt. I visited, first of all, the famous +Star of the Congo Mine, eight miles from Elizabethville, +and which was the cornerstone of the entire metal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg +150]</a></span> +development. Next came the immense excavation at +Kambove where I watched American steam shovels +in charge of Americans, gouging the copper ore out of +the sides of the hills. I saw the huge concentrating +plant rising almost like magic out of the jungle at +Likasi. Here again an American was in control. At +Fungurume I spent the night in a native house in the +heart of one of the loveliest of valleys whose verdant +walls will soon be gashed by shovels and discoloured +with ore oxide. Over all the area the Anglo-Saxon has +laid his galvanizing hand. One reason is that there are +few Belgian engineers of large mining experience. Another +is that the American, by common consent, is the +one executive who gets things done in the primitive +places.</p> +<p>I cannot leave the Congo copper empire without referring +to another Robert Williams achievement which +is not without international significance. Like other +practical men of affairs with colonial experience, he +realized long before the outbreak of the Great War +something of the extent and menace of the German ambition +in Africa. As I have previously related, the +Kaiser blocked his scheme to run the Cape-to-Cairo +Railway between Lake Tanganyika and Lake Kivu, +after King Leopold had granted him the concession. +Williams wanted to help Rhodes and he wanted to help +himself. His chief problem was to get the copper from +the Katanga to Europe in the shortest possible time. +Most of it is refined in England and Belgium. At +present it goes out by way of Bulawayo and is shipped +from the port of Beira in Portuguese East Africa. +This involves a journey of 9,514 miles from Kambove +to London. How was this haul to be shortened through +an agency that would be proof against the German intrigue +and ingenuity?</p> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-173a-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-173a-thumbnail.jpg" alt="ON THE LUALABA" title="ON THE LUALABA" /> </a> +<div class="caption">ON THE LUALABA</div> +</div> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-173b-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-173b-thumbnail.jpg" alt="A VIEW ON THE KASAI" title="A VIEW ON THE KASAI" /> </a> +<div class="caption">A VIEW ON THE KASAI</div> +</div> +<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></div> +<p>Williams cast his eye over Africa. On the West +Coast he spotted Lobito Bay, a land-locked harbour +twenty miles north of Benguella, one of the principal +parts of Angola, a Portuguese colony. From it he ran +a line straight from Kambove across the wilderness +and found that it covered a distance of approximately +1,300 miles. He said to himself, "This is the natural +outlet of the Katanga and the short-cut to England and +Belgium." He got a concession from the Portuguese +Government and work began. The Germans tried in +every way to block the project for it interfered with +their scheme to "benevolently" assimilate Angola.</p> +<p>At the time of my visit to the Congo three hundred +and twenty miles of the Benguella Railway, as it is +called, had been constructed and a section of one hundred +miles or more was about to be started. The line +will pass through Ruwe, which is an important center +of gold production in the Katanga, and connect up with +the Katanga Railway just north of Kambove. It is +really a link in the Cape-to-Cairo system and when completed +will shorten the freight haul from the copper +fields to London by three thousand miles, as compared +with the present Biera itinerary.</p> +<p>There is every indication that the Katanga will justify +the early confidence that Williams had in it and become +one of the great copper-producing centers of the world. +Experts with whom I have talked in America believe +that it can in time reach a maximum output of 150,000 +tons a year. The ores are of a very high grade and since +the Union Miniere owns more than one hundred mines, +of which only six or seven are partially developed, the +future seems safe.</p> +<p>Copper is only one phase of the Katanga mineral +treasure. Coal, iron, and tin have not only been discov<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg +152]</a></span>ered +in quantity but are being mined commercially. Oil-shale +is plentiful on the Congo River near Ponthierville +and good indications of oil are recorded in other places. +The discovery of oil in Central Africa would have a +great influence on the development of transportation since +it would supply fuel for steamers, railways, and motor +transport. There is already a big oil production in +Angola and there is little doubt that an important field +awaits development in the Congo.</p> +<p>It is not generally realized that Africa today produces +the three most valuable of all known minerals in +the largest quantities, or has the biggest potentialities. +The Rand yields more than fifty per cent of the entire +gold supply and ranks as the most valuable of all gold +fields. Ninety-five per cent of the diamond output +comes from the Kimberley and associated mines, German +South-West Africa, and the Congo. The Katanga +contains probably the greatest reserve of copper in +existence. Now you can see why the eye of the universe +is being focused on this region.</p> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>II</h2> +<p>When I left Elizabethville I bade farewell +to the comforts of life. I mean, for example, +such things as ice, bath-tubs, and +running water. There is enough water in the Congo +to satisfy the most ardent teetotaler but unfortunately +it does not come out of faucets. Most of it flows in +rivers, but very little of it gets inside the population, +white or otherwise.</p> +<p>Speaking of water brings to mind one of the useful +results of such a trip as mine. Isolation in the African +wilds gives you a new appreciation of what in civilization +is regarded as the commonplace things. Take the +simple matter of a hair-cut. There are only two barbers +in the whole Congo. One is at Elizabethville and the +other at Kinshassa, on the Lower Congo, nearly two +thousand miles away. My locks were not shorn for seven +weeks. I had to do what little trimming there was done +with a safety razor and it involved quite an acrobatic +feat. Take shaving. The water in most of the Congo +rivers is dirty and full of germs. More than once I +lathered my face with mineral water out of a bottle. +The Congo River proper is a muddy brown. For +washing purposes it must be treated with a few tablets +of permanganate of potassium which colours it red. It +is like bathing in blood.</p> +<p>Since my journey from Katanga onward was through +the heart of Africa, perhaps it may be worth while to +tell briefly of the equipment required for such an ex<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg +154]</a></span>pedition. +Although I travelled for the most part in +the greatest comfort that the Colony afforded, it was +necessary to prepare for any emergency. In the Congo +you must be self-sufficient and absolutely independent +of the country. This means that you carry your own +bed and bedding (usually a folding camp-bed), bath-tub, +food, medicine-chest, and cooking utensils.</p> +<p>No detail was more essential than the mosquito net +under which I slept every night for nearly four months. +Insects are the bane of Africa. The mosquito carries +malaria, and the tsetse fly is the harbinger of that most +terrible of diseases, sleeping sickness. Judging from +personal experience nearly every conceivable kind of +biting bug infests the Congo. One of the most tenacious +and troublesome of the little visitors is the jigger, +which has an uncomfortable habit of seeking a soft +spot under the toe-nail. Once lodged it is extremely +difficult to get him out. These pests are mainly found +in sandy soil and give the Negroes who walk about barefooted +unending trouble.</p> +<p>No less destructive is the dazzling sun. Five minutes +exposure to it without a helmet means a prostration +and twenty minutes spells death. Stanley called the +country so inseparably associated with his name "Fatal +Africa," but he did not mean the death that lay in the +murderous black hand. He had in mind the thousand +and one dangers that beset the stranger who does not +observe the strictest rules of health and diet. From the +moment of arrival the body undergoes an entirely new +experience. Men succumb because they foolishly think +they can continue the habits of civilization. Alcohol +is the curse of all the hot countries. The wise man +never takes a drink until the sun sets and then, if he +continues to be wise, he imbibes only in moderation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg +155]</a></span> +The morning "peg" and the lunch-time cocktail have +undermined more health in the tropics than all the flies +and mosquitoes combined.</p> +<p>The Duke of Wellington recommended a formula +for India which may well be applied to the Congo. The +doughty old warrior once said:</p> +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>I know but one recipe for good health in this country, and +that is to live moderately, to drink little or no wine, to use +exercise, to keep the mind employed, and, if possible, to keep +in good humour with the world. The last is the most difficult, +for as you have often observed, there is scarcely a good-tempered +man in India.</p> +</div> +<p>If a man will practice moderation in all things, take +five grains of quinine every day, exercise whenever it +is possible, and keep his body clean, he has little to fear +from the ordinary diseases of a country like the Congo. +It is one of the ironies of civilization that after passing +unscathed through all the fever country, I caught a cold +the moment I got back to steam-heat and all the comforts +of home.</p> +<p>No one would think of using ordinary luggage in the +Congo. Everything must be packed and conveyed in +metal boxes similar to the uniform cases used by British +officers in Egypt and India. This is because the white +ant is the prize destroyer of property throughout Africa. +He cuts through leather and wood with the same ease +that a Southern Negro's teeth lacerate watermelon. +Leave a pair of shoes on the ground over night and you +will find them riddled in the morning. These ants eat +away floors and sometimes cause the collapse of houses +by wearing away the wooden supports. Another frequent +guest is the driver ant, which travels in armies +and frequently takes complete possession of a house.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg +156]</a></span> +It destroys all the vermin but the human inmates must +beat a retreat while the process goes on.</p> +<p>Since my return many people have asked me what +books I read in the Congo. The necessity for them was +apparent. I had more than three months of constant +travelling, often alone, and for the most part on small +river boats where there is no deck space for exercise. +Mail arrives irregularly and there were no newspapers. +After one or two days the unceasing panorama of tropical +forests, native villages, and naked savages becomes +monotonous. Even the hippopotami which you see in +large numbers, the omnipresent crocodile, and the occasional +wild elephant, cease to amuse. You are forced to +fall back on that unfailing friend and companion, a +good book.</p> +<p>I therefore carried with me the following books in +handy volume size:—Montaigne's Essays, Palgrave's +Golden Treasury of English Verse, Lockhart's Life of +Napoleon, Autobiography of Cellini, Don Quixote, The +Three Musketeers, Lorna Doone, Prescott's Conquest +of Mexico and The Conquest of Peru, Les Miserables, +Vanity Fair, Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin, +Pepys' Diary, Carlyle's French Revolution, The Last +of the Mohicans, Westward Ho, Bleak House, The +Pickwick Papers, A Tale of Two Cities, and Tolstoi's +War and Peace. When these became exhausted I was +hard put for reading matter. At a post on the Kasai +River the only English book I could find was Arnold +Bennett's The Pretty Lady, which had fallen into +the hands of an official, who was trying to learn English +with it. It certainly gave him a hectic start.</p> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-181-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-181-thumbnail.jpg" alt="A STATION SCENE AT KONGOLA" title="A STATION SCENE AT KONGOLA" /> </a> +<div class="caption">A STATION SCENE AT KONGOLA</div> +</div> +<p>Then, too, there was the eternal servant problem, no +less vexing in that land of servants than elsewhere. I +had cabled to Horner to engage me two personal ser<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg +157]</a></span>vants or "boys" as they are called in +Africa. When I +got to Elizabethville I found that he had secured two. +In addition to Swahili, the main native tongue in those +parts, one spoke English and the other French, the official +language in the Congo. I did not like the looks of +the English-speaking barbarian so I took a chance on +Number Two, whose name was Gerome. He was a +so-called "educated" native. I was to find from +sad experience that his "education" was largely in the +direction of indolence and inefficiency. I thought that +by having a boy with whom I had to speak French I +could improve my command of the language. Later on +I realized my mistake because my French is a non-conductor +of profanity.</p> +<p>Gerome had a wife. In the Congo, where all wives +are bought, the consort constitutes the husband's fortune, +being cook, tiller of the ground, beast-of-burden +and slave generally. I had no desire to incumber myself +with this black Venus, so I made Gerome promise that +he would not take her along. I left him behind at +Elizabethville, for I proceeded to Fungurume with +Horner by automobile. He was to follow by train with +my luggage and have the private car, which I had +chartered for the journey to Bukama, ready for me on +my arrival. When I showed up at Fungurume the +first thing I saw was Gerome's wife, with her ample +proportions swathed in scarlet calico, sunning herself +on the platform of the car. He could not bring himself +to cook his own food although willing enough to cook +mine.</p> +<p>I paid Gerome forty Belgian francs a month, which, +at the rate of exchange then prevailing, was considerably +less than three dollars. I also had to give him a weekly +allowance of five francs (about thirty cents) for his food.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg +158]</a></span> To the American employer of servants these +figures will +be somewhat illuminating and startling.</p> +<p>One more human interest detail before we move on. +In Africa every white man gets a name from the natives. +This appellation usually expresses his chief characteristic. +The first title fastened on me was "<i>Bwana Cha +Cha</i>," which means "The Master Who is Quick." +When I first heard this name I thought it was a reflection +on my appetite because "<i>Cha Cha</i>" is pronounced +"Chew Chew." Subsequently, in the Upper Congo and +the Kasai I was called "<i>Mafutta Mingi</i>," which means +"Much Fat." I must explain in self-defense that in the +Congo I ate much more than usual, first because something +in the atmosphere makes you hungry, and second, +a good appetite is always an indication of health in the +tropics.</p> +<p>Still another name that I bore was "<i>Tala Tala</i>," +which +means spectacles in practically all the Congo dialects. +There are nearly two hundred tribes and each has a distinctive +tongue. In many sections that I visited the +natives had never seen a pair of tortoise shell glasses +such as I wear during the day. The children fled from +me shrieking in terror and thinking that I was a sorcerer. +Even gifts of food, the one universal passport +to the native heart, failed to calm their fears.</p> +<p>The Congo native, let me add, is a queer character. +The more I saw of him, the greater became my admiration +for King Leopold. In his present state the only +rule must be a strong rule. No one would ever think of +thanking a native for a service. It would be misunderstood +because the black man out there mistakes kindness +for weakness. You must be firm but just. Now you +can see why explorers, upon emerging from long stays +in the jungle, appear to be rude and ill-mannered. It is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg +159]</a></span> +simply because they had to be harsh and at times unfeeling, +and it becomes a habit. Stanley, for example, +was often called a boor and a brute when in reality he +was merely hiding a fine nature behind the armour necessary +to resist native imposition and worse.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p> +<h2>III</h2> +<p>The private car on which I travelled from +Fungurume to Bukama was my final taste of +luxury. When Horner waved me a good-bye +north I realized that I was divorcing myself from comfort +and companionship. In thirty hours I was in sun-scorched +Bukama, the southern rail-head of the Cape-to-Cairo +Route and my real jumping-off place before +plunging into the mysteries of Central Africa.</p> +<p>Here begins the historic Lualaba, which is the initial +link in the almost endless chain of the Congo River. +I at once went aboard the first of the boats which were +to be my habitation intermittently for so many weeks. +It was the "Louis Cousin," a 150-ton vessel and a fair +example of the draft which provides the principal means +of transportation in the Congo. Practically all transit +not on the hoof, so to speak, in the Colony is by water. +There are more than twelve thousand miles of rivers +navigable for steamers and twice as many more accessible +for canoes and launches. Hence the river-boat is +a staple, and a picturesque one at that.</p> +<p>The "Louis Cousin" was typical of her kind both in +appointment, or rather the lack of it, and human interest +details. Like all her sisters she resembles the small +Ohio River boats that I had seen in my boyhood at +Louisville. All Congo steam craft must be stern-wheelers, +first because they usually haul barges on +either side, and secondly because there are so many sand-banks. +The few cabins—all you get is the bare room<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg +161]</a></span>—are on the upper deck, which is +the white man's domain, +while the boiler and freight—human and +otherwise—are +on the lower. This is the bailiwick of the black. +These boats always stop at night for wood, the only +fuel, and the natives are compelled to go ashore and sleep +on the bank.</p> +<p>The Congo river-boat is a combination of fortress, +hotel, and menagerie. Like the "accommodation" train +in our own Southern States, it is most obliging because +it will stop anywhere to enable a passenger to get off +and do a little shopping, or permit the captain to take +a meal ashore with a friendly State official yearning for +human society.</p> +<p>The river captain is a versatile individual for he is +steward, doctor, postman, purveyor of news, and dictator +in general. He alone makes the schedule of each +trip, arriving and departing at will. Time in the Congo +counts for naught. It is in truth the land of leisure. +For the man who wants to move fast, water travel is a +nightmare. Accustomed as I was to swift transport, I +spent a year every day.</p> +<p>The skipper of the "Louis Cousin" was no exception +to his kind. He was a big Norwegian named Behn,—many +of his colleagues are Scandinavians,—and he +had spent eighteen years in the Congo. He knew every +one of the thousand nooks, turns, snags and sand-bars +of the Lualaba. One of the first things that impressed +me was the uncanny ingenuity with which all the Congo +boats are navigated through what seems at first glance +to be a mass of vegetation and obstruction.</p> +<p>The bane of traffic is the sand-bar, which on account +of the swift currents everywhere, is an eternally changing +quantity. Hence a native is constantly engaged +in taking soundings with a long stick. You can hear<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg +162]</a></span> +his not unmusical voice, from the moment the boat +starts until she ties up for the night. The native word +for water is "<i>mia</i>." Whenever I heard the cry "<i>mia +mitani</i>," I knew that we were all right because that +meant five feet of water. With the exception of the +Congo River no boat can draw more than three feet because +in the dry season even the mightiest of streams +declines to an almost incredibly low level.</p> +<p>My white fellow passengers on the "Louis Cousin" +were mostly Belgians on their way home by way of +Stanleyville and the Congo River, after years of service +in the Colony. We all ate together in the tiny dining +saloon forward with the captain, who usually provides +the "chop," as it is called. I now made the acquaintance +of goat as an article of food. The young nanny is not +undesirable as an occasional novelty but when she is +served up to you every day, it becomes a trifle monotonous.</p> +<p>The one rival of the goat in the Congo daily menu is +the chicken, the mainstay of the country. I know a +man who spent six years in the Congo and he kept a +record of every fowl he consumed. When he started +for home the total registered exactly three thousand. +It is no uncommon experience. Occasionally a friendly +hunter brought antelope or buffalo aboard but goat and +fowl, reinforced by tinned goods and an occasional egg, +constituted the bill of fare. You may wonder, perhaps, +that in a country which is a continuous chicken-coop, +there should be a scarcity of eggs. The answer lies in +the fact that during the last few years the natives have +conceived a sudden taste for eggs. Formerly they +were afraid to eat them.</p> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-189-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-189-thumbnail.jpg" alt="A NATIVE MARKET AT KINDU" title="A NATIVE MARKET AT KINDU" /> +</a> +<div class="caption">A NATIVE MARKET AT KINDU</div> +</div> +<p>Of course, there was always an abundance of fruit. +You can get pineapples, grape fruit, oranges, bananas +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>and a first +cousin of the cantaloupe, called the <i>pei pei</i>, +which when sprinkled with lime juice is most delicious. +Bananas can be purchased for five cents a bunch of one +hundred. It is about the only cheap thing in the Congo +except servants.</p> +<p>Not all my fellow passengers were desirable companions. +At Bukana five naked savages, all chained together +by the neck, were brought aboard in charge of +three native soldiers. When I asked the captain who +and what they were he replied, "They are cannibals. +They ate two of their fellow tribesmen back in the +jungle last week and they are going down the river to +be tried." These were the first eaters of human flesh +that I saw in the Congo. One conspicuous detail was +their teeth which were all filed down to sharp points. +I later discovered that these wolf teeth, as they might be +called, are common to all the Congo cannibals. The +punishment for cannibalism is death, although every +native, whatever his offence, is given a trial by the Belgian +authorities.</p> +<p>So far as employing the white man as an article of diet +is concerned, cannibalism has ceased in the Congo. +Some of the tribes, however, still regard the flesh of their +own kind as the last word in edibles. The practice must +be carried on in secret. To have partaken of the human +body has long been regarded as an act which endows +the consumer with almost supernatural powers. The +cannibal has always justified his procedure in a characteristic +way. When the early explorers and missionaries +protested against the barbarous performance +they were invariably met with this reply, "You eat fowl +and goats and we eat men. What is the difference?" +There seems to have been a particular lure in what the +native designated as "food that once talked."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p> +<p>In the days when cannibalism was rampant, the liver +of the white man was looked upon as a special delicacy +for the reason that it was supposed to transmit the +knowledge and courage of its former owner. There was +also a tradition that once having eaten the heart of the +white, no harm could come to the barbarian who performed +this amiable act. Although these odious practices +have practically ceased except in isolated instances, +the Congo native, in boasting of his strength, constantly +speaks of his liver, and not of his heart.</p> +<p>It was on the Lualaba, after the boat had tied up for +the night, that I caught the first whisper of the jungle. +In Africa Nature is in her frankest mood but she expresses +herself in subdued tones. All my life I had +read of the witchery of these equatorial places, but no +description is ever adequate. You must live with them +to catch the magic. No painter, for instance, can translate +to canvas the elusive and ever-changing verdure +of the dense forests under the brilliant tropical sun, +nor can those elements of mystery with their suggestion +of wild bird and beast that lurk everywhere at night, +be reproduced. Life flows on like a moving dream that +is exotic, enervating, yet intoxicating.</p> +<p>Accustomed as I was to dense populations, the loneliness +of the Lualaba was weird and haunting. On the +Mississippi, Ohio, and Hudson rivers in America and +on the Seine, the Thames, and the Spree in Europe, +you see congested human life and hear a vast din. In +Africa, and with the possible exception of some parts of +the Nile, Nature reigns with almost undisputed sway. +Settlements appear at rare intervals. You only encounter +an occasional native canoe. The steamers frequently +tie up at night at some sand-bank and you fall +asleep invested by an uncanny silence.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></p> +<p>I spent six days on the Lualaba where we made many +stops to take on and put off freight. Many of these +halts were at wood-posts where our supply of fuel was +renewed. At one post I found a lonely Scotch trader +who had been in the Congo fifteen years. Every night +he puts on his kilts and parades through the native +village playing the bagpipes. It is his one touch with +home. At another place I had a brief visit with another +Scotchman, a veteran of the World War, who had +established a prosperous plantation and who goes about +in a khaki kilt, much to the joy of the natives, who see +in his bare knees a kinship with themselves.</p> +<p>At Kabalo I touched the war zone. This post marks +the beginning of the railway that runs eastward to Lake +Tanganyika and which Rhodes included in one of his +Cape-to-Cairo routes. Along this road travelled the +thousands of Congo fighting men on their way to the +scene of hostilities in German East Africa.</p> +<p>When the Great War broke out the Belgian Colonial +Government held that the Berlin Treaty of 1885, entitled +"A General Act Relating to Civilization in +Africa" and prohibiting warfare in the Congo basin, +should be enforced. This treaty gave birth to the Congo +Free State and made it an international and peaceful +area under Belgian sovereignty. Following their usual +fashion the Germans looked upon this document as a +"scrap of paper" and attached Lukuga. This forced +the Belgian Congo into the conflict. About 20,000 +native troops were mobilized and under the command +of General Tambeur, who is now Vice-Governor General +of the Katanga, co-operated with the British +throughout the entire East African campaign. The +Belgians captured Tabora, one of the German strongholds, +and helped to clear the Teuton out of the country.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg +166]</a></span></p> +<p>Lake Tanganyika was the scene of one of the most +brilliant and spectacular naval battles of the war. Two +British motor launches, which were conveyed in sections +all the way from England, sank a German gunboat +and disabled another, thus purging those waters of the +German. The lake was of great strategic importance +for the transport of food and munitions for the Allied +troops in German East Africa. It is one of the +loveliest inland bodies of water in the world for it is +fringed with wooded heights and is navigable throughout +its entire length of four hundred miles. Ujiji, on +its eastern shore, is the memorable spot where Stanley +found Livingstone. The house where the illustrious +missionary lived still stands, and is an object of veneration +both for black and white visitors.</p> +<p>From Kabalo I proceeded to Kongolo, where navigation +on the Lualaba temporarily ends. It is the usual +Congo settlement with the official residence of the Commissaire +of the District, office of the Native Commissioner, +and a dozen stores. It is also the southern rail-head +of the Chemin de Fer Grands Lacs, which extends +to Stanleyville. Early in the morning I boarded what +looked to me like a toy train, for it was tinier than any +I had ever seen before, and started for Kindu. The +journey occupies two days and traverses a highly +Arabized section.</p> +<p>Back in the days when Tippo Tib, the friend of +Stanley, was king of the Arab slave traders, this area +was his hunting ground. Many of the natives are Mohammedans +and wear turbans and long flowing robes. +Their cleanliness is in sharp contrast with the lack of +sanitary precautions observed by the average unclothed +native. The only blacks who wash every day in the +Congo are those who live on the rivers. The favorite<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg +167]</a></span> +method of cleansing in the bush country is to scrape off +a week's or a month's accumulation of mud with a stick +or a piece of glass.</p> +<p>In the Congo the trains, like the boats, stop for the +night. Various causes are responsible for the procedure. +In the early days of railroading elephants and other +wild animals frequently tore up the tracks. Another +contributory reason is that the carriages are only built +for day travel. Native houses are provided for the +traveller at different points on the line. Since everyone +carries his own bed it is easy to establish sleeping +quarters without delay or inconvenience. On this particular +trip I slept at Malela, in the house ordinarily +occupied by the Chief Engineer of the line. The Minister +of the Colonies had used it the night before and +it was scrupulously clean. I must admit that I have had +greater discomfort in metropolitan hotels.</p> +<p>I was now in the almost absolute domain of the native. +The only white men that I encountered were an occasional +priest and a still more occasional trader. At +Kibombo the train stopped for the mail. When I got +out to stretch my legs I saw a man and a woman who +looked unmistakably American. The man had Texas +written all over him for he was tall and lank and looked +as if he had spent his life on the ranges. He came +toward me smiling and said, "The Minister of the Colonies +was through here yesterday in a special train and +he said that an American journalist was following close +behind, so I came down to see you." The man proved +to be J. G. Campbell, who had come to install an American +cotton gin nine kilometers from where we were +standing. His wife was with him and she was the only +white woman within two hundred miles.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></p> +<p>Campbell is a link with one of the new Congo industries, +which is cotton cultivation. The whole area +between Kongolo and Stanleyville, three-fourths of +which is one vast tropical forest, has immense stretches +ideally adapted for cotton growing. The Belgian Government +has laid out experimental plantations and they +are thriving. In 1919 four thousand acres were cultivated +in the Manyema district, six thousand in the Sankuru-Kasai +region, and six hundred in the Lomami territory. +Altogether the Colony produced 6,000,000 pounds +of the raw staple in 1920 and some of it was grown by +natives who are being taught the art. The Congo +Cotton Company has been formed at Brussels with a +capitalization of 6,000,000 francs, to exploit the new +industry, which is bound to be an important factor in +the development of the Congo. It shows that the ruthless +exploitation of the earlier days is succeeded by +scientific and constructive expansion.</p> +<p>Campbell's experience in setting up his American +gin discloses the principal need of the Congo today +which is adequate transport. Between its arrival at the +mouth of the Congo River and Kibombo the mass of +machinery was trans-shipped exactly four times, alternately +changing from rail to river. At Kibombo the +550,000 pounds of metal had to be carried on the heads +of natives to the scene of operations. In the Congo +practically every ton of merchandise must be moved by +man power—the average load is sixty pounds—through +the greater part of its journey.</p> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-197-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-197-thumbnail.jpg" alt="NATIVE FISH TRAPS AT STANLEY FALLS" title="NATIVE FISH TRAPS AT STANLEY FALLS" /> </a> +<div class="caption">NATIVE FISH TRAPS AT STANLEY FALLS</div> +</div> +<p>Late in the afternoon of the day which marked the +encounter with the Campbells I reached Kindu, where +navigation on the Lualaba is resumed again. By this +time you will have realized something of the difficulty +of travelling in this part of the world. It was my third +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>change since +Bukama and more were to come before I +reached the Lower Congo.</p> +<p>At Kindu I had a rare piece of luck. I fell in with +Louis Franck, the Belgian Minister of the Colonies, to +whom I had a letter of introduction, and who was making +a tour of inspection of the Congo. He had landed +at Mombassa, crossed British East Africa, visited the +new Belgian possessions of Urundi and Ruanda which +are spoils of war, and made his way to Kabalo from +Lake Tanganyika. He asked me to accompany him +to Stanleyville as his guest. I gladly accepted because, +aside from the personal compensation afforded by his +society, it meant immunity from worry about the river +and train connections.</p> +<p>Franck represents the new type of Colonial Minister. +Instead of being a musty bureaucrat, as so many are, +he is a live, alert progressive man of affairs who played +a big part in the late war. To begin with, he is one of +the foremost admiralty lawyers of Europe. When the +Germans occupied Belgium he at once became conspicuous. +He resisted the Teutonic scheme to separate the +French and Flemish sections of the ravaged country. +After the investment of Antwerp, his native place, accompanied +by the Burgomaster and the Spanish Minister, +he went to the German Headquarters and made +the arrangement by which the city was saved from +destruction by bombardment. He delayed this parley +sufficiently to enable the Belgian Army to escape to the +Yser. Subsequently his activities on behalf of his +countrymen made him so distasteful to the Germans that +he was imprisoned in Germany for nearly a year. For +two months of this time he shared the noble exile of +Monsieur Max, the heroic Burgomaster of Brussels.</p> +<p>I now became an annex of what amounted to a royal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg +170]</a></span> +progress. To the Belgian colonial official and to the +native, Franck incarnated a sort of All Highest. In +the Congo all functionaries are called "Bula Matadi," +which means "The Rock Breaker." It is the name +originally bestowed on Stanley when he dynamited a +road through the rocks of the Lower Congo. Franck, +however, was a super "Bula Matadi." We had a +special boat, the "Baron Delbecke," a one hundred +ton craft somewhat similar to the "Louis Cousin" but +much cleaner, for she had been scrubbed up for the +journey. The Minister, his military aide, secretary and +doctor filled the cabins, so I slept in a tent set up on the +lower deck.</p> +<p>With flags flying and thousands of natives on the +shore yelling and beating tom-toms, we started down +the Lualaba. The country between Kindu and Ponthierville, +our first objective, is thickly populated and +important settlements dot the banks. Wherever we +stopped the native troops were turned out and there were +long speeches of welcome from the local dignitaries. +Franck shook as many black and white hands as an +American Presidential candidate would in a swing +around the circle. I accompanied him ashore on all +of these state visits and it gave me an excellent opportunity +to see the many types of natives in their Sunday +clothes, which largely consist of no clothes at all. This +applies especially to the female sex, which in the Congo +reverses Kipling's theory because they are less deadly +than the male.</p> +<p>At Lowa occurred a significant episode. This place +is the center of an immense native population, but there +is only one white resident, the usual Belgium state official. +We climbed the hill to his house, where thirty of +the leading chiefs, wearing the tin medal which the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg +171]</a></span> +Belgian Government gives them, shook hands with the +Minister. The ranking chief, distinguished by the extraordinary +amount of red mud in his wool and the +grotesque devices cut with a knife on his body, made a +long speech in which he became rather excited. When +the agent translated this in French to Franck I gathered +that the people were indignant over the advance in +cost of trade goods, especially salt and calico. Salt is +more valuable than gold in the Congo. Among the +natives it is legal tender for every commodity from a +handkerchief to a wife.</p> +<p>Franck made a little speech in French in reply—it +was translated by the interpreter—in which he said +that the Great War had increased the price of everything. +We shook hands all round and there was much +muttering of "yambo," the word for "greeting," and +headed for the boat.</p> +<p>Halfway down the hill we heard shouting and hissing. +We stopped and looked back. On the crest were a +thousand native women, jeering, hooting, and pointing +their fingers at the Minister, who immediately asked the +cause of the demonstration. When the agent called +for an explanation a big black woman said:</p> +<p>"Ask the 'Bula Matadi' why the franc buys so little +now? We only get a few goods for a big lot of money."</p> +<p>I had gone into the wilds to escape from economic +unrest and all the confusion that has followed in its +wake, yet here in the heart of Central Africa, I found +our old friend the High Cost of Living working overtime +and provoking a spirited protest from primitive +savages! It proves that there is neither caste, creed nor +colour-line in the pocket-book. Like indigestion, to repeat +Mr. Pinero, it is the universal leveller of all ranks.</p> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>IV</h2> +<p>On this trip Franck outlined to me his whole +colonial creed. It was a gorgeous June morning +and we had just left a particularly picturesque +Arabized village behind us. Hundreds of natives +had come out to welcome the Minister in canoes. +They sang songs and played their crude musical instruments +as they swept alongside our boat. We now sat +on the upper deck and watched the unending panorama +of palm trees with here and there a clump of grass huts.</p> +<p>"All colonial development is a chain which is no +stronger than its weakest link and that is the native," said +the Minister. "As you build the native, so do you build +the whole colonial structure. Hence the importance of +a high moral standard. You must conform to the native's +traditions, mentality and temperament. Give him +a technical education something like that afforded by +Booker Washington's Tuskegee Institute. Show him +how to use his hands. He will then become efficient and +therefore contented. It is a mistake to teach him a +European language. I prefer him to be a first-class +African rather than third-class European.</p> +<p>"The hope of the Congo lies in industrialization on +the one hand, and the creation of new wealth on the +other. By new wealth I mean such new crops as cotton +and a larger exploitation of such old products as rice +and palm fruit. Rubber has become a second industry +although the cultivated plantations are in part taking +the place of the old wild forests. The substitute for +rubber as the first product of the land is the fruit of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg +173]</a></span> +oil palm tree. This will be the industrial staple of the +Congo. I believe, however, that in time cotton can be +produced in large commercial quantities over a wide +area."</p> +<p>Franck now turned to a subject which reflects his +courage and progressiveness. He said, "There is a +strong tendency in other Colonies to give too large a +place to State enterprise. The result of this system +is that officers are burdened with an impossible task. +They must look after the railways, steamers, mills, and +a variety of tasks for which they often lack the technical +knowledge.</p> +<p>"I have made it a point to give first place to private +enterprise and to transfer those activities formerly under +State rule to autonomous enterprises in which the State +has an interest. They are run by business men along +business lines as business institutions. The State's principal +function in them is to protect the native employes. +The gold mines at Kilo are an example. They are still +owned by the State but are worked by a private company +whose directors have full powers. The reason +why the State does not part with its ownership of these +mines is that it does not want a rush of gold-seekers. +History has proved that in a country with a primitive +population a gold rush is a dangerous and destructive +thing.</p> +<p>"We are always free traders in Belgium and we are +glad to welcome any foreign capital to the Congo. We +have already had the constructive influence of American +capital in the diamond fields and we will be glad to have +more."</p> +<p>The average man thinks that the Congo and concessions +are practically synonymous terms. In the Leopold +day this was true but there is a new deal now. +Let Monsieur Franck explain it:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p> +<p>"There was a time when huge concessions were freely +given in the Congo. They were then necessary because +the Colony was new, the country unknown, and the +financial risk large. Now that the economic possibilities +of the region are realized it is not desirable to grant +any more large concessions. It is proved that these concessions +are really a handicap rather than a help to a +young land. The wise procedure is to have a definite +agricultural or industrial aim in mind, and then pick +the locality for exploitation, whether it is gold, cotton, +copper or palm fruit."</p> +<p>"What is the future of the Congo?" I asked.</p> +<p>"The Congo is now entering upon a big era of development," +was the answer. "If the Great War had +not intervened it would have been well under way. Despite +the invasion of Belgium, the practical paralysis of +our home industry, and the fact that many of our Congo +officials and their most highly trained natives were off +fighting the Germans in East Africa, the Colony more +than held its own during those terrible years. In building +the new Congo we are going to profit by the example +of other countries and capitalize their knowledge and +experience of tropical hygiene. We propose to combat +sleeping sickness, for example, with an agency similar +to your Rockefeller Institute of Research in New +York.</p> +<p>"The Congo is bound to become one of the great +centers of the world supply. The Katanga is not only +a huge copper area but it has immense stores of coal, +tin, zinc and other valuable commodities. Our diamond +fields have scarcely been scraped, while the agricultural +possibilities of hundreds of thousands of square miles are +unlimited.</p> +<p>"The great need of the Congo is transport. We are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg +175]</a></span> +increasing our river fleets and we propose to introduce +on them a type of barge similar to that used on the +Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers.</p> +<p>"An imposing program of railway expansion is +blocked out. For one thing we expect to run a railway +from the Katanga copper belt straight across country +to Kinshassa on the Lower Congo. It is already surveyed. +This will tap a thickly populated region and +enable the diamond mines of the Kasai to get the labour +they need so sorely. The Robert Williams railway +through Angola will be another addition to our transportation +facilities. One of the richest regions of the +Congo is the north-eastern section. The gold mines +at Kilo are now only accessible by river. We plan to +join them up with the railway to be built from Stanleyville +to the Soudan border. This will link the Congo +River and the Nile. With our railroads as with our industrial +enterprises, we stick to private ownership and +operation with the State as a partner.</p> +<p>"The new provinces of Ruanda and Urundi will contribute +much to our future prosperity. They add millions +of acres to our territory and 3,000,000 healthy +and prosperous natives to our population. These new +possessions have two distinct advantages. One is that +they provide an invigorating health resort which will +be to the Central Congo what the Katanga is to the +Southern. The other is that, being an immense cattle +country—there is a head of live stock for every +native—we +will be able to secure fresh meat and dairy products, +which are sorely needed.</p> +<p>"The Congo is not only the economic hope of Belgium +but it is teaching the Belgian capitalist to think in +broad terms. Henceforth the business man of all countries +must regard the universe as his field. As a prac<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>tical +commercial proposition it pays, both with nations +as with individuals. We have found that the possession +of the Congo, huge as it is, and difficult for a country +like ours to develop, is a stimulating thing. It is quickening +our enterprise and widening our world view."</p> +<p>It would be difficult to find a more practical or +comprehensive +colonial program. It eliminates that bane +of over-seas administration, red tape, and it puts the +task of empire-building squarely up to the business man +who is the best qualified for the work. I am quite +certain that the advent of Monsieur Franck into office, +and particularly his trip to the Congo, mean the beginning +of an epoch of real and permanent exploitation +in the Congo.</p> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-207a-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-207a-thumbnail.jpg" alt="THE MASSIVE BANGALAS" title="THE MASSIVE BANGALAS" /> </a> +<div class="caption">THE MASSIVE BANGALAS</div> +</div> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-207b-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-207b-thumbnail.jpg" alt="CONGO WOMEN IN STATE DRESS" title="CONGO WOMEN IN STATE DRESS" /> </a> +<div class="caption">CONGO WOMEN IN STATE DRESS</div> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h1><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> +<a name="CHAPTER_V_ON_THE_CONGO_RIVER" id="CHAPTER_V_ON_THE_CONGO_RIVER"></a>CHAPTER +V—ON THE CONGO RIVER</h1> +<h2>I</h2> +<p>Two days more of travelling on the Lower +Lualaba brought us to Ponthierville, a jewel +of a post with a setting of almost bewildering +tropical beauty. Here we spent the night on the boat +and early the following morning boarded a special train +for Stanleyville, which is only six hours distant by rail. +Midway we crossed the Equator.</p> +<p>Thirty miles south of Stanleyville is the State Experimental +Coffee Farm of three hundred acres, which +produces fifteen different species of the bean. This institution +is one evidence of a comprehensive agricultural +development inaugurated by the Belgian Government. +The State has about 10,000 acres of test plantations, +mostly Para rubber, cotton, and cacao, in various parts +of the Colony.</p> +<p>One commendable object of this work is to instill the +idea of crop-growing among the natives. Under ordinary +circumstances the man of colour in the tropics will +only raise enough maize, manioc, or tobacco for his own +needs. The Belgian idea is to encourage co-operative +farming in the villages. In the region immediately adjacent +to Stanleyville the natives have begun to plant +cotton over a considerable area. At Kongolo I saw hundreds +of acres of this fleecy plant under the sole supervision +of the indigenes.</p> +<p>Stanleyville marked one of the real mileposts of my +journey. Here came Stanley on his first historic expe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg +178]</a></span>dition +across Central Africa and discovered the falls +nearby that bear his name; here he set up the Station +that marked the Farthest East of the expedition which +founded the Congo Free State. Directly south-east of +the town are seven distinct cataracts which extend over +fifty miles of seething whirlpools.</p> +<p>Stanleyville is the head of navigation on the Congo +and like Paris, is built on two sides of the river. On the +right bank is the place of the Vice-Governor General, +scores of well stocked stores, and many desirable residences. +The streets are long avenues of palm trees. +The left bank is almost entirely given over to the railway +terminals, yards, and repair shops. My original +plan was to live with the Vice-Governor General, Monsieur +de Meulemeester, but his establishment was so +taxed by the demands of the Ministerial party that I +lodged with Monsieur Theews, Chief Engineer of the +Chemin de Fer des Grands Lacs, where I was most +comfortable in a large frame bungalow that commanded +a superb view of the river and the town.</p> +<p>At Stanleyville the Minister of the Colonies had a +great reception. Five hundred native troops looking +very smart were drawn up in the plaza. On the platform +of the station stood the Vice-Governor General and staff +in spotless white uniforms, their breasts ablaze with decorations. +On all sides were thousands of natives in gay +attire who cheered and chanted while the band played +the Belgian national anthem. Over it all waved the +flag of Belgium. It was a stirring spectacle not without +its touch of the barbaric, and a small-scale replica of +what you might have seen at Delhi or Cairo on a fête +day.</p> +<p>I was only mildly interested in all this tumult and +shouting. What concerned me most was the swift,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> +brown river that flowed almost at our feet. At last I +had reached the masterful Congo, which, with the sole +exception of the Amazon, is the mightiest stream in the +world. As I looked at it I thought of Stanley and his +battles on its shores, and the hardship and tragedy that +these waters had witnessed.</p> +<p>Stanleyville is not only the heart of Equatorial Africa +but it is also an important administrative point. Hundreds +of State officials report to the Vice-Governor +General there, and on national holidays and occasions +like the visit of the Colonial Minister, it can muster a +gay assemblage. Monsieur Franck's presence inspired +a succession of festivities including a garden party which +was attended by the entire white population numbering +about seventy-five. There was also a formal dinner +where I wore evening clothes for the first and only +time between Elizabethville and the steamer that took +me to Europe three months later.</p> +<p>At the garden party Monsieur Franck made a graceful +speech in which he said that the real missionaries of +African civilization were the wives who accompanied +their husbands to their lonely posts in the field. What he +said made a distinct impression upon me for it was not +only the truth but it emphasized a detail that stands +out in the memory of everyone who visits this part of the +world. I know of no finer heroines than these women +comrades of colonial officials who brave disease and discomfort +to share the lives of their mates. For one thing, +they give the native a new respect for his masters. All +white women in the Congo are called "mamma" by the +natives.</p> +<p>The use of "mamma" by the African natives always +strikes the newcomer as strange. It is a curious fact +that practically the first word uttered by the black in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg +180]</a></span>fant +is "mamma," and in thousands of cases the final +utterance of both adult male and female is the same +word. In northern Rhodesia and many parts of the +Congo the native mother frequently refers to her child +as a "piccannin" which is almost the same word employed +by coloured people in the American South.</p> +<p>Stanleyville's social prestige is only equalled by her +economic importance. It is one of the great ivory markets +of the world. During the last two years this +activity has undergone fluctuations that almost put +Wall Street to the blush.</p> +<p>During the war there was very little trafficking in ivory +because it was a luxury. With peace came a big demand +and the price soared to more than 200 francs a kilo. +The ordinary price is about forty. One trader at +Stanleyville cleaned up a profit of 3,000,000 francs in +three months. Then came the inevitable reaction and +with it a unique situation. In their mad desire to corral +ivory the traders ran up the normal price that the native +hunters received. The moment the boom burst the white +buyers sought to regulate their purchases accordingly. +The native, however, knows nothing about the law of +demand and supply and he holds out for the boom price. +The outcome is that hundreds of tons of ivory are piled +up in the villages and no power on earth can convince +the savage that there is such a thing as the ebb and flow +of price. Such is commercial life in the jungle.</p> +<p>Northeast of Stanleyville lie the most important +gold mines in the Colony. The precious metal was discovered +accidentally some years ago in the gravel of +small rivers west of Lake Albert, and near the small +towns of Kilo and Moto. Four mines are now worked +in this vicinity, two by the Government and two by a +private company. At the outbreak of the war this area<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg +181]</a></span> +was on the verge of considerable development which has +just been resumed. At the time of my visit all these +mines were placers and the operation was rather primitive. +With modern machinery and enlarged white staffs +will come a pretentious exploitation. The Government +mines alone yield more than $2,000,000 worth of gold +every year. Shortly before my arrival in the Congo +what was heralded as the largest gold nugget ever discovered +was found in the Kilo State Mine. It weighed +twelve pounds.</p> +<p>Stanleyville has a significance for me less romantic +but infinitely more practical than the first contact with +the Congo River. After long weeks of suffering from +inefficient service I sacked Gerome and annexed a boy +named Nelson. The way of it was this: In the Katanga +I engaged a young Belgian who was on his way home, +to act as secretary. He knew the native languages and +could always convince the most stubborn black to part +with an egg. Nelson was his servant. He was born +on the Rhodesian border and spoke English. I could +therefore upbraid him to my heart's content, which was +not the case with Gerome. Besides, he was not handicapped +with a wife. In Africa the servants adopt the +names of their masters. Nelson had worked for an +Englishman at Elizabethville and acquired his cognomen. +I have not the slightest doubt that he now masquerades +under mine. Be that as it may, Nelson was +a model servant and he remained with me until that +September day when I boarded the Belgium-bound +boat at Matadi.</p> +<p>Nelson reminded me more of the Georgia Negro than +any other one that I saw in the Congo. He was almost +coal black, he smiled continuously, and his teeth were +wonderful to look at. He had an unusual capacity for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg +182]</a></span> +work and also for food. I think he was the champion +consumer of <i>chikwanga</i> in the Congo. The <i>chikwanga</i> +is +a glutinous dough made from the pounded root of the +manioc plant and is the principal food of the native. +It is rolled and cut up in pieces and then wrapped in +green leaves. The favorite way of preparing it for +consumption is to heat it in palm oil, although it is +often eaten raw. Nelson bought these <i>chikwangas</i> +by the dozen. He was never without one. He even +ate as he washed my clothes.</p> +<p>The Congo native is in a continuous state of receptivity +when it comes to food. Nowhere in the world +have I seen people who ate so much. I have offered +the leavings of a meal to a savage just after he had +apparently gorged himself and he "wolfed" it as if he +were famished. The invariable custom in the Congo +is to have one huge meal a day. On this occasion every +member of the family consumes all the edibles in sight. +Then the crowd lays off until the following day. All +food offered in the meantime by way of gratuity or +otherwise is devoured on the spot.</p> +<p>In connection with the <i>chikwanga</i> is an +interesting +fact. The Congo natives all die young—I only saw +a dozen old men—because they are insufficiently +nourished. The <i>chikwanga</i> is filling but not +fattening. +This is why sleeping sickness takes such dreadful toll. +From an estimated population of 30,000,000 in Stanley's +day the indigenes have dwindled to less than one-third +this number. Meat is a luxury. Although the natives +have chickens in abundance they seldom eat one for the +reason that it is more profitable to sell them to the white +man.</p> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-215-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-215-thumbnail.jpg" alt="CENTRAL AFRICAN PYGMIES" title="CENTRAL AFRICAN PYGMIES" /> +</a> +<div class="caption">CENTRAL AFRICAN PYGMIES</div> +</div> +<p>It is not surprising, therefore, that the Congo native +suffers from ailments. Unlike the average small boy +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>of +civilization, he delights in taking medicine. I suppose +that he regards it as just another form of food. You +hear many amusing stories in connection with medicinal +articles. When you give a savage a dozen effective pills, +for example, and tell him to take one every night, he +usually swallows them all at one time and then he wonders +why the results are disastrous. A sorcerer in the +Upper Congo region once obtained what was widely +acclaimed as miraculous results from a red substance +that he got out of a tin. It developed that he had stolen +a can of potted beef and was using it as "medicine."</p> +<p>Stanleyville was called the center of the old Arab +slave trade. While the odious traffic has long ceased +to exist, you occasionally meet an old native who bears +the scars of battle with the marauders and who can tell +harrowing tales of the cruelties they inflicted.</p> +<p>The slave raiders began their operations in the Congo +in 1877, the same year in which Stanley made his historic +march across Africa from Zanzibar to the north of +the Congo. It was the great explorer who unconsciously +blazed the way for the man-hunters. They +followed him down the Lualaba River as far as Stanley +Falls and discovered what was to them a real human +treasure-trove. For twenty years they blighted the +country, carrying off tens of thousands of men, women +and children and slaughtering thousands in addition. +This region was a cannibal stronghold and one bait that +lured local allies was the promise of the bodies of all +natives slain, for consumption. Belgian pioneers in the +Congo who co-operated with the late Baron Dhanis who +finally put down the slave trade, have told me that it +was no infrequent sight to behold native women going +off to their villages with baskets of human flesh. They +were part of the spoils of this hideous warfare.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span></p> +<p>Tippo Tib was lord of this slave-trading domain. This +astounding rascal had a distinct personality. He was +a master trader and drove the hardest bargain in all +Africa. Livingstone, Cameron, Stanley, and Wissmann +all did business with him, for he had a monopoly +on porters and no one could proceed without his help. +He invariably waited until the white man reached the +limit of his resources and then exacted the highest price, +in true Shylockian fashion.</p> +<p>According to Herbert Ward, the well-known African +artist and explorer, who accompanied Stanley on the +Emin Pasha Relief Expedition, Tippo Tib was something +of a philosopher. On one occasion Ward spent +the evening with the old Arab. He occupied a wretched +house. Rain dripped in through the roof, rats scuttled +across the floor, and wind shook the walls. When the +Englishman expressed his astonishment that so rich and +powerful a chief should dwell in such a mean abode +Tippo Tib said:</p> +<p>"It is better that I should live in a house like this +because it makes me remember that I am only an ordinary +man like others. If I lived in a fine house with +comforts I should perhaps end by thinking too much of +myself."</p> +<p>Ward also relates another typical story about this +blood-thirsty bandit. A missionary once called him to +account for the frightful barbarities he had perpetrated, +whereupon he received the following reply:</p> +<p>"Ah, yes! You see I was then a young man. Now +my hair is turning gray. I am an old man and shall +have more consideration."</p> +<p>Until his death in 1907 at Zanzibar, Tippo Tib and +reformation were absolute strangers. He embodied that +combination of cruelty and religious fanaticism so often<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg +185]</a></span> +found in the Arab. He served his God and the devil +with the same relentless devotion. He incarnated a +type that happily has vanished from the map of Africa.</p> +<p>The region around Stanleyville is rich with historic +interest and association. The great name inseparably +and immortally linked with it is that of Stanley. Although +he found Livingstone, relieved Emin Pasha, first +traversed the Congo River, and sowed the seeds of civilization +throughout the heart of the continent, his greatest +single achievement, perhaps, was the founding of +the Congo Free State. No other enterprise took such +toll of his essential qualities and especially his genius +for organization.</p> +<p>Stanley is most widely known as an explorer, yet +he was, at the same time, one of the master civilizers. +He felt that his Congo adventure would be incomplete +if he did not make the State a vast productive region +and the home of the white man. He longed to see it +a British possession and it was only after he offered it +twice to England and was twice rebuffed, that he accepted +the invitation of King Leopold II to organize the +stations under the auspices of the International African +Association, which was the first step toward Belgian +sovereignty.</p> +<p>I have talked with many British and Belgian associates +of Stanley. Without exception they all acclaim +his sterling virtues both in the physical and spiritual +sense. All agree that he was a hard man. The best +explanation of this so-called hardness is given by Herbert +Ward, who once spoke to him about it. Stanley's +reply was, "You've got to be hard. If you're not hard +you're weak. There are only two sides to it."</p> +<p>Stanley always declared that his whole idea of life +and work were embodied in the following maxim: "The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg +186]</a></span> +three M's are all we need. They are Morals, Mind and +Muscles. These must be cultivated if we wish to be +immortal." To an astonishing degree he worked and +lived up to these principles.</p> +<p>No explorer, not even Peary in the Arctic wilds, was +ever prey to a larger isolation than this man. In the +midst of the multitude he was alone. He shunned intimacy +and one of his mournful reflections was, "I have +had no friend on any expedition, no one who could possibly +be my companion on an equal footing, except while +with Livingstone."</p> +<p>I cannot resist the impulse to make comparison between +those two outstanding Englishmen, Rhodes and +Stanley, whose lives are intimately woven into the fabric +of African romance. They had much in common and +yet they were widely different in purpose and temperament. +Each was an autocrat and brooked no interference. +Each had the same kindling ideal of British +imperialism. Each suffered abuse at the hands of his +countrymen and lived to witness a triumphant vindication.</p> +<p>Stanley had a rare talent for details—he went on the +theory that if you wanted a thing done properly you +must do it yourself—but Rhodes only saw things in a +big way and left the interpretation to subordinates. +Stanley was devoutly religious while Rhodes paid scant +attention to the spiritual side. Each was a dreamer in +his own way and merely regarded money as a means to +an end. Rhodes, however, was far more disdainful of +wealth as such, than Stanley, who received large sums +for his books and lectures. It is only fair to him to say +that he never took pecuniary advantage of the immense +opportunities that his explorations in the Congo afforded.</p> +<p>Still another intrepid Englishman narrowly missed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg +187]</a></span> +having a big rôle in the drama of the Congo. General +Gordon agreed to assume the Governorship of the +Lower Congo under Stanley, who was to be the Chief +Administrator of the Upper Congo. They were to unite +in one grand effort to crush the slave trade. Fate intervened. +Gordon meanwhile was asked by the British +Government to go to Egypt, then in the throes of the +Mahdist uprising. He went to his martyrdom at +Khartoum, and Stanley continued his work alone in +Central Africa.</p> +<p>While Stanley established its most enduring traditions, +other heroic soldiers and explorers, contributed to +the roll of fame of the Upper Congo region. Conspicuous +among them was Captain Deane, an Englishman +who fought the Arab slave traders at Stanley Falls +and who figured in a succession of episodes that read +like the most romantic fiction.</p> +<p>With less than a hundred native troops recruited from +the West Coast of Africa, he defended the State +Station founded by Stanley at the Falls against thousands +of Arab raiders. Most of the caps in his rifle +cartridges were rendered useless by dampness and the +Captain and his second in command, Lieutenant Dubois, +a Belgian officer, fought shoulder to shoulder with his +men in the hand-to-hand struggle that ensued. Subsequently +practically all the natives deserted and Deane +was left with Dubois and four loyal blacks. Under +cover of darkness they escaped from the island on which +the Station was located. On this journey Dubois was +drowned.</p> +<p>For thirty days Deane and his four faithful troopers +wandered through the forests, hiding during the day +from their ferocious pursuers and sleeping in trees at +night. On the thirtieth day he was captured by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg +188]</a></span> +savages. Unarmed, he sank to the ground overcome +with weariness. A big native stood over him with his +spear poised for the fatal thrust. A moment later the +Englishman was surprised to see his enemy lower the +weapon and grasp him by the hand. He had succored +this savage two years before and had not been forgotten. +Deane and his companions were convoyed under an +escort to Herbert Ward's camp and he was nursed back +to health.</p> +<p>Deane's death illustrates the irony that entered into +the passing of so many African adventurers. Twelve +months after he was snatched from the jaws of death on +the banks of the Congo in the manner just described, +he was killed while hunting elephants. A wounded +beast impaled him on a tusk and then mauled him almost +beyond recognition.</p> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>II</h2> +<p>Since Stanleyville is the head of navigation on +the Congo there is ordinarily no lack of boats. +I was fortunate to be able to embark on the +"Comte de Flandre," the Mauretania of those inland +seas and the most imposing vessel on the river for she +displaced five hundred tons. She flew the flag of the +Huileries du Congo Belge, the palm oil concern founded +by Lord Leverhulme and the most important all-British +commercial interest in the Congo. She was one of a +fleet of ten boats that operate on the Congo, the Kasai, +the Kwilu and other rivers. I not only had a comfortable +cabin but the rarest of luxuries in Central Africa, +a regulation bathtub, was available. The "Comte de +Flandre" had cabin accommodations for fourteen +whites. The Captain was an Englishman and the Chief +Engineer a Scotchman.</p> +<p>On this, as on most of the other Congo boats, the food +is provided by the Captain, to whom the passengers pay +a stipulated sum for meals. On the "Comte de Flandre," +however, the food privilege was owned jointly by the +Captain and the Chief Engineer. The latter did all the +buying and it was almost excruciatingly funny to watch +him driving real Scotch bargains with the natives who +came aboard at the various stops to sell chickens, goats, +and fruit. The engineer could scarcely speak a word of +any of the native languages, but he invariably got over +the fact that the price demanded was too high.</p> +<p>The passenger list of the "Comte de Flandre" included +Englishmen, Belgians, Italians, and Portuguese.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> +I was the only American. The steerage, firemen, and +wood-boys were all blacks. With this international congress +over which beamed the broad smile of Nelson, I +started on the thousand-mile trip down the Congo River.</p> +<p>It is difficult to convey the impression that the Congo +River gives. Serene and majestic, it is often well-nigh +overwhelming in its immensity. Between Stanleyville +and Kinshassa there are four thousand islands, some of +them thirty miles in length. As the boat picks its way +through them you feel as if you were travelling through +an endless tropical park of which the river provides the +paths. It has been well called a "Venice of Vegetation." +The shores are brilliant with a variegated growth whose +exotic smell is wafted out over the waters. You see +priceless orchids entwined with the mangroves in endless +profusion. Behind this verdure stretches the dense +equatorial forest in which Stanley battled years ago in +an almost impenetrable gloom. Aigrettes and birds of +paradise fly on all sides and every hour reveals a hideous +crocodile sunning himself on a sandspit.</p> +<p>Night on the Congo enhances the loneliness that you +feel on all the Central African rivers. Although the +settlements are more numerous and larger than those +on the Lualaba and the Kasai, there is the same feeling +of isolation the moment darkness falls. The jungle +seems to be an all-embracing monster who mocks you +with his silence. Joseph Conrad interpreted this atmosphere +when he referred to it as having "a stillness of +life that did not resemble peace,—the silence of an +implacable force brooding over an inscrutable intention." +This is the Congo River.</p> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-225a-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-225a-thumbnail.jpg" alt="WOMEN MAKING POTTERY" title="WOMEN MAKING POTTERY" /> </a> +<div class="caption">WOMEN MAKING POTTERY</div> +</div> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-225b-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-225b-thumbnail.jpg" alt="THE CONGO PICKANINNY" title="THE CONGO PICKANINNY" /> </a> +<div class="caption">THE CONGO PICKANINNY</div> +</div> +<p>The more I saw of the Congo River—it is nearly +twice as large as the Mississippi—the more I realized +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>that it is in +reality a parent of waters. It has half a +dozen tributaries that range in length from 500 to 1,000 +miles each. The most important are the Lualaba and +the Kasai. Others include the Itimbiri, the Aruwimi +and the Mubangi. Scores of smaller streams, many of +them navigable for launches, empty into the main river. +This is why there is such a deep and swift current in +the lower region where the Congo enters the sea.</p> +<p>The astonishing thing about the Congo River is its +inconsistency. Although six miles wide in many parts +it is frequently not more than six feet deep. This makes +navigation dangerous and difficult. As on the Lualaba +and every other river in the Colony, soundings must be +taken continually. This extraordinary discrepancy between +width and depth reminds me of the designation +of the Platte River in Nebraska by a Kansas statesman +which was, "A river three-quarters of a mile wide and +three-quarters of an inch deep." Thus the Congo journey +takes on a constant element of hazard because you +do not know what moment you will run aground on a +sand-bank, be impaled on a snag, or strike a rock.</p> +<p>Although the "Comte de Flandre" was rated as the +fastest craft on the Congo our progress was unusually +slow because of the scarcity of wood for fuel. This +seems incredible when you consider that the whole Congo +Basin is one vast forest. Millions of trees stand ready +to be sacrificed to the needs of man, yet there are no +hands to cut them. In the Congo, as throughout this +distracted world, the will-to-work is a lost art, no less +manifest among the savages than among their civilized +brothers. The ordinary native will only labour long +enough to provide himself with sufficient money to buy +a month's supply of food. Then he quits and joins the +leisure class. Hence wood-hunting on the Congo vies<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg +192]</a></span> +with the trip itself as a real adventure. The competition +between river captains for fuel is so keen that a skipper +will sometimes start his boat at three o'clock in the morning +and risk an accident in the dark in order to beat a +rival to a wood supply.</p> +<p>All up and down the river are wood-posts. Most of +them are owned by the steamship companies. It was +our misfortune to find most of them practically stripped +of their supplies. A journey which ordinarily takes +twelve days consumed twenty. But there were many +compensations and I had no quarrel with the circumstance:</p> +<p>I had the good fortune to witness that rarest of sights +that falls to the lot of the casual traveller—a serious +fight between natives. We stopped at a native wood-post—(some +of them are operated by the occasionally +industrious blacks)—for fuel. The whole village +turned out to help load the logs. In the midst of the +process a crowd of natives made their appearance, armed +with spears and shields. They began to taunt the men +and women who were loading our boat. I afterwards +learned that they owned a wood-post nearby and were +disgruntled because we had not patronized them. They +blamed their neighbours for it. Almost before we +realized it a pitched battle was in progress in which +spears were thrown and men and women were laid out +in a generally bloody fracas. One man got an assegai +through his throat and it probably inflicted a fatal +wound.</p> +<p>In the midst of the mêlée one of my fellow +passengers, +a Catholic priest named Father Brandsma, courageously +dashed in between the flying spears and logs of +wood and separated the combatants. This incident shows +the hostility that still exists between the various tribes in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg +193]</a></span> +the Congo. It constitutes one excellent reason why +there can never be any concerted uprising against the +whites. There is no single, strong, cohesive native +dynasty.</p> +<p>Father Brandsma was one of the finest men I met in +the Congo. He was a member of the society of priests +which has its headquarters at Mill Hill in England. He +came aboard the boat late one night when we were tied +up at Bumba, having ridden a hundred miles on his +bicycle along the native trails. We met the following +morning in the dining saloon. I sat at a table writing +letters and he took a seat nearby and started to make +some notes in a book. When we finished I addressed +him in French. He answered in flawless English. He +then told me that he had spent fifteen years in Uganda, +where he was at the head of the Catholic Missions.</p> +<p>The Father was in his fifth year of service in the +Congo and his analysis of the native situation was accurate +and convincing. Among other things he said, "The +great task of the Colonial Government is to provide +labour for the people. In many localities only one +native out of a hundred works. This idleness must be +stopped and the only way to stop it is to initiate highway +and other improvements, so as to recruit a large +part of the native population."</p> +<p>Father Brandsma is devoting some of his energy to +a change in copal gathering. This substance, which is +found at the roots of trees in swampy and therefore +unhealthy country, is employed in the manufacture of +varnish. To harvest it the natives stand all day in water +up to their hips and they catch the inevitable colds from +which pneumonia develops. Copal gathering is a considerable +source of income for many tribes and usually +the entire community treks to the marshes. In this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg +194]</a></span> +way the lives of the women and children are also +menaced. The Father believes that only the men +should go forth at certain periods for this work and leave +their families behind.</p> +<p>Father Brandsma was the central actor in a picturesque +scene. One Sunday morning I heard a weird +chanting and I arose to discover the cause. I found that +the priest was celebrating mass for the natives on the +main deck of the boat. Dawn had just broken, and on +the improvised altar several candles gleamed in the +half light. In his vestments the priest was a striking +figure. All about him knelt the score of naked savages +who made up the congregation. They crossed themselves +constantly and made the usual responses. I must +confess that the ceremony was strangely moving and +impressive.</p> +<p>As soon as I reached the Congo River I saw that the +natives were bigger and stronger than those of the +Katanga and other sections that I had visited. The most +important of the river tribes are the Bangalas, who are +magnificent specimens of manhood. In Stanley's day +they were masters of a considerable portion of the +Upper Congo River region and contested his way skilfully +and bitterly. They are more peacefully inclined +today and hundreds of them are employed as wood-boys +and firemen on the river boats.</p> +<p>The Bangalas practice cicatrization to an elaborate +extent. This process consists of opening a portion of +the flesh with a knife, injecting an irritating juice into +the wound, and allowing the place to swell. The effect +is to raise a lump or weal. Some of these excrescences +are tiny bumps and others develop into large welts +that disfigure the anatomy. Extraordinary designs are +literally carved on the faces and bodies of the men and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg +195]</a></span> +women. Although it is an intensely painful operation,—some +of the wounds must be opened many times—the +native submits to it with pleasure because the more +ornate the design the more resplendent the wearer feels. +The women are usually more liberally marked than the +men.</p> +<p>Cicatrization is popular in various parts of Central +Africa but nowhere to the degree that it prevails on the +Congo River and among the Bangalas, where it is a +tribal mark. I observed women whose entire bodies +from the ankles up to the head were one mass of +cicatrized designs. One of the favorite areas is the +stomach. This is just another argument against clothes. +Cicatrization bears the same relation to the African +native that tattooing does to the whites of some sections. +Human vanity works in mysterious ways to express +itself.</p> +<p>In this connection it is perhaps worth while to point +out one of the reasons why the Congo atrocity exhorters +found such ready exhibits for their arguments. The +Central African native delights in disfigurement not +only as a sign of "beauty," but as a means of retaliation +for real or fancied wrongs among his own. In the old +days dozens of slaves, and sometimes wives, were sacrificed +upon the death of an important chief. Their +spirits were supposed to provide a bodyguard to escort +the departed potentate safely into the land of the hereafter. +One of the former prerogatives of a husband +was the sanction to chop off the hand or foot of a wife +if she offended or disobeyed him. Hence Central Africa +abounded in mutilated men, women and children. While +some of these barbarities may have been due to excessive +zeal or temper in State or corporation officials there is +no doubt that many instances were the result of native +practices.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p> +<p>The reference to cicatrization brings to mind another +distinctive Central African observance. I refer to the +ceremony of blood brotherhood. When two men, who +have been enemies, desire to make the peace and swear +eternal amity, they make a small incision in one of their +forearms sufficiently deep to cause the flow of blood. +Each then licks the blood from the other's arm and +henceforth they are related as brothers. This performance +was not only common among the blacks but was +also practiced by the whites and the blacks the moment +civilization entered the wild domains. Stanley's arms +were one mass of scars as the result of swearing constant +blood brotherhood. It became such a nuisance and +at the same time developed into such a serious menace +to his health, that the rite had to be amended. Instead +of licking the blood the comrades now merely rub the incisions +together on the few occasions nowadays when +fealty is sworn. I am glad to say that I escaped the +ordeal.</p> +<p>Much to my regret I saw only a few of the much-described +pygmies who dwelt mainly in the regions northeast +of Stanleyville, where Stanley first met them. They +are all under three feet in height, are light brown in +colour, and wear no garments when on their native +heath. They are the shyest of all the tribes I encountered. +These diminutive creatures seldom enter +the service of the white man and prefer the wild life of +the jungle. I was informed in the Congo that the real +pygmy is fast disappearing from the map. Intermarriage +with other tribes, and settlement into more or less +permanent villages, have increased the height of the +present generation and helped to remove one of the last +human links with Stanley's great day.</p> +<p>The Congo River native is perhaps the shrewdest in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg +197]</a></span> +all Central Africa. He is a born trader, and he can +convert the conventional shoe-string into something +worth while. One reason why the Bangalas take positions +as firemen and woodboys on the river boats is that +it enables them to go into business. The price of food at +the small settlements up river is much less than at +Kinshassa, where navigation from Stanleyville southward +ends. Hence the blacks acquire considerable +stores of palm oil and dried fish at the various stops +made by the steamers and dispose of it with large profit +when they reach the end of the journey. I have in +mind the experience of a capita on the "Comte de +Flandre." When we left Stanleyville his cash capital +was thirty-five francs. With this he purchased a sufficient +quantity of food, which included dozens of pieces +of <i>chikwanga</i>, to realize two hundred and twenty +francs +at Kinshassa.</p> +<p>These river natives are genuine profiteers. They +invariably make it a rule to charge the white man three +or four times the price they exact from their own kind. +No white man ever thinks of buying anything himself. +He always sends one of his servants. As soon as the +vendor knows that the servant is in the white employ +he shoves up the price. I discovered this state of affairs +as soon as I started down the Lualaba. In my innocence +I paid two francs for a bunch of bananas. The moment +I had closed the deal I observed larger and better +bunches being purchased by natives for fifty centimes.</p> +<p>This business of profiteering by the natives is no new +phase of life in the Congo. Stanley discovered it to his +cost. Sir Harry Johnston, the distinguished explorer +and administrator, who added to his achievements during +these past years by displaying skill and brilliancy as a +novelist, tells a characteristic story that throws light on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg +198]</a></span> +the subject. It deals with one of the experiences of +George Grenfell, the eminent British missionary who +gave thirty years of his unselfish life to work in the +Congo. On one of his trips he noticed the corpse of a +woman hanging from the branches of a tree over the +water of the great river. At first he thought that she had +been executed as a punishment for adultery, one of the +most serious crimes in the native calendar. On investigation +he found that she had been guilty of a much more +serious offense. A law had been imposed that all goods, +especially food, must be sold to the white man at a far +higher price than the local market value. This unhappy +woman had only doubled the quotation for eggs, had +been convicted of breaking the code, and had suffered +death in consequence.</p> +<p>Since I have referred to adultery, let me point out +a situation that does not reflect particular credit on so-called +civilization. Before the white man came to +Africa chastity was held in deepest reverence. The +usual punishment for infidelity was death. Some of the +early white men were more or less promiscuous and set +a bad moral example with regard to the women. The +native believed that in this respect "the white man can +do no wrong" and the inevitable laxity resulted. When +a woman deserts her husband now all she gets is a +sound beating. If a man elopes with the wife of a +friend, he is haled before a magistrate and fined.</p> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-233-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-233-thumbnail.jpg" alt="THE HEART OF THE EQUATORIAL FOREST" title="THE HEART OF THE EQUATORIAL FOREST" /> </a> +<div class="caption">THE HEART OF THE EQUATORIAL FOREST</div> +</div> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>III</h2> +<p>On the Congo I got my first glimpse of the +native fashion in mourning. It is a survival +of the biblical "sackcloth and ashes." As soon +as a death occurs all the members of the family smear +their faces and bodies with ashes or dirt. Even the +babies show these rude symbols of woe. It gives the +person thus adorned a weird and ghastly appearance. +When ashes and dust are not available for this purpose, +a substitute is found in filthy mud. The mourner is not +permitted to wash throughout the entire period of grief, +which ranges from thirty to ninety days.</p> +<p>Like the Southern Negro in America these African +natives are not only born actors but have a keen sense of +humour. They are quick to imitate the white man. If +a Georgia darkey, for example, wants to abuse a member +of his own race he delights to call him "a fool +nigger." It is the last word in reproach. In the Congo +when a native desires to express contempt for his fellow, +he refers to him as a <i>basingi</i>, which means +bush-man. +It is a case of the pot calling the kettle black.</p> +<p>Up the Kasai I heard a story that admirably illustrates +the native humour. A Belgian official much inclined +to corpulency came out to take charge of a +post. After the usual fashion, he received a native name +the moment he arrived. It is not surprising that he became +known as <i>Mafutta Mingi</i>. As soon as he learned +what it meant he became indignant. Like most fat men +he could not persuade himself that he was fat. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg +200]</a></span> +demanded that he be given another title, whereupon the +local chief solemnly dubbed him <i>Kiboko</i>. The +official +was immediately appeased. He noticed that a broad +smile invariably illumined the countenance of the person +who addressed him in this way. On investigation he +discovered that the word meant hippopotamus.</p> +<p>The Congo native delights in argument. Here you +get another parallel with his American brother. A +Bangala, for example, will talk for a week about five +centimes. One day at Dima I heard a terrific shouting +and exhorting down at the native market which is held +twice a week. I was certain that someone was being +murdered. When I arrived on the scene I saw a hundred +men and women gesticulating wildly and in a +great state of excitement. I learned that the wife of +a wood-boy on a boat had either secreted or sold a scrap +of soap, and her husband was not only berating her with +his tongue but telling the whole community about it.</p> +<p>The chief function of most Belgian officials in the +Congo is to preside at what is technically known as a +"palaver." This word means conference but it actually +develops into a free-for-all riotous protestation by the +natives involved. They all want to talk at the same +time and it is like an Irish debating society. Years ago +each village had a "palaver ground," where the chief +sat in solemn judgment on the disputes of his henchmen. +Now the "palavers" are held before Government officers. +Most of the "palavers" that I heard related to +elopements. No matter how grievous was the offense +of the male he invariably shifted the entire responsibility +to the woman. He was merely emulating the ways of +civilization.</p> +<p>Between Stanleyville and Kinshassa we not only +stopped every night according to custom, but halted at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg +201]</a></span> +not less than a dozen settlements to take on or deliver +cargo. These stations resemble each other in that they +are mainly a cluster of stores owned or operated by +agents of various trading companies. Practically every +post in the Congo has, in addition, a shop owned by a +Portuguese. You find these traders everywhere. They +have something of the spirit of adventure and the hardihood +of their doughty ancestors who planted the flag +of Portugal on the high seas back in that era when the +little kingdom was a world power.</p> +<p>Some of them have been in the Congo for fifteen and +twenty years without ever stirring outside its confines. +On the steamer that took me to Europe from the Congo +was a Portuguese who had lived in the bush for twenty-two +years. When he got on the big steamer he was +frightened at the noise and practically remained in his +cabin throughout the entire voyage. As we neared +France he told me that if he had realized beforehand the +terror and tumult of the civilization that he had forgotten, +he never would have departed from his jungle +home. He was as shy as a wild animal.</p> +<p>One settlement, Basoko, has a tragic meaning for the +Anglo-Saxon. Here died and lies buried, the gallant +Grenfell. I doubt if exploration anywhere revealed a +nobler character than this Baptist minister whose career +has been so adequately presented by Sir Harry +Johnston, and who ranks with Stanley and Livingstone +as one of the foremost of African explorers. In the +Congo evangelization has been fraught with a truly +noble fortitude. When you see the handicaps that have +beset both Catholic and Protestant missionaries you are +filled with a new appreciation of their calling.</p> +<p>The most important stop of this trip was at Coquilhatville, +named in honor of Captain Coquilhat, one of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> +the most courageous of the early Belgian soldier-explorers. +It was the original Equatorville (it is at the +point where the Equator cuts the Congo), founded by +Stanley when he established the series of stations under +the auspices of the International African Association. +Here dwells the Vice-Governor of the Equatorial Province. +Near by is a botanical garden maintained by the +Colonial Government and which contains specimens of +all the flora of Central Africa.</p> +<p>At Coquilhatville I saw the first horse since I left +Rhodesia and it was a distinct event. Except in the +Kasai region it is impossible to maintain live stock in +the Congo. The tsetse fly is the devastating agency. +Apparently the only beasts able to withstand this +scourge are goats and dogs. The few white men who +live in Coquilhatville have been able to maintain five +horses which are used by the so-called Riding Club. +These animals provide the only exercise at the post. +They are owned and ridden by the handful of Englishmen +there. A man must drive himself to indulge in any +form of outdoor sport along the equator. The climate is +more or less enervating and it takes real Anglo-Saxon +energy to resist the lure of the <i>siesta</i> or to +remain in bed +as long as possible.</p> +<p>Bolobo is a reminder of Stanley. He had more +trouble here than at any of the many stations he set up +in the Congo Free State in the early eighties. The +natives were hostile, the men he left in charge proved to +be inefficient, and on two occasions the settlement was +burned to the ground. Today it is the seat of one of +the largest and most prosperous of all the English +Baptist Congo missions and is presided over by a Congo +veteran, Dr. Stonelake. One feature of the work here +is a manual training school for natives, who manufacture<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg +203]</a></span> +the same kind of wicker chairs that the tourist buys at +Madeira.</p> +<p>The farther I travelled in the Congo the more deeply +I became interested in the native habits and customs. +Although cluttered with ignorance and superstition the +barbaric mind is strangely productive of a rude philosophy +which is expressed in a quaint folklore. Seasoned +Congo travellers like Grenfell, Stanley, Ward, and +Johnston have all recorded fascinating local legends. +I heard many of these tales myself and I shall endeavour +to relate the best.</p> +<p>Some of the most characteristic stories deal with +the origin of death. Here is a Bangala tradition gathered +by Grenfell and which runs as follows:</p> +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>The natives say that in the beginning men and women +did not die. That one day, <i>Nza Komba</i> (God) came +bringing +two gifts, a large and a small one. If they chose the smaller +one they would continue to live, but if the larger one, they +would for a time enjoy much greater wealth, but they +would afterwards die. The men said they must consider the +matter, and went away to drink water, as the Kongos say. +While they were discussing the matter the women took the +larger gift, and <i>Nza Komba</i> went back with the +little one. +He has never been seen since, though they cried and cried for +Him to come back and take the big bundle and give them +the little one, and with it immortality.</p> +</div> +<p>The Baluba version of the great mystery is set forth +in this way:</p> +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>God (<i>Kabezya-unpungu</i>) created the sun, +moon, and +stars, then the world, and later the plants and animals. +When all this was finished He placed a man and two women +in the world and taught them the name and use of all things. +He gave an axe and a knife to the man, and taught him to +cut wood, weave stuffs, melt iron, and to hunt and fish. To +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>the women he +gave a pickaxe and a knife. He taught both +of them to till the ground, make pottery, weave baskets, make +oil,—that is to say, all that custom assigns to them to-day.</p> +<p>These first inhabitants of the earth lived happily for a +long time until one of the women began to grow old. God, +foreseeing this, had given her the gift of rejuvenating herself, +and the faculty, if she once succeeded, of preserving the +gift for herself and for all mankind. Unfortunately, she +speedily lost the precious treasure and introduced death into +the world.</p> +<p>This is how the misfortune occurred: Seeing herself all +withered, the woman took the fan with which her companion +had been winnowing maize for the manufacture of beer and +shut herself into her hut, carefully closing the door. There +she began to tear off her old skin, throwing it on the fan. +The skin came off easily, a new one appearing in its place. +The operation was nearing completion. There remained the +head and neck only when her companion came to the hut to +fetch her fan and before the old woman could speak, pushed +open the door. The almost rejuvenated woman fell dead +instantly.</p> +<p>This is the reason we all die. The two survivors gave birth +to a number of sons and daughters, from whom all races have +descended. Since that time God does not trouble about His +creatures. He is satisfied with visiting them incognito now and +again. Wherever He passes the ground sinks. He injures +no one. It is therefore superfluous to honour him, so the +Balubas offer no worship to Him.</p> +</div> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-241a-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-241a-thumbnail.jpg" alt="NATIVES PILING WOOD" title="NATIVES PILING WOOD" /> </a> +<div class="caption">NATIVES PILING WOOD</div> +</div> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-241b-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-241b-thumbnail.jpg" alt="A WOOD POST ON THE CONGO" title="A WOOD POST ON THE CONGO" /> +</a> +<div class="caption">A WOOD POST ON THE CONGO</div> +</div> +<p>The animal story has a high place in the legends of +these peoples. They represent a combination of Kipling's +Jungle Book, Aesop's Fables, and Br'er Rabbit. +Nor do they fail to point a moral. Naturally, the elephant +is a conspicuous feature in most of them. The +tale of "The Elephant and the Shrew" will illustrate. +Here it is:</p> +<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg +205]</a></div> +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>One day the elephant met the shrew mouse on his road. +"Out of the way," cried the latter. "I am the bigger, and +it is your place to look out," replied the monster. "Curse +you!" retorted the shrew mouse furiously. "May the long +grass cut your legs!" "And may you meet your death when +you walk in the road!" replied the other crushing him under +his huge foot. Both curses have been fulfilled. From that day +the elephant wounds himself when he goes through the long +grass, and the shrew-mouse meets her death when she crosses +the road.</p> +</div> +<p>The story of the elephant and the chameleon is equally +interesting. One day the chameleon challenged the +elephant to a race. The latter accepted the challenge +and a meeting was arranged for the following morning. +During the night the chameleon placed all his +brothers from point to point along the length of the +track where the race was to be run. When day came the +elephant started. The chameleon quickly slipped behind +without the elephant noticing. "Are you not +tired?" asked the monster of the first chameleon he met. +"Not at all," he replied, executing the same manœuvre +as the former. This stratagem was renewed so many +times that the elephant, tired out, gave up the contest +and confessed himself beaten.</p> +<p>In the wilds, as in civilization, the relation between +husband and wife, and more especially the downfall of +the autocrat of the home, is a favorite subject for jest. +From the northeastern corner of the Congo comes this +illuminating story:</p> +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>A man had two wives, one gentle and prepossessing, the +other such a gossip that he was often made angry. Neither +remonstrances nor beating improved her, and finally he made +up his mind to drive her into a wood amongst the hyenas. +There she built herself a little hut into which a hyena came +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>and boldly +installed herself as mistress. The wife tried to +protest but the hyena, not content with eating and drinking +all that the wife was preparing, compelled her furthermore to +look after her young. One day the hyena had ordered the +woman to boil some water. While waiting the wife had the +sudden idea of seizing the young hyenas and throwing them +into the boiling water. She did this and then she ran trembling +to take refuge in the home of her husband whom she found +calmly seated at the entrance of the house, spear in hand. +She threw herself at the feet of her spouse, beseeching him for +help and protection. When the hyena arrived foaming with +rage her husband stretched it dead on the ground with a blow +of his spear. The lesson was not lost on the wife. From that +day forth she became the joy and delight of her husband.</p> +</div> +<p>The Congo can ever reproduce its own version of the +fable of "The Goose that Laid the Golden Egg." It is +somewhat primitive but serves the same purpose. As +told to the naked piccaninnies by the flickering camp-fires +it runs thus:</p> +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Four fools owned a chicken which laid blue glass beads instead +of eggs. A quarrel arose concerning the ownership of +the fowl. The bird was subsequently killed and divided into +four equal portions. The spring of their good fortune dried +up.</p> +</div> +<p>To understand the significance of the story it must +be understood that for many years beads have been one +of the forms of currency in Central Africa. Formerly +they were as important a detail in the purchase of a wife +as copper and calico. The first piece of attire, if it may +be designated by this name, that adorns the native baby +after its entrance into the world is an anklet of blue +beads. Later a strand of beads is placed round its loins.</p> +<p>When you have heard such stories as I have just re<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg +207]</a></span>lated, +you realize that despite his ignorance, appetite, +and indolence, the Congo native has some desirable +qualities. He is shiftless but not without human instincts. +Nowhere are they better expressed than in +his folklore.</p> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>IV</h2> +<p>Two stops on the Congo River deserve +special attention. In the Congo there began in +1911 an industry that will have an important +bearing on the economic development of the Colony. It +was the installation of the first plant of the Huileries du +Congo Belge. This Company, which is an offshoot of the +many Lever enterprises of England, resulted from the +growing need of palm oil as a substitute for animal fat in +soap-making. Lord Leverhulme, who was then Sir +William Lever, obtained a concession for considerably +more than a million acres of palm forests in the Congo. +He began to open up so-called areas and install mills +for boiling the fruit and drying the kernels. He now +has eight areas, and two of them, Elizabetha and +Alberta,—I visited both—are on the Congo River.</p> +<p>For hundreds of years the natives have gathered the +palm fruit and extracted the oil. Under their method +of manufacture the waste was enormous. The blacks +threw away the kernel because they were unaware of +the valuable substance inside. Lord Leverhulme was +the first to organize the industry on a big and scientific +basis and it has justified his confidence and expenditure.</p> +<p>Most people are familiar with the date and the cocoa-nut +palms. From the days of the Bible they have +figured in narrative and picture. The oil palm, on the +other hand, is less known but much more valuable. It +is the staff of life in the Congo and for that matter, +practically all West Africa. Thousands of years ago<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg +209]</a></span> +its sap was used by the Egyptians for embalming the +bodies of their kingly dead. Today it not only represents +the most important agricultural industry of the +Colony, having long since surpassed rubber as the +premier product, but it has an almost bewildering +variety of uses. It is food, drink and shelter. Out of +the trunk the native extracts his wine; from the fruit, +and this includes the kernel, are obtained oil for soap, +salad dressing and margarine; the leaves provide a +roof for the native houses; the fibre is made into mats, +baskets or strings for fishing nets, while the wood goes +into construction. Even the bugs that live on it are food +for men.</p> +<p>The "H. C. B." as the Huileries du Congo Belge is +more commonly known in the Congo, really performed +a courageous act in exploitation when it set up shop in +the remote regions and devoted itself to an absolutely +fresh enterprise, so far as extensive development is concerned, +at a time when the rich and profitable products +of the country were rubber, ivory and copal. The company's +initiative, therefore, instigated the trade in +oleaginous products which is so conspicuous in the +economic life of the country.</p> +<p>The installation at Alberta, while not so large as the +Leverville area on the Kwilu River, will serve to show +just what the corporation is doing. Five years ago this +region was the jungle. Today it is the model settlement +on the Congo River. The big brick office building +stands on a brow of the hill overlooking the water. Not +far away is the large mill where the palm fruit is reduced +to oil and the kernels dried. Stretching away from the +river is a long avenue of palms, flanked by the commodious +brick bungalows of the white employes. The +"H. C. B." maintains a store at each of its areas, where<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg +210]</a></span> +food and supplies are bought by the personnel. These +stores are all operated by the Société d'Entreprises +Commerciales au Congo Belge, known locally under the +name of "Sedec," formed as its name indicated, with a +view of benefiting by the great resources opened to +commerce in the Colony.</p> +<p>For miles in every direction the Company has laid +out extensive palm plantations. In the Alberta region +twenty-five hundred acres are in course of cultivation +in what is known as the Eastern Development, while +sixteen hundred more acres are embodied in the Western +development. An oil palm will bear fruit within seven +years after the young tree is planted. The fruit comes +in what is called a <i>régime</i>, which +resembles a huge bunch +of grapes. It is a thick cluster of palm fruit. Each +fruit is about the size of a large date. The outer portion, +the pericarp, is almost entirely yellow oil encased +in a thick skin. Imbedded in this oil is the kernel, which +contains an even finer oil. The fruit is boiled down and +the kernel, after a drying process, is exported in bags +to England, where it is broken open and the contents +used for salad oil or margarine.</p> +<p>Before the war thousands of tons of palm oil and +kernels were shipped from the West Coast of Africa to +Germany every year. Now they are diverted to England +where large kernel-crushing plants have been installed +and the whole activity has become a British +enterprise. With the eclipse of the German Colonial +Empire in Africa it is not likely that she can regain this +lost business.</p> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-249a-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-249a-thumbnail.jpg" alt="RESIDENTIAL QUARTERS AT ALBERTA" title="RESIDENTIAL QUARTERS AT ALBERTA" /> </a> +<div class="caption">RESIDENTIAL QUARTERS AT ALBERTA</div> +</div> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-249b-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-249b-thumbnail.jpg" alt="THE COMTE DE FLANDRE" title="THE COMTE DE FLANDRE" /> </a> +<div class="caption">THE COMTE DE FLANDRE</div> +</div> +<p>The creation of new palmeries is merely one phase of +the company's development. One of its largest tasks +is to safeguard the immense natural palmeries on its +concessions. The oil palm requires constant attention. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>The undergrowth +spreads rapidly and if it is not removed +is liable to impair the life of the tree. Thousands +of natives are employed on this work. A large +knife something like the Cuban machete is used.</p> +<p>Harvesting the <i>régimes</i> is a +spectacular performance +not without its element of danger. The <i>régime</i> +grows +at the top of the tree, usually a height of sixty or +seventy-five feet and sometimes more. The native +literally walks up the trunk with the help of a loop +made from some stout vine which encircles him. Arriving +at the top he fixes his feet against the trunk, leans +against the loop which holds him fast, and hacks away +at the <i>régime</i>. It falls with a heavy thud +and woe betide +the human being or the animal it strikes. The +natives will not cut fruit in rainy weather because many +have slipped on the wet bark and fallen to their death.</p> +<p>So wide is the Alberta fruit-producing area that a +narrow-gauge railway is necessary to bring the fruit in +to the mill. Along its line are various stations where the +fruit is mobilized, stripped from the <i>régime</i> +and sent +down for refining in baskets. Each station has a superintendent +who lives on the spot. The personnel of all +the staff in the Congo is almost equally divided between +British and Belgians.</p> +<p>While the "H. C. B." is the largest factor in the +palm oil industry in the Congo, many tons of kernels +are gathered every year by individuals who include thousands +of natives. One reason why the savage takes +naturally to this occupation is that it demands little +work. All that he is required to do is to climb a tree in +the jungle and lop off a <i>régime</i>. He uses +the palm oil +for his own needs or disposes of it to a member of his +tribe and sells the kernels to the white man.</p> +<p>The "H. C. B." is independent of all other water<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg +212]</a></span> +transport in the Congo. Its river tonnage aggregates +more than 6,000, and in addition it has many oil barges +on the various rivers where its vessels ply. The capacity +of some of the barges is 250 tons of oil. They are +usually lashed to the side of the steamer. The decks of +these barges are often piled high with bags of kernels +and become a favorite sleeping place for the black +voyagers for whom the thousands of insects that lurk +in them have no terrors. No bug inflicts a sharper sting +than these pests who make their <i>habitat</i> among the +palm +kernels.</p> +<p>One of my fellow passengers on the "Comte de +Flandre" was I. F. Braham, the Associate Managing +Director of the "H. C. B." in the Congo. Long the +friend and companion in Liberia of Sir Harry Johnston, +he was a most desirable and congenial companion. It +was on his suggestion and invitation that I spent the +week at Alberta and he shared the visit. Our hosts +were Major and Mrs. Claude Wallace.</p> +<p>Major Wallace was the District Manager of the +Alberta area and occupied a brick bungalow on the +bank of the river. He is a pioneer in exploration in the +French Congo and Liberia and went almost straight +from the battlefields of France, where he served with +distinction in the World War, out to his post in the +Congo. His wife is a fine example of the white woman +who has braved the dangers of the tropics. She left the +luxury and convenience of European life to establish +a home in the jungle.</p> +<p>It is easy to spot the refining influence of the woman +in the African habitation. You always see the effect +long before you behold the cause. One of these effects +is usually a neat garden. Mrs. Wallace had half an +acre of English roses in front of her house. They were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg +213]</a></span> +the only ones I saw in Central Africa. The average +bachelor in this part of the world is not particularly +scrupulous about the appearance of his house. The +moment you observe curtains at the window you know +that there is a female on the premises.</p> +<p>My life at Alberta was one of the really delightful +experiences in the Congo. Every morning I set out +with Braham and Wallace on some tour of inspection. +Often we rode part of the way on the little light railroad. +The method of transport was unique. An ordinary +bench is placed on a small flat car. The propelling +power is furnished by two husky natives who stand on +either side of the bench and literally shove the vehicle +along with long sticks. It is like paddling a railroad +canoe. This transportation freak is technically called a +<i>maculla</i>. The strong-armed paddlers were able to +develop +an astonishing speed. I think that this is the +only muscle-power railroad in the world. Light engines +are employed for hauling the palm fruit trains.</p> +<p>After our day in the field—for frequently we took +our lunch with us—we returned before sunset and +bathed and dressed for dinner. In the Congo only a +madman would take a cold plunge. The most healthful +immersion is in tepid water. More than one Englishman +has paid the penalty with his life, by continuing +his traditional cold bath in the tropics. This reminds me +of a significant fact in connection with colonization. +Everyone must admit that the Briton is the best colonizer +in the world. One reason is that he knows how to +rule the man of colour for he does it with fairness and +firmness. Another lies in the fact that he not only +keeps himself clean but he makes his environment sanitary.</p> +<p>There is a tradition that the Constitution follows the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg +214]</a></span> +flag. I contend that with the Englishman the bath-tub +precedes the code of law and what is more important, it +is in daily use. There are a good many bath-tubs in the +Congo but they are employed principally as receptacles +for food supplies and soiled linen.</p> +<p>Those evenings at Alberta were as unforgettable as +their setting. Braham and Wallace were not only men +of the world but they had read extensively and had +travelled much. A wide range of subjects came under +discussion at that hospitable table whose spotless linen +and soft shaded lights were more reminiscent of London +and New York than suggestive of a far-away post on +the Congo River on the edge of the wilderness.</p> +<p>At Alberta as elsewhere, the "H. C. B." is a moral +force. Each area has a doctor and a hospital. No detail +of its medical work is more vital to the productive +life of the Colony that the inoculation of the natives +against sleeping sickness. This dread disease is the +scourge of the Congo and every year takes toll of hundreds +of thousands of natives. Nor is the white man +immune. I saw a Belgian official dying of this loathsome +malady in a hospital at Matadi and I shall never +forget his ravings. The last stage of the illness is always +a period when the victim becomes demented. The +greatest boon that could possibly be held out for Central +Africa today would be the prevention of sleeping +sickness.</p> +<p>Another constructive work carried out under the +auspices of the "H. C. B." is embodied in the native +schools. There is an excellent one at Alberta. It is +conducted by the Catholic Fathers of the Scheut Mission. +The children are trained to become wood-workers, +machinists, painters, and carpenters. It is the Booker +Washington idea transplanted in the jungle. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> +Scheut Missionaries and their Jesuit colleagues are doing +an admirable service throughout the Congo. Some +of them are infused with the spirit that animated Father +Damien. Time, distance, and isolation count for naught +with them. It is no uncommon thing to encounter in +the bush a Catholic priest who has been on continuous +service there for fifteen or twenty years without a holiday. +At Luluaburg lives a Mother Superior who has +been in the field for a quarter of a century without +wandering more than two hundred miles from her field +of operations.</p> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>V</h2> +<p>Now for the last stage of the Congo River +trip. Like so many of my other experiences +in Africa it produced a surprise. +One morning when we were about two hundred miles +north of Kinshassa I heard the whir of a motor engine, +a rare sound in those parts. I thought of aeroplanes +and instinctively looked up. Flying overhead toward +Coquilhatville was a 300-horse power hydroplane containing +two people. Upon inquiry I discovered that it +was one of four machines engaged in carrying passengers, +mail, and express between Kinshassa and Coquilhatville.</p> +<p>The campaign against the Germans in East Africa +proved the practicability of aeroplanes in the tropics. +The Congo is the first of the Central African countries +to dedicate aviation to commercial uses and this precedent +is likely to be extensively followed. Fifteen +hydroplanes have been ordered for the Congo River +service which will eventually be extended to Stanleyville. +Only those who have endured the agony of slow transport +in the Congo can realize the blessing that air travel +will confer.</p> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-257a-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-257a-thumbnail.jpg" alt="A TYPICAL OIL PALM FOREST" title="A TYPICAL OIL PALM FOREST" /> </a> +<div class="caption">A TYPICAL OIL PALM FOREST</div> +</div> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-257b-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-257b-thumbnail.jpg" alt="BRINGING IN THE PALM FRUIT" title="BRINGING IN THE PALM FRUIT" /> </a> +<div class="caption">BRINGING IN THE PALM FRUIT</div> +</div> +<p>I was naturally curious to find out just what the +African native thought of the aeroplane. The moment +that the roar of the engine broke the morning silence, +everybody on the boat rushed to some point of vantage +to see the strange sight. The blacks slapped each other +on the shoulder, pointed at the machine, and laughed +and jabbered. Yet when my secretary asked a big +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>Baluba if he +did not think that the aeroplane was a +wonderful thing the barbarian simply grunted and replied, +"White man can do anything." He summed up +the native attitude toward his conqueror. I believe that +if a white man performed the most astounding feat of +magic or necromancy the native would not express the +slightest surprise.</p> +<p>At Kwamouth, where the Kasai flows into the Congo +River, we entered the so-called "Channel." From this +point down to Stanley Pool the river is deep and the +current is swift. This means that for a brief time the +traveller enjoys immunity from the danger of running +aground on a sandbank. The whole country-side is +changed. Instead of the low and luxuriantly-wooded +shores the banks become higher with each passing hour. +Soon the land adjacent to the river merges into foothills +and these in turn taper off into mountains. The +effect is noble and striking. No wonder Stanley went +into ecstasies over this scenery. He declared on more +than one occasion that it was as inspiring as any he had +seen in Wales or Scotland.</p> +<p>In the "Channel" another surprise awaits the traveller. +The mornings are bitterly raw. This is probably +due to the high ground on either side of the river and the +strong currents of air that sweep up the stream. I can +frankly say that I really suffered from the cold within +striking distance of the equator. I did not feel comfortable +until I had donned a heavy sweater.</p> +<p>This sudden change in temperature explains one reason +why so many Congo natives die under forty. They +are scantily clad, perspire freely, and lie out at night +with scarcely any covering. They go to sleep in a humid +atmosphere and wake up with the temperature forty +degrees lower. The natural result is that half of them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg +218]</a></span> +constantly have colds and the moment pneumonia develops +they succumb. Congestion of the lungs vies with +sleeping sickness as the ravager of Middle Africa, and +especially certain parts of the Congo.</p> +<p>Kinshassa is situated on Stanley Pool, a lake-like +expansion of the Congo more than two hundred square +miles in area. It is dotted with islands. Nearly one-third +of the northern shore is occupied by the rocky +formations that Stanley named Dover Cliffs. They reminded +him of the famous white cliffs of England and +with the sunlight on them they do bear a strong resemblance +to one of the familiar signposts of Albion. +More than one Englishman emerging from the jungle +after long service remote from civilization has gotten a +thrill of home at the name and sight of these hills.</p> +<p>Stanley Pool has always been associated in my mind +with one of the most picturesque episodes in Stanley's +life. He tells about it in his monumental work on the +Congo Free State and again relates it in his Autobiography. +It deals with Ngalyema, who was chief of +the Stanley Pool District in the early eighties. He demanded +and received a large quantity of goods for the +permission to establish a station here. After the explorer +had camped within ten miles of the Pool the old +pirate pretended that he had not received the goods +and sought to extort more. Stanley refused to be +bullied, whereupon the chief threatened to attack him in +force. Let Stanley now tell the story, for it is an illustration +of the way he combated the usury and cunning +of the Congo native.</p> +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>I had hung a great Chinese gong conspicuously near the +principal tent. Ngalyema's curiosity would be roused. All my +men were hidden, some in the steamboat on top of the wagon, +and in its shadow was a cool place where the warriors would +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>gladly rest +after a ten-mile march. Other of my men lay still +as death under tarpaulins, under bundles of grass, and in the +bush round about the camp. By the time the drum-taps and +horns announced Ngalyema's arrival, the camp seemed abandoned +except by myself and a few small boys. I was indolently +seated in a chair reading a book, and appeared too lazy to +notice anyone; but, suddenly looking up and seeing my "brother +Ngalyema" and his warriors, scowlingly regarding me, I sprang +up and seized his hands, and affectionately bade him welcome, +in the name of sacred fraternity, and offered him my own chair.</p> +<p>He was strangely cold, and apparently disgruntled, and +said:—</p> +<p>"Has not my brother forgotten his road? What does he +mean by coming to this country?"</p> +<p>"Nay, it is Ngalyema who has forgotten the blood-bond +which exists between us. It is Ngalyema who has forgotten the +mountains of goods which I paid him. What words are these +of my brother?"</p> +<p>"Be warned, Rock-Breaker. Go back before it is too late. +My elders and people all cry out against allowing the white +man to come into our country. Therefore, go back before it +be too late. Go back, I say, the way you came."</p> +<p>Speech and counter-speech followed. Ngalyema had exhausted +his arguments; but it was not easy to break faith and +be uncivil, with plausible excuse. His eyes were reaching round +seeking to discover an excuse to fight, when they rested on +the round, burnished face of the Chinese gong.</p> +<p>"What is that?" he said.</p> +<p>"Ah, that—that is a fetish."</p> +<p>"A fetish! A fetish for what?"</p> +<p>"It is a war-fetish, Ngalyema. The slightest sound of that +would fill this empty camp with hundreds of angry warriors; +they would drop from above, they would spring up from the +ground, from the forest about, from everywhere."</p> +<p>"Sho! Tell that story to the old women, and not to a +chief like Ngalyema. My boy tells me it is a kind of a bell. +Strike it and let me hear it."</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> +</p> +<p>"Oh, Ngalyema, my brother, the consequences would be too +dreadful! Do not think of such a thing!"</p> +<p>"Strike it, I say."</p> +<p>"Well, to oblige my dear brother Ngalyema, I will."</p> +<p>And I struck hard and fast, and the clangourous roll rang +out like thunder in the stillness. Only for a few seconds, +however, for a tempest of human voices was heard bursting +into frightful discords, and from above, right upon the heads +of the astonished warriors, leaped yelling men; and from the +tents, the huts, the forest round about, they came by sixes, +dozens, and scores, yelling like madmen, and seemingly animated +with uncontrollable rage. The painted warriors became +panic-stricken; they flung their guns and powder-kegs away, +forgot their chief, and all thoughts of loyalty, and fled on the +instant, fear lifting their heels high in the air; or, tugging at +their eye-balls, and kneading the senses confusedly, they saw, +heard, and suspected nothing, save that the limbo of fetishes +had suddenly broken loose!</p> +<p>But Ngalyema and his son did not fly. They caught the tails +of my coat, and we began to dance from side to side, a loving +triplet, myself being foremost to ward off the blow savagely +aimed at my "brothers," and cheerfully crying out, "Hold +fast to me, my brothers. I will defend you to the last drop +of my blood. Come one, come all."</p> +<p>Presently the order was given, "Fall in!" and quickly the +leaping forms became rigid, and the men stood in two long +lines in beautiful order, with eyes front, as though "at attention!" +Then Ngalyema relaxed his hold of my coat-tails, and +crept from behind, breathing more freely; and, lifting his hand +to his mouth, exclaimed, in genuine surprise, "Eh, Mamma! +where did all these people come from?"</p> +<p>"Ah, Ngalyema, did I not tell you that thing was a powerful +fetish? Let me strike it again, and show you what else +it can do."</p> +<p>"No! no! no!" he shrieked. "I have seen enough!"</p> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-263a-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-263a-thumbnail.jpg" alt="A SPECIMEN OF CICATRIZATION" title="A SPECIMEN OF CICATRIZATION" /> </a> +<div class="caption">A SPECIMEN OF CICATRIZATION</div> +</div> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-263b-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-263b-thumbnail.jpg" alt="A SANKURU WOMAN PLAYING NATIVE DRAUGHTS" title="A SANKURU WOMAN PLAYING NATIVE DRAUGHTS" /> </a> +<div class="caption">A SANKURU WOMAN PLAYING NATIVE +DRAUGHTS</div> +</div> +<p>The day ended peacefully. I was invited to hasten on to +Stanley Pool. The natives engaged themselves by the score +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>to assist me in +hauling the wagons. My progress was thenceforth +steady and uninterrupted, and in due time the wagons +and good-columns arrived at their destination.</p> +</div> +<p>Kinshassa was an accident. Leopoldville, which is +situated about ten miles away and the capital of the +Congo-Kasai Province, was expected to become the +center of white life and enterprise in this vicinity. It +was founded by Stanley in the early eighties and named +in honour of the Belgian king. It commands the river, +cataracts, forests and mountains.</p> +<p>Commerce, however, fixed Kinshassa as its base of +operation, and its expansion has been astonishing for +that part of the world. It is a bustling port and you can +usually see half a dozen steamers tied up at the bank. +There is a population of several hundred white people +and many thousands of natives. The Banque du Congo +Belge has its principal establishment here and there are +scores of well-stocked mercantile establishments. With +the exception of Matadi and Thysville it has the one +livable hotel in the Congo. Moreover, it rejoices in that +now indispensable feature of civic life which is expressed +in a cinema theatre. In the tropics all motion picture +houses are open-air institutions.</p> +<p>In cataloguing Kinshassa's attractions I must not +omit the feature that had the strongest and most immediate +lure for me. It was a barber shop and I made +tracks for it as soon as I arrived. I was not surprised +to find that the proprietor was a Portuguese who had +made a small fortune trimming the Samson locks of the +scores of agents who stream into the little town every +week. He is the only barber in the place and there is +no competition this side of Stanleyville, more than a +thousand miles away.</p> +<p>The seasoned residents of the Congo would never<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg +222]</a></span> +think of calling Kinshassa by any other name than +"Kin." In the same way Leopoldville is dubbed "Leo." +Kinshassa is laid out in streets, has electric lights, and +within the past twelve months about twenty automobiles +have been acquired by its residents. There is a gay +social life, and on July first, the anniversary of the +birth of the Congo Free State, and when a celebration +is usually held, I saw a spirited football game between +British and Belgian teams. Most of the big international +British trading companies that operate in Africa +have branches in Kinshassa and it is not difficult to +assemble an English-speaking quorum.</p> +<p>In the matter of transportation Kinshassa is really +the key to the heart of the Congo. It is the rail-head +of the narrow-gauge line from Matadi and all merchandise +that comes from Europe is transshipped at this +point to the boats that go up the Congo river as far as +Stanleyville. Thus every ton of freight and every +traveller bound for the interior must pass through +Kinshassa. When the railway from the Katanga is +constructed its prestige will increase.</p> +<p>Kinshassa owes a part of its development to the +Huileries du Congo Belge. Its plant dominates the +river front. There are a dozen huge tanks into which +the palm-oil flows from the barges. The fluid is then +run into casks and sent down by rail to Matadi, whence +it goes in steamers to Europe. More than a hundred +white men are in the service of the "H. C. B." at Stanley +Pool. They live in standardized brick bungalows in +their own area which is equipped with tennis courts and +a library. On all English fête days the Union Jack is +hoisted and there is much festivity.</p> +<p>Two months had elapsed since I entered the Congo +and I had travelled about two thousand miles within its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg +223]</a></span> +borders. This journey, short as it seems as distances go +these days, would have taken Stanley nearly two years +to accomplish in the face of the obstacles that hampered +him. I had only carried out part of my plan. The +Kasai was calling. The time was now at hand when I +would retrace my way up the Congo River and turn my +face towards the Little America that nestles far up in +the wilds.</p> +<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></div> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-267-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-267-thumbnail.jpg" alt="THE BELGIAN CONGO" title="THE BELGIAN CONGO" /> </a> +<div class="caption">THE BELGIAN CONGO</div> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></div> +<h1><a name="CHAPTER_VI_AMERICA_IN_THE_CONGO" id="CHAPTER_VI_AMERICA_IN_THE_CONGO"></a>CHAPTER +VI—AMERICA IN THE CONGO</h1> +<h2>I</h2> +<p>Go up the Kasai River to Djoko Punda and +you believe, despite the background of tropical +vegetation and the ever-present naked savage, +that for the moment you are back in the United +States. You see American jitneys scooting through +the jungle; you watch five-ton American tractors hauling +heavy loads along the sandy roads; you hear American +slang and banter on all sides, and if you are lucky +enough to be invited to a meal you get American hot +cakes with real American maple syrup. The air tingles +with Yankee energy and vitality.</p> +<p>All this means that you have arrived at the outpost +of Little America in the Belgian Congo—the first +actual signboard of the least known and most +picturesque piece of American financial venturing +abroad. It has helped to redeem a vast region from +barbarism and opened up an area of far-reaching +economic significance. At Djoko Punda you enter the +domain of the Forminiere, the corporation founded by +a monarch and which has a kingdom for a partner. +Woven into its story is the romance of a one-time barefoot +Virginia boy who became the commercial associate +of a king.</p> +<p>What is the Forminiere and what does it do? The +name is a contraction of Société Internationale +Forestiere +& Miniere du Congo. In the Congo, where companies +have long titles, it is the fashion to reduce them to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg +226]</a></span> +the dimensions of a cable code-word. Thus the high-sounding +Compagnie Industrielle pour les Transports +et Commerce au Stanley Pool is mercifully shaved to +"Citas." This information, let me say, is a life-saver +for the alien with a limited knowledge of French and +whose pronunciation is worse.</p> +<p>Clearly to understand the scope and purpose of the +Forminiere you must know that it is one of the three +companies that have helped to shape the destiny of the +Congo. I encountered the first—the Union +Miniere—the +moment I entered the Katanga. The second is +the Huileries du Congo Belge, the palm-oil producers +whose bailiwick abuts upon the Congo and Kwilu +Rivers. Now we come to the third and the most important +agency, so far as American interest is affected, +in the Forminiere, whose empire is the immense section +watered by the Kasai River and which extends +across the border into Angola. In the Union Miniere +you got the initial hint of America's part in the development +of the Congo. That part, however, was entirely +technical. With the Forminiere you have the combination +of American capital and American engineering in +an achievement that is, to say the least, unusual.</p> +<p>The moment I dipped into Congo business history I +touched the Forminiere for the reason that it was the +pet project of King Leopold, and the last and favorite +corporate child of his economic statesmanship. Moreover, +among the leading Belgian capitalists interested +were men who had been Stanley's comrades and who +had helped to blaze the path of civilization through the +wilds. King Albert spoke of it to me in terms of appreciation +and more especially of the American end. +I felt a sense of pride in the financial courage and +physical hardihood of my countrymen who had gone so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg +227]</a></span> +far afield. I determined to see the undertaking at first +hand.</p> +<p>My experience with it proved to be the most exciting +of my whole African adventure. All that I had +hitherto undergone was like a springtime frolic compared +to the journey up the Kasai and through the +jungle that lurks beyond. I saw the war-like savage +on his native heath; I travelled with my own caravan +through the forest primeval; I employed every conceivable +kind of transport from the hammock swung +on a pole and carried on the shoulders of husky natives, +to the automobile. The primitive and modern met at +almost every stage of the trip which proved to be first +cousin to a thriller from beginning to end. Heretofore +I had been under the spell of the Congo River. Now I +was to catch the magic of its largest tributary, the Kasai.</p> +<p>Long before the Forminiere broke out its banner, +America had been associated with the Congo. It is not +generally known that Henry M. Stanley, who was born +John Rowlands, achieved all the feats which made him +an international figure under the name of his American +benefactor who adopted him in New Orleans after he +had run away to sea from a Welsh workhouse. He was +for years to all intents and purposes an American, and +carried the American flag on two of his famous expeditions.</p> +<p>President Cleveland was the first chief dignitary of +a nation to recognize the Congo Free State in the +eighties, and his name is perpetuated in Mount Cleveland, +near the headwaters of the Congo River. An +American Minister to Belgium, General H. S. Sanford, +had a conspicuous part in all the first International +African Associations formed by King Leopold to study +the Congo situation. This contact, however, save Stan<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg +228]</a></span>ley's +share, was diplomatic and a passing phase. It +was the prelude to the constructive and permanent part +played by the American capitalists in the Forminiere, +chief of whom is Thomas F. Ryan.</p> +<p>The reading world associates Ryan with the whirlpool +of Big Finance. He ruled New York traction and he +recast the tobacco world. Yet nothing appealed to his +imagination and enthusiasm like the Congo. He saw +it in very much the same way that Rhodes viewed +Rhodesia. Every great American master of capital has +had his particular pet. There is always some darling of +the financial gods. The late J. P. Morgan, for example, +regarded the United States Steel Corporation as his +prize performance and talked about it just like a doting +father speaks of a successful son. The Union Pacific +System was the apple of E. H. Harriman's eye, and +the New York Central was a Vanderbilt fetish for +decades. So with Ryan and the Congo. Other powerful +Americans have become associated with him, as you +will see later on, but it was the tall, alert, clear-eyed +Virginian, who rose from penniless clerk to be a Wall +Street king, who first had the vision on this side of the +Atlantic, and backed it with his millions. I am certain +that if Ryan had gone into the Congo earlier and had +not been engrossed in his American interests, he would +probably have done for the whole of Central Africa +what Rhodes did for South Africa.</p> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-273-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-273-thumbnail.jpg" alt="THOMAS F. RYAN" title="THOMAS F. RYAN" /> </a> +<div class="caption">THOMAS F. RYAN</div> +</div> +<p>We can now get at the beginnings of the Forminiere. +Most large corporations radiate from a lawyer's office. +With the Forminiere it was otherwise. The center of +inspiration was the stone palace at Brussels where King +Leopold II, King of the Belgians, held forth. The year +1906 was not a particularly happy one for him. The +atrocity campaign was at its height abroad and the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>Socialists were +pounding him at home. Despite the +storm of controversy that raged about him one clear +idea shone amid the encircling gloom. That idea was +to bulwark the Congo Free State, of which he was also +sovereign, before it was ceded to Belgium.</p> +<p>Between 1879 and 1890 Leopold personally supported +the cost of creating and maintaining the Free +State. It represented an outlay of more than $2,500,000. +Afterwards he had adequate return in the revenues +from rubber and ivory. But Leopold was a royal +spender in the fullest sense. He had a variety of fads +that ranged from youthful and beguiling femininity to +the building of palaces and the beautifying of his own +country. He lavished millions on making Brussels a +sumptuous capital and Ostend an elaborate seaside resort. +With his private life we are not concerned. +Leopold the pleasure-seeker was one person; Leopold +the business man was another, and as such he was unique +among the rulers of Europe.</p> +<p>Leopold contradicted every known tradition of +royalty. The king business is usually the business of +spending unearned money. Your royal spendthrift is +a much more familiar figure than the royal miser. Moreover, +nobody ever associates productive power with a +king save in the big family line. His task is inherited +and with it a bank account sufficient to meet all needs. +This immunity from economic necessity is a large price +to pay for lack of liberty in speech and action. The +principal job of most kings, as we all know, is to be +a noble and acquiescent figure-head, to pin decorations +on worthy persons, and to open public exhibitions.</p> +<p>Leopold did all of these things but they were incidental +to his larger task. He was an insurgent from +childhood. He violated all the rules of the royal game<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg +230]</a></span> +not only by having a vision and a mind all his own but +in possessing a keen commercial instinct. Geography +was his hobby at school. Like Rhodes, he was forever +looking at maps. When he became king he saw that the +hope of Belgium economically lay in colonization. In +1860 he made a journey to the Far East, whence he +returned deeply impressed with trade opportunities in +China. Afterwards he was the prime mover in the +construction of the Pekin-Hankow Railway. I do not +think most persons know that Leopold at one time tried +to establish a Belgian colony in Ethiopia. Another act +in his life that has escaped the casual biographer was +his effort to purchase the Philippines from Spain. Now +you can see why he seized upon the Congo as a colonizing +possibility the moment he read Henry M. Stanley's +first article about it in the London Telegraph.</p> +<p>There was a vital reason why Belgium should have a +big and prosperous colony. Her extraordinary internal +development demanded an outlet abroad. The +doughty little country so aptly called "The Cockpit of +Europe," and which bore the brunt of the first German +advance in the Great War, is the most densely populated +in the world. It has two hundred and forty-seven +inhabitants for each square kilometer. England only +counts one hundred and forty-six, Germany one hundred +and twenty-five, France seventy-two, and the +United States thirteen. The Belgians had to have +economic elbow room and Leopold was determined that +they should have it.</p> +<p>His creation of the Congo Free State was just one +evidence of his shrewdness and diplomacy. Half a +dozen of the great powers had their eye on this untouched +garden spot in Central Africa and would have +risked millions of dollars and thousands of men to grab<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg +231]</a></span> +it. Leopold, through a series of International Associations, +engineered the famous Berlin Congress of 1884 +and with Bismarck's help put the Free State on the +map, with himself as steward. It was only a year ago +in Germany that a former high-placed German statesman +admitted to me that one of the few fundamental +mistakes that the Iron Chancellor ever made was to +permit Leopold to snatch the Congo from under the +very eyes and hands of Germany. I quote this episode +to show that when it came to business Leopold made +every king in Europe look like an office boy. Even so +masterful a manipulator of men as Cecil Rhodes failed +with him. Rhodes sought his aid in his trans-African +telegraph scheme but Leopold was too shrewd for him. +After his first audience with the Belgian king Rhodes +said to Robert Williams, "I thought I was clever but +I was no match for him."</p> +<p>The only other modern king interested in business +was the former Kaiser, Mr. Wilhelm Hohenzollern. +Although he has no business sense in the way that +Leopold had it, he always had a keen appreciation of +big business as an imperial prop. Like Leopold, he +had a congested country and realized that permanent +expansion lay in colonization. The commercial magnates +of Germany used him for their own ends but +their teamwork advanced the whole empire. Wilhelm +was a silent partner in the potash, shipping, and electric-machinery +trusts. He earned whatever he received +because he was in every sense an exalted press-agent,—a +sort of glorified publicity promoter. His +strong point was to go about proclaiming the merits +of German wares and he always made it a point to +scatter samples. On a visit to Italy he left behind a +considerable quantity of soap. There was a great rush<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg +232]</a></span> +to get these royal left-overs. Two weeks later a small +army of German soap salesmen descended upon the +country selling this identical product.</p> +<p>Whatever may be said of Leopold, one thing is certain. +He was not small. Wilhelm used the brains of +other men; Leopold employed his own, and every capitalist +who went up against him paid tribute to this +asset.</p> +<p>We can now go back to 1906, the year that was to +mark the advent of America into the Congo. Leopold +knew that the days of the Congo as a Free State were +numbered. His personally-conducted stewardship of +the Colony was being assailed by the Socialists on one +hand and the atrocity proclaimers on the other. +Leopold was undoubtedly sincere in his desire to economically +safeguard the African possession before it +passed out of his control. In any event, during the +summer of that year he sent a message to Ryan asking +him to confer with him at Brussels. The summons +came out of a clear sky and at first the American financier +paid no attention to it. He was then on a holiday +in Switzerland. When a second invitation came from +the king, he accepted, and in September there began a +series of meetings between the two men which resulted +in the organization of the Forminiere and with it the +dawn of a real international epoch in American enterprise.</p> +<p>In the light of our immense riches the timidity of +American capital in actual constructive enterprise +overseas is astonishing. Scrutinize the world business +map and you see how shy it has been. We own rubber +plantations in Sumatra, copper mines in Chile, gold +interests in Ecuador, and have dabbled in Russian and +Siberian mining. These undertakings are slight, how<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg +233]</a></span>ever, +compared with the scope of the world field and +our own wealth. Mexico, where we have extensive +smelting, oil, rubber, mining and agricultural investments, +is so close at hand that it scarcely seems like a +foreign country. Strangely enough our capital there +has suffered more than in any other part of the globe. +The spectacle of American pioneering in the Congo +therefore takes on a peculiar significance.</p> +<p>There are two reasons why our capital has not +wandered far afield. One is that we have a great country +with enormous resources and consequently almost +unlimited opportunities for the employment of cash at +home. The other lies in the fact that American capital +abroad is not afforded the same protection granted the +money of other countries. Take British capital. It is +probably the most courageous of all. The sun never +sets on it. England is a small country and her money, +to spread its wings, must go elsewhere. Moreover, +Britain zealously safeguards her Nationals and their +investments, and we, I regret to say, have not always +done likewise. The moment an Englishman or the +English flag is insulted a warship speeds to the spot +and John Bull wants to know the reason why.</p> +<p>Why did Leopold seek American capital and why +did he pick out Thomas F. Ryan? There are several +motives and I will deal with them in order. In the +first place American capital is about the only non-political +money in the world. The English pound, for +example, always flies the Union Jack and is a highly +sensitive commodity. When England puts money into +an enterprise she immediately makes the Foreign +Office an accessory. German overseas enterprise is +even more meddlesome. It has always been the first +aid to poisonous and pernicious penetration. Even<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg +234]</a></span> +French capital is flavoured with imperialism despite the +fact that it is the product of a democracy. Our dollars +are not hitched to the star of empire. We have no +dreams of world conquest. It is the safest politically to +deal with, and Leopold recognized this fact.</p> +<p>In the second place he did not want anything to interfere +with his Congo rubber industry. Now we get to +the real reason, perhaps, why he sent for Ryan. In +conjunction with the late Senator Nelson W. Aldrich, +Ryan had developed the rubber industry in Mexico, by +extracting rubber from the guayele shrub which grows +wild in the desert. Leopold knew this—he had a way +of finding out about things—and he sought to kill +two birds with one stone. He wanted this Mexican +process and at the same time he needed capital for the +Congo. In any event, Ryan went to see him and the +Forminiere was born.</p> +<p>There is no need of rehearsing here the concrete details +of this enterprise. All we want are the essential +facts. Leopold realized that the Forminiere was the last +business venture of his life and he projected it on a +truly kingly scale. It was the final chance for huge +grants and the result was that the Forminiere received +the mining and mineral rights to more than 7,000,000 +acres, and other concessions for agriculture aggregating +2,500,000 acres in addition.</p> +<p>The original capital was only 3,000,000 francs but +this has been increased from time to time until it is now +more than 10,000,000 francs. The striking feature of +the organization was the provision inserted by Leopold +that made Belgium a partner. One-half of the shares +were assigned to the Crown. The other half was divided +into two parts. One of these parts was subscribed by +the King and the Société Generale of Belgium, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg +235]</a></span> +other was taken in its entirety by Ryan. Subsequently +Ryan took in as associates Daniel Guggenheim, Senator +Aldrich, Harry Payne Whitney and John Hays Hammond. +When Leopold died his share went to his heirs. +Upon the death of Aldrich his interest was acquired by +Ryan, who is the principal American owner. No shares +have ever been sold and none will be. The original trust +certificate issued to Ryan and Guggenheim remains +intact. The company therefore remains a close corporation +in every respect and as such is unique among +kindred enterprises.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span></p> +<h2>II</h2> +<p>At this point the question naturally arises—what +is the Société Generale? To ask it +in Belgium would be on a par with inquiring +the name of the king. Its bank notes are in circulation +everywhere and it is known to the humblest peasant.</p> +<p>The Société Generale was organized in 1822 +and is +therefore one of the oldest, if not the oldest, joint stock +bank of the Continent. The general plan of the famous +Deutsche Bank of Berlin, which planted the German +commercial flag everywhere, and which provided a large +part of the bone and sinew of the Teutonic world-wide +exploitation campaign, was based upon it. With finance +as with merchandising, the German is a prize imitator.</p> +<p>The Société Generale, however, is much more +than a +bank. It is the dynamo that drives Belgian enterprise +throughout the globe. We in America pride ourselves +on the fact that huge combinations of capital geared up +to industry are a specialty entirely our own. We are +much mistaken. Little Belgium has in the Société an +agency for development unique among financial institutions. +Its imposing marble palace on the Rue Royale +is the nerve center of a corporate life that has no geographical +lines. With a capital of 62,000,000 francs +it has piled up reserves of more than 400,000,000 francs. +In addition to branches called "filial banks" throughout +Belgium, it also controls the powerful "Banque pour +l'Etranger," which is established in London, Paris, New +York, Cairo, and the Far East.</p> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-283-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-283-thumbnail.jpg" alt="JEAN JADOT" title="JEAN JADOT" /> </a> +<div class="caption">JEAN JADOT</div> +</div> +<p>One distinctive feature of the Société +Generale is its +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>close alliance +with the Government. It is a sort of +semi-official National Treasury and performs for Belgium +many of the functions that the Bank of England +transacts for the United Kingdom. But it has infinitely +more vigour and push than the Old Lady of Threadneedle +Street in London. Its leading officials are required +to appear on all imposing public occasions such +as coronations and the opening of Parliament. The +Belgian Government applies to the Société Generale +whenever any national financial enterprise is to be +inaugurated and counts upon it to take the initial steps. +Thus it became the backbone of Leopold's ramified projects +and it was natural that he should invoke its assistance +in the organization of the Forminiere.</p> +<p>Long before the Forminiere came into being, the +Société Generale was the chief financial factor in +the +Congo. With the exception of the Huileries du Congo +Belge, which is British, it either dominates or has large +holdings in every one of the sixteen major corporations +doing business in the Colony and whose combined total +capitalization is more than 200,000,000 francs. This +means that it controls railways and river transport, and +the cotton, gold, rubber, ivory and diamond output.</p> +<p>The custodians of this far-flung financial power are +the money kings of Belgium. Chief among them is +Jean Jadot, Governor of the Société +Generale—the +institution still designates its head by this ancient +title—and +President of the Forminiere. In him and his +colleagues you find those elements of self-made success +so dear to the heart of the human interest historian. It +would be difficult to find anywhere a more picturesque +group of men than those who, through their association +with King Leopold and the Société, have developed the +Congo and so many other enterprises.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p> +<p>Jadot occupies today the same position in Belgium +that the late J. P. Morgan held in his prime in America. +He is the foremost capitalist. Across the broad, flat-topped +desk of his office in that marble palace in the +Rue Royale the tides of Belgian finance ebb and flow. +Just as Morgan's name made an underwriting in New +York so does Jadot's put the stamp of authority on it +in Brussels. Morgan inherited a great name and a fortune. +Jadot made his name and his millions.</p> +<p>When you analyze the lives of American multi-millionaires +you find a curious repetition of history. Men +like John D. Rockefeller, Henry H. Rogers, Thomas F. +Ryan, and Russell Sage began as grocery clerks in small +towns. Something in the atmosphere created by spice +and sugar must have developed the money-making germ. +With the plutocrats of Belgium it was different. Practically +all of them, and especially those who ruled the +financial institutions, began as explorers or engineers. +This shows the intimate connection that exists between +Belgium and her overseas interests.</p> +<p>Jadot is a good illustration. At twenty he graduated +as engineer from Louvain University. At thirty-five he +had directed the construction of the tramways of Cairo +and of the Lower Egyptian Railways. He was now +caught up in Leopold's great dream of Belgian expansion. +The moment that the king obtained the concession +for constructing the 1,200 mile railway from Pekin +to Hankow he sent Jadot to China to take charge. +Within eight years he completed this task in the face +of almost insuperable difficulties, including a Boxer uprising, +which cost the lives of some of his colleagues and +tested his every resource.</p> +<p>In 1905 he entered the Société Generale. At +once he +became fired with Leopold's enthusiasm for the Congo<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg +239]</a></span> +and the necessity for making it an outlet for Belgium. +Jadot was instrumental in organizing the Union +Miniere and was also the compelling force behind the +building of the Katanga Railway. In 1912 he became +Vice Governor of the Société and the following year +assumed the Governorship. In addition to being President +of the Forminiere he is also head of the Union +Miniere and of the new railroad which is to connect the +Katanga with the Lower Congo.</p> +<p>When you meet Jadot you are face to face with a +human organization tingling with nervous vitality. He +reminds me more of E. H. Harriman than of any +other American empire builder that I have met, and +like Harriman he seems to be incessantly bound up to +the telephone. He is keen, quick, and forceful and +talks as rapidly as he thinks. Almost slight of body, +he at first gives the impression of being a student for +his eyes are deep and thoughtful. There is nothing +meditative in his manner, however, for he is a live +wire in the fullest American sense. Every time I talked +with him I went away with a new wonder at his stock of +world information. Men of the Jadot type never climb +to the heights they attain without a reason. In his case +it is first and foremost an accurate knowledge of every +undertaking. He never goes into a project without +first knowing all about it—a helpful rule, by the way, +that the average person may well observe in the employment +of his money.</p> +<p>If Jadot is a live wire, then his confrere, Emile Francqui, +is a whole battery. Here you touch the most romantic +and many-sided career in all Belgian financial +history. It reads like a melodrama and is packed with +action and adventure. I could almost write a book +about any one of its many stirring phases.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p> +<p>At fourteen Francqui was a penniless orphan. He +worked his way through a regimental school and at +twenty was commissioned a sub-lieutenant. It was 1885 +and the Congo Free State had just been launched. +Having studied engineering he was sent out at once to +Boma to join the Topographic Brigade. During this +first stay in the Congo he was in charge of a boat-load of +workmen engaged in wharf construction. The captain +of a British gunboat hailed him and demanded that he +stop. Francqui replied,</p> +<p>"If you try to stop me I will lash my boat to yours +and destroy it with dynamite." He had no further +trouble.</p> +<p>After three years service in the Congo he returned +to Brussels and became the military instructor of Prince +Albert, now King of the Belgians. The African fever +was in his veins. He heard that a mission was about +to depart for Zanzibar and East Africa. A knowledge +of English was a necessary part of the equipment of the +chief officer. Francqui wanted this job but he did not +know a syllable of English. He went to a friend and +confided his ambition.</p> +<p>"Are you willing to take a chance with one word?" +asked his colleague.</p> +<p>"I am," answered the young officer.</p> +<p>He thereupon acquired the word "yes," his friend's +injunction being, "If you say 'yes' to every question +you can probably carry it off."</p> +<p>Francqui thereupon went to the Foreign Office and +was immediately asked in English:</p> +<p>"Can you speak English?"</p> +<p>"Yes," was his immediate retort.</p> +<p>"Are you willing to undertake the hazards of this +journey to Zanzibar?" queried the interrogator.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span></p> +<p>"Yes," came the reply.</p> +<p>Luck was with Francqui for, as his good angel had +prophesied, his one word of English met every requirement +and he got the assignment. Since that time, I +might add, he has acquired a fluent command of the +English language. Francqui has always been willing to +take a chance and lead a forlorn hope.</p> +<p>It was in the early nineties that his exploits made his +name one of the greatest in African conquest and exploration. +He went out to the Congo as second in command +of what was known as the Bia Expedition, sent +to explore the Katanga and adjacent territory. After +two hard years of incessant campaigning the expedition +fell into hard lines. Captain Bia succumbed to smallpox +and the column encountered every conceivable hardship. +Men died by the score and there was no food. +Francqui took charge, and by his indomitable will held +the force together, starving and suffering with his men. +During this experience he travelled more than 5,000 +miles on foot and through a region where no other white +man had ever gone before. He explored the Luapula, +the headwaters of the Congo, and opened up a new world +to civilization. No other single Congo expedition save +that of Stanley made such an important contribution to +the history of the Colony.</p> +<p>Most men would have been satisfied to rest with this +achievement. With Francqui it simply marked a milepost +in his life. In 1896, when he resigned from the +army, Leopold had fixed his eyes on China as a scene +of operations, and he sent Francqui there to clinch the +Pekin-Hankow concession, which he did. In the course +of these negotiations he met Jadot, who was later to become +his associate both in the Société Generale and in +the Forminiere.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span></p> +<p>In 1901 Francqui again went to China, this time as +agent of the Compagnie d'Orient, which coveted the +coal mines of Kaiping that were supposed to be among +the richest in the world. The British and Germans also +desired this valuable property which had been operated +for some years by a Chinese company. As usual, +Francqui got what he went after and took possession of +the property. The crude Chinese method of mining had +greatly impaired the workings and they had to be entirely +reconstructed. Among the engineers employed +was an alert, smooth-faced, keen-minded young American +named Herbert Hoover.</p> +<p>Upon his return to Brussels Francqui allied himself +with Colonel Thys, who was head of the Banque d'Outremer, +the rival of the Société Generale. After he had +mastered the intricacies of banking he became a director +of the Société and with Jadot forged to the front in +finance. If Jadot stood as the Morgan, then Francqui +became the Stillman of the Belgian money world.</p> +<p>Then came the Great War and the German avalanche +which overwhelmed Belgium. Her banks were converted +into hospitals; her industry lay prostrate; her +people faced starvation. Some vital agency was necessary +to centralize relief at home in the same way that +the Commission for Relief in Belgium,—the famous +"C. R. B."—crystallized it abroad.</p> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-291-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-291-thumbnail.jpg" alt="EMILE FRANCQUI" title="EMILE FRANCQUI" /> </a> +<div class="caption">EMILE FRANCQUI</div> +</div> +<p>The Comite Rationale was formed by Belgians to +feed and clothe the native population and it became the +disbursing agent for the "C. R. B." Francqui was +chosen head of this body and directed it until the +armistice. It took toll of all his energy, diplomacy +and instinct for organization. Needless to say it was +one of the most difficult of all relief missions in the war. +Francqui was a loyal Belgian and he was surrounded +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>by the +suspicious and domineering German conquerors. +Yet they trusted him, and his word in Belgium for more +than four years was absolute law. He was, in truth, +a benevolent dictator.</p> +<p>His war life illustrates one of the quaint pranks that +fate often plays. As soon as the "C. R. B." was +organized in London Francqui hastened over to England +to confer with the American organizers. To his +surprise and delight he encountered in its master spirit +and chairman, the smooth-faced young engineer whom +he had met out in the Kaiping coal mines before. It +was the first time that he and Hoover had seen each +other since their encounter in China. They now worked +shoulder to shoulder in the monster mercy of all history.</p> +<p>Francqui is blunt, silent, aggressive. When Belgium +wants something done she instinctively turns to him. +In 1920, after the delay in fixing the German reparation +embarrassed the country, and liquid cash was imperative, +he left Brussels on three days' notice and +within a fortnight from the time he reached New York +had negotiated a fifty-million-dollar loan. He is as +potent in official life as in finance for as Special Minister +of State without portfolio he is a real power behind +a real throne.</p> +<p>Although Francqui is a director in the +Société Generale, +he is also what we would call Chairman of the +Board of Banque d'Outremer. This shows that the well-known +institution of "community of interests" is not +confined to the United States. With Jadot he represents +the Société in the Forminiere Board. I have used +these two men to illustrate the type represented by the +Belgian financial kings. I could mention various others. +They include Alexander Delcommune, famous as Congo +fighter and explorer, who is one of the leading figures of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg +244]</a></span> +the Banque d'Outremer; Edmond Solvay, the industrial +magnate, and Edward Bunge, the Antwerp merchant +prince. Almost without exception they and their +colleagues have either lived in the Congo, or have been +guided in their fortunes by it.</p> +<p>You have now had the historical approach with all +personal side-lights to the hour when America actually +invaded the Congo. As soon as Leopold and Ryan +finally got together the king said, "The Congo must +have American engineers. They are the best in the +world." Thus it came about that Central Africa, like +South Africa, came under the galvanizing hand of the +Yankee technical expert. At Kimberley and Johannesburg, +however, the task was comparatively easy. The +mines were accessible and the country was known. With +Central Africa it was a different and more dangerous +matter. The land was wild, hostile natives abounded +on all sides, and going in was like firing a shot in the +dark.</p> +<p>The American invasion was in two sections. One +was the group of engineers headed by Sydney H. Ball +and R. D. L. Mohun, known as the Ball-Mohun Expedition, +which conducted the geological investigation. The +other was in charge of S. P. Verner, an American who +had done considerable pioneering in the Congo, and devoted +itself entirely to rubber. The latter venture was +under the auspices of the American Congo Company, +which expected to employ the Mexican process in the +Congo. After several years the attempt was abandoned +although the company still exists.</p> +<p>I will briefly narrate its experience to show that the +product which raised the tempest around King Leopold's +head and which for years was synonymous with +the name of the Congo, has practically ceased to be an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg +245]</a></span> +important commercial commodity in the Colony. The +reason is obvious. In Leopold's day nine-tenths of +the world's supply of rubber was wild and came from +Brazil and the Congo. It cost about fifty cents a pound +to gather and sold for a dollar. Today more than ninety +per cent of the rubber supply is grown on plantations +in the Dutch East Indies, the Malay States, and the +Straits Settlements, where it costs about twenty cents +a pound to gather and despite the big slump in price +since the war, is profitable. In the Congo there is still +wild rubber and a movement is under way to develop +large plantations. Labor is scarce, however, while in +the East millions of coolies are available. This tells the +whole rubber story.</p> +<p>The Ball-Mohun Expedition was more successful +than its mate for it opened up a mineral empire and laid +the foundations of the Little America that you shall soon +see. Mohun was administrative head and Ball the +technical head and chief engineer. Other members +were Millard K. Shaler, afterwards one of Hoover's +most efficient aids in the relief of Belgium, and Arthur +F. Smith, geologists; Roland B. Oliver, topographer; +A. E. H. and C. A. Reid, and N. Janot, prospectors.</p> +<p>Mohun, who had been engaged on account of his +knowledge of the country, had been American Consul +at Zanzibar and at Boma, and first left diplomacy to +fight the Arab slave-traders in the interior. When +someone asked him why he had quit the United States +Government service to go on a military mission he said, +"I prefer killing Arabs in the interior to killing time +at Boma." He figured as one of Richard Harding +Davis' "Soldiers of Fortune" and was in every sense a +unique personality.</p> +<p>You get some idea of the hazards that confronted the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg +246]</a></span> +American pioneers when I say that when they set forth +for the Kasai region, which is the southwestern part of +the Congo, late in 1907, they were accompanied by a +battalion of native troops under Belgian officers. Often +they had to fight their way before they could take specimens. +On one occasion Ball was prospecting in a region +hitherto uninvaded by the white man. He was attacked +by a large body of hostile savages and a pitched battle +followed. In informal Congo history this engagement +is known as "The Battle of Ball's Run," although Ball +did no running. As recently as 1915 one of the Forminiere +prospectors, E. G. Decker, was killed by the +fierce Batshoks, the most belligerent of the Upper Kasai +tribes. The Ball-Mohun group, which was the first of +many expeditions, remained in the field more than two +years and covered a wide area.</p> +<p>Up to this time gold and copper were the only valuable +minerals that had been discovered in the Congo and +the Americans naturally went after them. Much to +their surprise, they found diamonds and thereby opened +up a fresh source of wealth for the Colony. The first +diamond was found at <i>Mai Munene</i>, which means "Big +Water," a considerable waterfall discovered by Livingstone. +This region, which is watered by the Kasai River, +became the center of what is now known as the Congo +Diamond Fields and remains the stronghold of American +engineering and financial enterprise in Central +Africa. On a wooded height not far from the headwaters +of the Kasai, these path-finding Americans +established a post called Tshikapa, the name of a small +river nearby. It is the capital of Little America in the +jungle and therefore became the objective of the second +stage of my Congo journey.</p> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-297a-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-297a-thumbnail.jpg" alt="A BELLE OF THE CONGO" title="A BELLE OF THE CONGO" /> </a> +<div class="caption">A BELLE OF THE CONGO</div> +</div> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-297b-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-297b-thumbnail.jpg" alt="WOMEN OF THE BATETELAS" title="WOMEN OF THE BATETELAS" /> +</a> +<div class="caption">WOMEN OF THE BATETELAS</div> +</div> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>III</h2> +<p>Kinshassa is nearly a thousand miles from +Tshikapa. To get there I had to retrace my +way up the Congo as far as Kwamouth, where +the Kasai empties into the parent stream. I also found +that it was necessary to change boats at Dima and continue +on the Kasai to Djoko Punda. Here begins the +jungle road to the diamond fields.</p> +<p>Up to this time I had enjoyed the best facilities that +the Congo could supply in the way of transport. Now +I faced a trip that would not only try patience but +had every element of the unknown, which in the Congo +means the uncomfortable. Fortunately, the "Lusanga," +one of the Huileries du Congo Belge steamers, was +about to start for the Kwilu River, which branches off +from the Kasai, and the company was kind enough to +order it to take me to Dima, which was off the prescribed +itinerary of the vessel.</p> +<p>On a brilliant morning at the end of June I set forth. +Nelson was still my faithful servant and his smile and +teeth shone as resplendently as ever. The only change +in him was that his appetite for <i>chikwanga</i> had +visibly increased. +Somebody had told him at Kinshassa that the +Kasai country teemed with cannibals. Being one of +the world's champion eaters, he shrank from being +eaten himself. I promised him an extra allowance of +food and a khaki uniform that I had worn in the war, +and he agreed to take a chance.</p> +<p>Right here let me give an evidence of the Congo na<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg +248]</a></span>tive's +astounding quickness to grasp things. I do not +refer to his light-fingered propensities, however. When +we got to Kinshassa Nelson knew scarcely a word of the +local dialect. When we left a week later, he could jabber +intelligently with any savage he met. On the four +weeks' trip from Elizabethville he had picked up enough +French to make himself understood. The Central African +native has an aptitude for languages that far surpasses +that of the average white man.</p> +<p>I was the only passenger on the "Lusanga," which +had been reconstructed for Lord Leverhulme's trip +through the Congo in 1914. I occupied the suite installed +for him and it was my last taste of luxury for +many a day. The captain, Albert Carrie, was a retired +lieutenant in the British Royal Navy, and the chief +engineer was a Scotchman. The Congo River seemed +like an old friend as we steamed up toward Kwamouth. +As soon as we turned into the Kasai I found that conditions +were different than on the main river. There +was an abundance of fuel, both for man and boat. The +daily goat steak of the Congo was relieved by duck and +fish. The Kasai region is thickly populated and I saw +a new type of native, lighter in colour than elsewhere, +and more keen and intelligent.</p> +<p>The women of the Kasai are probably the most attractive +in the Congo. This applies particularly to the +Batetelas, who are of light brown colour. From childhood +the females of this tribe have a sense of modesty +that is in sharp contrast with the nudity that prevails +elsewhere throughout the country. They swathe their +bodies from neck to ankle with gaily coloured calico. +I am often asked if the scant attire in Central Africa +shocked me. I invariably reply by saying that the contemporary +feminine fashion of near-undress in America<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> +and Europe made me feel that some of the chocolate-hued +ladies of the jungle were almost over-clothed!</p> +<p>The fourth day of my trip was also the American +Fourth of July. Captain Carrie and I celebrated by +toasting the British and American Navies, and it was +not in Kasai water. This day also witnessed a somewhat +remarkable revelation of the fact that world economic +unrest has penetrated to the very heart of the primitive +regions. While the wood-boys were getting fuel at a +native post, Carrie and I went ashore to take a walk +and visit a chief who had once been in Belgium. When +we got back to the boat we found that all the natives had +suspended work and were listening to an impassioned +speech by one of the black wheelmen. All these boats +have native pilots. This boy, who only wore a loin +cloth, was urging his fellows not to work so hard. +Among other things he said:</p> +<p>"The white man eats big food and takes a big sleep in +the middle of the day and you ought to do the same +thing. The company that owns this boat has much +money and you should all be getting more wages."</p> +<p>Carrie stopped the harangue, fined the pilot a week's +pay, and the men went back to work, but the poison had +been planted. This illuminating episode is just one of +the many evidences of industrial insurgency that I +found in Africa from the moment I struck Capetown. +In the Rand gold mining district, for example, the natives +have been organized by British agitators and it +probably will not be long before Central Africa has the +I. W. W. in its midst! Certainly the "I Won't Works" +already exist in large numbers.</p> +<p>This essentially modern spirit was only one of the +many surprises that the Congo native disclosed. Another +was the existence of powerful secret societies which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg +250]</a></span> +have codes, "grips," and pass-words. Some antedate +the white man, indulge in human sacrifice, and have +branches in a dozen sections. Although Central Africa +is a land where the husband can stray from home at will, +the "lodge night" is thus available as an excuse for domestic +indiscretion.</p> +<p>The most terrible of these orders is the Society of +the Leopard, formed to provide a novel and devilish +method of disposing of enemies. The members wear +leopard skins or spotted habits and throttle their foes +with a glove to which steel blades are affixed. The victim +appears to have been killed by the animal that cannot +change its spots. To make the illusion complete, the +ground where the victim has lain is marked with a stick +whose end resembles the feet of the leopard.</p> +<p>The leopard skin has a curious significance in the +Congo. For occasions where the white man takes an +oath on the Bible, the savage steps over one of these +skins to swear fealty. If two chiefs have had a quarrel +and make up, they tear a skin in two and throw the +pieces into the river, to show that the feud is rent asunder. +It corresponds to the pipe of peace of the American +Indian.</p> +<p>Another secret society in the Congo is the Lubuki, +whose initiation makes riding the goat seem like a +childish amusement. The candidate is tied to a tree and +a nest of black ants is distributed over his body. He is +released only after he is nearly stung to death. A repetition +of this jungle third degree is threatened for violation +of any of the secrets of the order, the main purpose +of which is to graft on non-members for food and +other necessities.</p> +<p>In civilized life the members of a fraternal society +are summoned to a meeting by telephone or letter. In<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg +251]</a></span> +the Congo they are haled by the tom-tom, which is the +wireless of the woods. These huge drums have an uncanny +carrying power. The beats are like the dots and +dashes of telegraphy. All the native news of Central +Africa is transmitted from village to village in this way.</p> +<p>I could continue this narrative of native habits and +customs indefinitely but we must get back to the "Lusanga." +On board was a real character. He was Peter +the capita. In the Congo every group of native workmen +is in charge of a capita, who would be designated a +foreman in this country. Life and varied experience had +battered Peter sadly. He spoke English, French, German, +Portuguese, and half a dozen of the Congo dialects. +He learned German while a member of an African +dancing team that performed at the Winter Garden +in Berlin. His German almost had a Potsdam flavour. +He told me that he had danced before the former Kaiser +and had met many members of the Teutonic nobility. +Yet the thing that stood out most vividly in his memory +was the taste of German beer. He sighed for it daily.</p> +<p>Six days after leaving Kinshassa I reluctantly bade +farewell to Peter and the "Lusanga" at Dima. Here +I had the first piece of hard luck on the whole trip. The +little steamer that was to take me up the Kasai River +to Djoko Punda had departed five days before and I +was forced to wait until she returned. Fifteen years +ago Dima was the wildest kind of jungle. I found it a +model, tropical post with dozens of brick houses, a shipyard +and machine shops, avenues of palm trees and a +farm. It is the headquarters of the Kasai Company in +the Congo.</p> +<p>I had a brick bungalow to myself and ate with the +Managing Director, Monsieur Adrian Van den Hove. +He knew no English and my alleged French was pretty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg +252]</a></span> +bad. Yet we met three times a day at the table and +carried on spirited conversations. There was only one +English-speaking person within a radius of a hundred +miles and I had read all my English books. I vented +my impatience in walking, for I covered at least fifteen +miles through the jungle every day. This proceeding +filled both the Belgians and the natives with astonishment. +The latter particularly could not understand +why a man walked about the country aimlessly. Usually +a native will only walk when he can move in the direction +of food or sleep. On these solitary trips I went +through a country that still abounds in buffalo. Occasionally +you see an elephant. It is one thing to watch +a big tusker doing his tricks in a circus tent, but quite +another to hear him floundering through the woods, +tearing off huge branches of trees as he moves along +with what seems to be an incredible speed for so heavy +an animal.</p> +<p>There came the glad Sunday—it was my thirteenth +day at Dima—when I heard the whistle of the steamboat. +I dashed down to the beach and there was the +little forty-ton "Madeleine." I welcomed her as a long-lost +friend and this she proved to be. The second day +afterwards I went aboard and began a diverting chapter +of my experience. The "Madeleine" is a type of the +veteran Congo boat. In the old days the Belgian pioneers +fought natives from its narrow deck. Despite incessant +combat with sand-banks, snags and swift currents—all +these obstructions abound in the Kasai +River—she was still staunch. In command was the +only Belgian captain that I had in the Congo, and he +had been on these waters for twenty years with only one +holiday in Europe during the entire time.</p> +<p>I occupied the alleged cabin-de-luxe, the large room<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg +253]</a></span> +that all these boats must furnish in case an important +State functionary wants to travel. My fellow passengers +were two Catholic priests and three Belgian +"agents," as the Congo factors are styled. I ate alone +on the main deck in front of my cabin, with Nelson in +attendance.</p> +<p>Now began a journey that did not lack adventure. It +was the end of the dry season and the Kasai was lower +than ever before. The channel was almost a continuous +sand-bank. We rested on one of them for a whole day. +I was now well into the domain of the hippopotamus. +I am not exaggerating when I say that the Kasai in +places is alive with them. You can shoot one of these +monsters from the bridge of the river boats almost as +easily as you could pick off a sparrow from the limb of +a park tree. I got tired of watching them. The flesh +of the hippopotamus is unfit for white consumption, +but the natives regard it as a luxury. The white man +who kills a hippo is immediately acclaimed a hero. One +reason is that with spears the black finds it difficult to +get the better of one of these animals.</p> +<p>Our first step was at a Lutheran Mission set in the +middle of a populous village. As we approached I saw +the American flag hanging over the door of the most +pretentious mud and grass house. When I went ashore +I found that the missionaries—a man and his +wife—were +both American citizens. The husband was a +Swede who had gone out to Kansas in his boyhood to +work on a farm. There he married a Kansas girl, who +now speaks English with a Swedish accent. After +spreading the gospel in China and elsewhere, they +settled down in this lonely spot on the Kasai River.</p> +<p>I was immediately impressed with the difference between +the Congo River and the Kasai. The Congo is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> +serene, brooding, majestic, and fringed with an endless +verdure. The Kasai, although 1,500 miles in length, is +narrower and more pugnacious. Its brown banks and +grim flanking mountains offer a welcome change from +the eternal green of the great river that gives the Colony +its name. The Kasai was discovered by Livingstone +in 1854.</p> +<p>I also got another change. Two days after I left +Dima we were blanketed with heavy fog every morning +and the air was raw and chill. On the Kasai you can +have every experience of trans-Atlantic travel with the +sole exception of seasickness.</p> +<p>As I proceeded up the Kasai I found continued evidence +of the advance in price of every food commodity. +The omnipresent chicken that fetched a franc in 1914 +now brings from five to ten. My old friend the goat +has risen from ten to thirty francs and he was as tough +as ever, despite the rise. But foodstuffs are only a small +part of these Congo economic troubles.</p> +<p>We have suffered for some time under the burden of +our inseparable companion, the High Cost of Living. +It is slight compared with the High Cost of Loving in +the Congo. Here you touch a real hardship. Before +the war a first-class wife—all wives are +bought—sold +for fifty francs. Today the market price for a choice +spouse is two hundred francs and it takes hard digging +for the black man to scrape up this almost prohibitive +fee. Thus the High Cost of Matrimony enters the list +of universal distractions.</p> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-307a-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-307a-thumbnail.jpg" alt="FISHERMEN ON THE SANKURU" title="FISHERMEN ON THE SANKURU" /> +</a> +<div class="caption">FISHERMEN ON THE SANKURU</div> +</div> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-307b-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-307b-thumbnail.jpg" alt="THE FALLS OF THE SANKURU" title="THE FALLS OF THE SANKURU" /> +</a> +<div class="caption">THE FALLS OF THE SANKURU</div> +</div> +<p>On the "Madeleine" was a fascinating black child +named Nanda. He was about five years old and strolled +about the boat absolutely naked. Most Congo parents +are fond of their offspring but this particular youngster, +who was bright and alert, was adored by his father, the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>head fireman on +the vessel. One day I gave him a cake +and it was the first piece of sweet bread he had ever +eaten. Evidently he liked it for afterwards he approached +me every hour with his little hands outstretched. +I was anxious to get a photograph of him +in his natural state and took him ashore ostensibly for +a walk. One of my fellow passengers had a camera and +I asked him to come along. When the boy saw that he +was about to be snapped he rushed back to the boat +yelling and howling. I did not know what was the matter +until he returned in about ten minutes, wearing an +abbreviated pair of pants and a short coat. He was willing +to walk about nude but when it came to being pictured +he suddenly became modest. This state of mind, +however, is not general in the Colony.</p> +<p>The African child is fond of playthings which shows +that one touch of amusement makes all childhood kin. +He will swim half a mile through a crocodile-infested +river to get an empty tin can or a bottle. One of the +favorite sports on the river boats is to throw boxes or +bottles into the water and then watch the children race +for them. On the Congo the fathers sometimes manufacture +rude reproductions of steamboats for their +children and some of them are astonishingly well made.</p> +<p>Exactly twelve days after we left Dima the captain +told me that we were nearing Djoko Punda. The +country was mountainous and the river had become +swifter and deeper for we were approaching Wissmann +Falls, the end of navigation for some distance. These +falls are named for Herman Wissmann, a lieutenant in +the Prussian Army who in the opinion of such authorities +as Sir Harry Johnston, ranks third in the hierarchy +of early Congo explorers. Stanley, of course, comes +first and Grenfell second.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span></p> +<p>On account of the lack of certain communication save +by runner in this part of Africa—the traveller can +always beat a wireless message—I was unable to send +any word of my coming and I wondered whom and what +I would find there. I had the strongest possible letters +to all the Forminiere officials but these pieces of paper +could not get me on to Tshikapa. I needed something +that moved on wheels. I was greatly relieved, therefore, +when we came in sight of the post to see two unmistakable +American figures standing on the bank. +What cheered me further were two American motor +cars nearby.</p> +<p>The two Americans proved to be G. D. Moody and +J. E. Robison. The former is Assistant Chief Engineer +of the Forminiere in the field and the latter is in +charge of the motor transport. They gave me a genuine +American welcome and that night I dined in Robison's +grass house off American food that had travelled +nearly fifteen thousand miles. I heard the first unadulterated +Yankee conversation that had fallen on my +ears since I left Elizabethville two months before. +When I said that I wanted to push on to Tshikapa at +once, Moody said, "We will leave at five in the morning +in one of the jitneys and be in Tshikapa tomorrow +night." Moody was an incorrigible optimist as I was +soon to discover.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span></p> +<h2>IV</h2> +<p>At dawn the next morning and after a +breakfast of hot cakes we set out. Nelson was +in a great state of excitement because he had +never ridden in an automobile before. He was destined +not to enjoy that rare privilege very long. The rough +highway hewed by American engineers through the +thick woods was a foot deep in sand and before we had +proceeded a hundred yards the car got stuck and all +hands save Moody got out to push it on. Moody was +the chauffeur and had to remain at the wheel. Draped +in fog, the jungle about me had an almost eerie look. +But aesthetic and emotional observations had to give +way to practicality. Laboriously the jitney snorted +through the sand and bumped over tree stumps. After +a strenuous hour and when we had reached the open +country, the machine gave a groan and died on the +spot. We were on a broad plain on the outskirts of a +village and the broiling sun beat down on us.</p> +<p>The African picaninny has just as much curiosity +as his American brother and in ten minutes the whole +juvenile population was assembled around us. Soon the +grown-ups joined the crowd. Naked women examined +the tires as if they were articles of food and black warriors +stalked about with the same sort of "I told you so" +expression that you find in the face of the average +American watching a motor car breakdown. Human +nature is the same the world over. The automobile is +a novelty in these parts and when the Forminiere employed +the first ones the natives actually thought it was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg +258]</a></span> +an animal that would finally get tired and quit. Mine +stopped without getting tired!</p> +<p>For six hours Moody laboured under the car while I +sat in the glaring sun alongside the road and cursed +fate. Nelson spent his time eating all the available +food in sight. Finally, at three o'clock Moody gave up +and said, "We'll have to make the rest of this trip in +a teapoy."</p> +<p>A teapoy is usually a hammock slung on a pole carried +on the shoulders of natives. We sent a runner in to +Robison, who came back with two teapoys and a squad +of forty blacks to transport us. The "teapoy boy," as he +is called, is as much a part of the African scheme of +life as a driver or a chauffeur is in America. He must +be big, strong, and sound of wind, because he is required +to go at a run all the time. For any considerable +journey each teapoy has a squad of eight men who alternate +on the run without losing a step. They always +sing as they go.</p> +<p>I had never ridden in a teapoy before and now I +began a continuous trip in one which lasted eight hours. +Night fell almost before we got started and it was a +strange sensation to go sailing through the silent black +woods and the excited villages where thousands of +naked persons of all sizes turned out to see the show. +After two hours I began to feel as if I had been tossed +up for a week in an army blanket. The wrist watch that +I had worn throughout the war and which had withstood +the fiercest shell shocks and bombardments, was +jolted to a standstill. After the fourth hour I became +accustomed to the movement and even went to sleep for +a while. Midnight brought us to Kabambaie and the +banks of the Kasai, where I found food and sanctuary +at a Forminiere post. Here the thousands of tons of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg +259]</a></span> +freight that come up the river from Dima by steamer +and which are carried by motor trucks, ox teams, and on +the heads of natives to this point, are placed on whale-boats +and sent up the river to Tshikapa.</p> +<p>Before going to bed I sent a runner to Tshikapa to +notify Donald Doyle, Managing Engineer of the +Forminiere in the field, that I was coming and to send +a motor car out to meet me. I promised this runner +much <i>matabeesh</i>, which is the African word for a +tip, +if he would run the whole way. The distance through +the jungle was exactly seventy-two miles and he covered +it, as I discovered when I reached Tshikapa, in exactly +twenty-six hours, a remarkable feat. The <i>matabeesh</i> +I bestowed, by the way, was three francs (about eighteen +cents) and the native regarded it as a princely gift because +it amounted to nearly half a month's wages.</p> +<p>By this time my confidence in the African jitney was +somewhat shaken. A new motor-boat had just been +received at Kabambaie and I thought I would take a +chance with it and start up the Kasai the next day. +Moody, assisted by several other engineers, set to work +to get it in shape. At noon of the second day, when we +were about to start, the engine went on a sympathetic +strike with the jitney, and once more I was halted. I +said to Moody, "I am going to Tshikapa without any +further delay if I have to walk the whole way." This +was not necessary for, thanks to the Forminiere organization, +which always has hundreds of native porters at +Kabambaie, I was able to organize a caravan in a few +hours.</p> +<p>After lunch we departed with a complete outfit of +tents, bedding, and servants. The black personnel was +thirty porters and a picked squad of thirty-five teapoy +boys to carry Moody and myself. Usually these cara<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg +260]</a></span>vans +have a flag. I had none so the teapoy capita fished +out a big red bandanna handkerchief, which he tied to +a stick. With the crimson banner flying and the teapoy +carriers singing and playing rude native instruments, +we started off at a trot. I felt like an explorer going +into the unknown places. It was the real thing in +jungle experience.</p> +<p>From two o'clock until sunset we trotted through the +wilds, which were almost thrillingly beautiful. In +Africa there is no twilight, and darkness swoops down +like a hawk. All afternoon the teapoy men, after their +fashion, carried on what was literally a running crossfire +of questions among themselves. They usually boast +of their strength and their families and always discuss +the white man they are carrying and his characteristics. +I heard much muttering of <i>Mafutta Mingi</i> and I knew +long before we stopped that my weight was not a pleasant +topic.</p> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-315a-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-315a-thumbnail.jpg" alt="A CONGO DIAMOND MINE" title="A CONGO DIAMOND MINE" /> </a> +<div class="caption">A CONGO DIAMOND MINE</div> +</div> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-315b-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-315b-thumbnail.jpg" alt="HOW THE MINES ARE WORKED" title="HOW THE MINES ARE WORKED" /> +</a> +<div class="caption">HOW THE MINES ARE WORKED</div> +</div> +<p>I will try to reproduce some of the conversation that +went on that afternoon between my carriers. I will +not give the native words but will translate into English +the questions and answers as they were hurled back and +forth. By way of explanation let me say beforehand +that there is no word in any of the Congo dialects for +"yes." Affirmation is always expressed by a grunt. +Here is the conversation:</p> +<p>"Men of the white men."</p> +<p>"Ugh."</p> +<p>"Does he lie?"</p> +<p>"He lies not."</p> +<p>"Does he shirk?"</p> +<p>"No."</p> +<p>"Does he steal?"</p> +<p>"No."</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span></p> +<p>"Am I strong?"</p> +<p>"Ugh."</p> +<p>"Have I a good liver?"</p> +<p>"Ugh."</p> +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<p>So it goes. One reason why these men talk so much +is that all their work must be accompanied by some +sound. Up in the diamond fields I watched a native +chopping wood. Every time the steel blade buried itself +in the log the man said: "Good axe. Cut deep." He +talked to the weapon just as he would speak to a human +being. It all goes to show that the Congo native is +simply a child grown to man's stature.</p> +<p>The fact that I had to resort to the teapoy illustrates +the unreliability of mechanical transport in the wilds. +I had tried in vain to make progress with an automobile +and a motor boat, and was forced as a last resort to get +back to the human being as carrier. He remains the +unfailing beast of burden despite all scientific progress.</p> +<p>I slept that night in a native house on the outskirts +of a village. It was what is called a <i>chitenda</i>, +which is +a grass structure open at all the sides. The last white +man to occupy this domicile was Louis Franck, the +Belgian Minister of the Colonies, who had gone up to +the Forminiere diamond fields a few weeks before. He +used the same jitney that I had started in, and it also +broke down with him. Moody was his chauffeur. They +made their way on foot to this village. Moody told the +chief that he had the real <i>Bula Matadi</i> with him. +The +chief solemnly looked at Franck and said, "He is no +<i>Bula Matadi</i> because he does not wear any medals." +Most high Belgian officials wear orders and the native +dotes on shiny ornaments. The old savage refused to +sell the travellers any food and the Minister had to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg +262]</a></span> +share the beans of the negro boys who accompanied +him.</p> +<p>Daybreak saw us on the move. For hours we swung +through dense forest which made one think of the beginnings +of the world when the big trees were king. +The vastness and silence were only comparable to the +brooding mystery of the jungle nights. You have no +feel of fear but oddly enough, a strange sense of security.</p> +<p>I realized as never before, the truth that lay behind +one of Stanley's convictions. He once said, "No luxury +of civilization can be equal to the relief from the tyranny +of custom. The wilds of a great city are greater than +the excruciating tyranny of a small village. The heart +of Africa is infinitely preferable to the heart of the +world's largest city. If the way were easier, millions +would fly to it."</p> +<p>Despite this enthralling environment I kept wondering +if that runner had reached Doyle and if a car had +been sent out. At noon we emerged from the forest into +a clearing. Suddenly Moody said, "I hear an automobile +engine." A moment later I saw a small car +burst through the trees far ahead and I knew that relief +was at hand. Dr. John Dunn, the physician at Tshikapa, +had started at dawn to meet me, and my teapoy adventures, +for the moment, were ended. Dr. Livingstone +at Ujiji had no keener feeling of relief at the sight of +Stanley that I felt when I shook the hand of this +bronzed, Middle Western medico.</p> +<p>We lunched by the roadside and afterwards I got +into Dunn's car and resumed the journey. I sent the +porters and teapoy men back to Kabambaie. Late in +the afternoon we reached the bluffs overlooking the +Upper Kasai. Across the broad, foaming river was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> +Tshikapa. If I had not known that it was an American +settlement, I would have sensed its sponsorship. It +radiated order and neatness. The only parallels in the +Congo are the various areas of the Huileries du Congo +Belge.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span></p> +<h2>V</h2> +<p>Tshikapa, which means "belt," is a Little +America in every sense. It commands the +junction of the Tshikapa and Kasai rivers. +There are dozens of substantial brick dwellings, offices, +warehouses, machine-shops and a hospital. For a hundred +miles to the Angola border and far beyond, the +Yankee has cut motor roads and set up civilization +generally. You see American thoroughness on all sides, +even in the immense native villages where the mine employees +live. Instead of having compounds the company +encourages the blacks to establish their own settlements +and live their own lives. It makes them more contented +and therefore more efficient, and it establishes a colony +of permanent workers. When the native is confined +to a compound he gets restless and wants to go back +home. The Americans are helping to solve the Congo +labour problem.</p> +<p>At Tshikapa you hear good old United States spoken +with every dialectic flavour from New England hardness +to Texas drawl. In charge of all the operations in the +field was Doyle, a clear-cut, upstanding American engineer +who had served his apprenticeship in the Angola +jungles, where he was a member of one of the first +American prospecting parties. With his wife he lived +in a large brick bungalow and I was their guest in it +during my entire stay in the diamond fields. Mrs. +Doyle embodied the same courage that animated Mrs. +Wallace. Too much cannot be said of the faith and forti<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg +265]</a></span>tude +of these women who share their husband's fortunes +out at the frontiers of civilization.</p> +<p>At Tshikapa there were other white women, including +Mrs. Dunn, who had recently converted her hospitable +home into a small maternity hospital. Only a few +weeks before my arrival Mrs. Edwin Barclay, wife of +the manager of the Mabonda Mine, had given birth to +a girl baby under its roof, and I was taken over at once +to see the latest addition to the American colony.</p> +<p>On the day of my arrival the natives employed at this +mine had sent Mrs. Barclay a gift of fifty newly-laid +eggs as a present for the baby. Accompanying it was +a rude note scrawled by one of the foremen who had +attended a Presbyterian mission school. The birth of a +white baby is always a great event in the Congo. When +Mrs. Barclay returned to her home a grand celebration +was held and the natives feasted and danced in honour +of the infant.</p> +<p>There is a delightful social life at Tshikapa. Most +of the mines, which are mainly in charge of American +engineers, are within a day's travelling distance in a +teapoy and much nearer by automobile. Some of the +managers have their families with them, and they foregather +at the main post every Sunday. On Thanksgiving, +the Fourth of July, and Christmas there is always a +big rally which includes a dance and vaudeville show in +the men's mess hall. The Stars and Stripes are unfurled +to the African breeze and the old days in the +States recalled. It is real community life on the +fringe of the jungle.</p> +<p>I was struck with the big difference between the +Congo diamond fields and those at Kimberley. In +South Africa the mines are gaping gashes in the earth +thousands of feet wide and thousands deep. They are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg +266]</a></span> +all "pipes" which are formed by volcanic eruption. +These pipes are the real source of the diamonds. The +precious blue ground which contains the stones is spread +out on immense "floors" to decompose under sun and +rain. Afterwards it is broken in crushers and goes +through a series of mechanical transformations. The +diamonds are separated from the concentrates on a +pulsating table covered with vaseline. The gems cling +to the oleaginous substance. It is an elaborate process.</p> +<p>The Congo mines are alluvial and every creek and +river bed is therefore a potential diamond mine. The +only labour necessary is to remove the upper layer of +earth,—the "overburden" as it is termed—dig up the +gravel, shake it out, and you have the concentrate from +which a naked savage can pick the precious stones. +They are precisely like the mines of German South-West +Africa. So far no "pipes" have been discovered +in the Kasai basin. Many indications have been found, +and it is inevitable that they will be located in time. +The diamond-bearing earth sometimes travels very far +from its base, and the American engineers in the Congo +with whom I talked are convinced that these volcanic +formations which usually produce large stones, lie far +up in the Kasai hills. The diamond-bearing area of the +Belgian Congo and Angola covers nearly eight thousand +square miles and only five per cent has been +prospected. There is not the slightest doubt that one +of the greatest diamond fields ever known is in the +making here.</p> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-323a-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-323a-thumbnail.jpg" alt="GRAVEL CARRIERS AT A CONGO MINE" title="GRAVEL CARRIERS AT A CONGO MINE" /> </a> +<div class="caption">GRAVEL CARRIERS AT A CONGO MINE</div> +</div> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-323b-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-323b-thumbnail.jpg" alt="CONGO NATIVES PICKING OUT DIAMONDS" title="CONGO NATIVES PICKING OUT DIAMONDS" /> </a> +<div class="caption">CONGO NATIVES PICKING OUT DIAMONDS</div> +</div> +<p>Now for a real human interest detail. At Kimberley +the Zulus and Kaffirs know the value of the diamond +and there was formerly considerable filching. All the +workers are segregated in barbed wire compounds and +kept under constant surveillance. At the end of their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>period of +service they remain in custody for two weeks +in order to make certain that they have not swallowed +any stones.</p> +<p>The Congo natives do not know what a diamond +really is. The majority believe that it is simply a piece +of glass employed in the making of bottles, and there +are a good many bottles of various kinds in the Colony. +Hence no watch is kept on the hundreds of Balubas +who are mainly employed in the task of picking out the +glittering jewels. During the past five years, when +the product in the Congo fields has grown steadily, not +a single karat has been stolen. The same situation +obtains in the Angola fields.</p> +<p>In company with Doyle I visited the eight principal +mines in the Congo field and saw the process of mining +in all its stages of advancement. At the Kisele development, +which is almost within sight of Tshikapa, +the small "jigs" in which the gravel is shaken, are operated +by hand. This is the most primitive method. At +Mabonda the concentrate pans are mounted on high +platforms. Here the turning is also by hand but on a +larger scale. The Ramona mine has steam-driven pans, +while at Tshisundu, which is in charge of William McMillan, +I witnessed the last word in alluvial diamond +mining. At this place Forminiere has erected an imposing +power plant whose tall smokestack dominates +the surrounding forest. You get a suggestion of Kimberley +for the excavation is immense, and there is the +hum and movement of a pretentious industrial enterprise. +Under the direction of William McMillan a +research department has been established which is expected +to influence and possibly change alluvial operations.</p> +<p>Our luncheon at Tshisundu was attended by Mrs.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg +268]</a></span> +McMillan, another heroine of that rugged land. Alongside +sat her son, born in 1918 at one of the mines in +the field and who was as lusty and animated a youngster +as I have seen. His every movement was followed by +the eagle eye of his native nurse who was about twelve +years old. These native attendants regard it as a special +privilege to act as custodians of a white child and invariably +a close intimacy is established between them. +They really become playmates.</p> +<p>It is difficult to imagine that these Congo diamond +mines were mere patches of jungle a few years ago. +The task of exploitation has been an immense one. Before +the simplest mine can be operated the dense forest +must be cleared and the river beds drained. Every day +the mine manager is confronted with some problem +which tests his ingenuity and resource. Only the Anglo-Saxon +could hold his own amid these trying circumstances.</p> +<p>No less difficult were the natives themselves. Before +the advent of the American engineers, industry was unknown +in the Upper Kasai. The only organized activity +was the harvesting of rubber and that was rather +a haphazard performance. With the opening of the +mines thousands of untrained blacks had to be drawn +into organized service. They had never even seen the +implements of labour employed by the whites. When +they were given wheel-barrows and told to fill and +transport the earth, they placed the barrows on their +heads and carried them to the designated place. They +repeated the same act with shovels.</p> +<p>The Yankees have thoroughly impressed the value +and the nobility of labour. I asked one of the employes +at a diamond mine what he thought of the Americans. +His reply was, "Americans and work were born on the +same day."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span></p> +<p>The labour of opening up the virgin land was only +one phase. Every piece of machinery and every tin of +food had to be transported thousands of miles and this +condition still obtains. The motor road from Djoko +Punda to Kabambaie was hacked by American engineers +through the jungle. It is comparatively easy +to get supplies to Djoko Punda although everything +must be shifted from railway to boat several times. Between +Djoko Punda and Tshikapa the material is +hauled in motor trucks and ox-drawn wagons or conveyed +on the heads of porters to Kabambaie. Some of +it is transshipped to whale-boats and paddled up to +Tshikapa, and the remainder continues in the wagons +overland. During 1920 seven hundred and fifty tons +of freight were hauled from Djoko Punda in this +laborious way.</p> +<p>At the time of my visit there were twelve going mines +in the Congo field, and three new ones were in various +stages of advancement. The Forminiere engineers also +operate the diamond concessions of the Kasai Company +and the Bas Congo Katanga Railway which will run +from the Katanga to Kinshassa.</p> +<p>More than twelve thousand natives are employed +throughout the Congo area alone and nowhere have I +seen a more contented lot of blacks. The Forminiere +obtains this good-will by wisely keeping the price of +trade goods such as salt and calico at the pre-war rate. +It is an admirable investment. This merchandise is +practically the legal tender of the jungle. With a cup +of salt a black man can start an endless chain of trading +that will net him a considerable assortment of articles +in time.</p> +<p>The principal natives in the Upper Kasai are the +Balubas, who bear the same relation to this area as the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg +270]</a></span> +Bangalas do to the Upper Congo. The men are big, +strong, and fairly intelligent. The principal tribal mark +is the absence of the two upper central incisor teeth. +These are usually knocked out in early boyhood. No +Baluba can marry until he can show this gaping space +in his mouth. Although the natives abuse their teeth +by removing them or filing them down to points, they +take excellent care of the remaining ivories. Many +polish the teeth with a stick and wash their mouths +several times a day. The same cannot be said of many +civilized persons.</p> +<p>I observed that the families in the Upper Kasai +were much more numerous than elsewhere in the Congo. +A Bangala or Batetela woman usually has one child +and then goes out of the baby business. In the region +dominated by the Forminiere it is no infrequent thing +to see three or four children in a household. A woman +who bears twins is not only hailed as a real benefactress +but the village looks upon the occasion as a good omen. +This is in direct contrast with the state of mind in East +Africa, for example, where one twin is invariably killed.</p> +<p>I encountered an interesting situation concerning +twins when I visited the Mabonda Mine. This is one of +the largest in the Congo field. Barclay, the big-boned +American manager, formerly conducted engineering +operations in the southern part of America. He therefore +knows the Negro psychology and the result is that +he conducts a sort of amiable and paternalistic little +kingdom all his own. The natives all come to him with +their troubles, and he is their friend, philosopher and +guide.</p> +<p>After lunch one day he asked me if I would like to +talk to a native who had a story. When I expressed +assent he took me out to a shed nearby and there I saw<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg +271]</a></span> +a husky Baluba who was labouring under some excitement. +The reason was droll. Four days before, his +wife had given birth to twins and there was great excitement +in the village. The natives, however, refused +to have anything to do with him because, to use their +phrase, "he was too strong." His wife did not come +under this ban and was the center of jubilation and +gesticulation. The poor husband was a sort of heroic +outcast and had to come to Barclay to get some food +and a drink of palm wine to revive his drooping spirits.</p> +<p>The output in the Congo diamond area has grown +from a few thousand karats to hundreds of thousands +of karats a year. The stones are small but clear and +brilliant. This yield is an unsatisfactory evidence of +the richness of the domain. The ore reserves are more +than ten per cent of the yearly output and the surface +of the concession has scarcely been scratched. Experienced +diamond men say that a diamond in the ground +is worth two in the market. It is this element of the +unknown that gives the Congo field one of its principal +potentialities.</p> +<p>The Congo diamond fields are merely a part of the +Forminiere treasure-trove. Over in Angola the concession +is eight times larger in area, the stones are +bigger, and with adequate exploitation should surpass +the parent production in a few years. Six mines are already +in operation and three more have been staked out. +The Angola mines are alluvial and are operated precisely +like those in Belgian territory. The managing +engineer is Glenn H. Newport, who was with Decker +in the fatal encounter with Batchoks. The principal +post of this area is Dundu, which is about forty miles +from the Congo border.</p> +<p>As I looked at these mines with their thousands of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg +272]</a></span> +grinning natives and heard the rattle of gravel in the +"jigs" my mind went back to Kimberley and the immense +part that its glittering wealth played in determining +the economic fate of South Africa. Long before the +gold "rush" opened up in the Rand, the diamond mines +had given the southern section of the continent a rebirth +of prosperity. Will the Congo mines perform the same +service for the Congo? In any event they will be a +determining factor in the future world diamond output.</p> +<p>No record of America in the Congo would be complete +without a reference to the high part that our missionaries +have played in the spiritualization of the land. The +stronghold of our religious influence is also the Upper +Kasai Basin. In 1890 two devoted men, Samuel N. +Lapsley, a white clergyman, and William H. Sheppard, +a Negro from Alabama, established the American Presbyterian +Congo Mission at Luebo which is about one +hundred miles from Tshikapa straight across country.</p> +<p>The valley of the Sankuru and Kasai Rivers is one of +the most densely populated of all the Belgian Congo. +It is inhabited by five powerful tribes—the Baluba, the +Bena Lulua, the Bakuba, the Bakete and the Zappozaps, +and their united population is one-fifth of that of +the whole Colony. Hence it was a fruitful field for labour +but a hard one. From an humble beginning the +work has grown until there are now seven important +stations with scores of white workers, hundreds of native +evangelists, one of the best equipped hospitals in Africa, +and a manual training school that is teaching the youth +of the land how to become prosperous and constructive +citizens. Under its inspiration the population of Luebo +has grown from two thousand in 1890 to eighteen thousand +in 1920.</p> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-331a-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-331a-thumbnail.jpg" alt="WASHING OUT GRAVEL" title="WASHING OUT GRAVEL" /> </a> +<div class="caption">WASHING OUT GRAVEL</div> +</div> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-331b-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-331b-thumbnail.jpg" alt="DONALD DOYLE (LEFT) AND MR. MARCOSSON" title="DONALD DOYLE (LEFT) AND MR. MARCOSSON" /> </a> +<div class="caption">DONALD DOYLE (LEFT) AND MR. MARCOSSON</div> +</div> +<p>The two fundamental principles underlying this +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>splendid +undertaking have been well summed up as +follows: "First, the attainment of a Church supported +by the natives through the thrift and industry of their +own hands. The time is past when we may merely +teach the native to become a Christian and then +leave him in his poverty and squalor where he can +be of little or no use to the Church. Second, the preparation +of the native to take the largest and most influential +position possible in the development of the +Colony. Practically the only thing open to the +Congolese is along the mechanical and manual lines."</p> +<p>One of the noblest actors in this American missionary +drama was the late Rev. W. M. Morrison, who went out +to the Congo in 1896. Realizing that the most urgent +need was a native dictionary, he reduced the Baluba-Lulua +language to writing. In 1906 he published a +Dictionary and Grammar which included the Parables +of Christ, the Miracles, the Epistles to the Romans in +paraphrase. He also prepared a Catechism based on +the Shorter and Child's Catechisms. This gave the +workers in the field a definite instrument to employ, and +it has been a beneficent influence in shaping the lives and +morals of the natives.</p> +<p>One phase of the labours of the American Presbyterian +Congo Mission discloses the bondage of the +Congo native to the Witch Doctor. The moment he +feels sick he rushes to the sorcerer, usually a bedaubed +barbarian who practices weird and mysterious rites, and +who generally succeeds in killing off his patient. More +than ninety per cent of the pagan population of Africa +not only acknowledges but fears the powers of the Witch +Doctor. Only two-fifths of one per cent are under +Christian medical treatment. The Presbyterian Missionaries, +therefore, from the very outset have sought to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> +bring the native into the ken of the white physician. It +is a slow process. One almost unsurmountable obstacle +lies in the uncanny grip that the "medicine man" wields +in all the tribes.</p> +<p>It is largely due to the missionaries that the practice +of handshaking has been introduced in the Congo. +Formerly the custom was to clap hands when exchanging +greetings. The blacks saw the Anglo-Saxons grasp +hands when they met and being apt imitators in many +things, they started to do likewise. One of the first things +that impressed me in Africa was the extraordinary +amount of handshaking that went on when the people +met each other even after a separation of only half an +hour.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span></p> +<h2>VI</h2> +<p>I had originally planned to leave Africa at St. +Paul de Loanda in Portuguese West Africa, where +Thomas F. Ryan and his Belgian associates have +acquired the new oil wells and set up still another important +outpost of our overseas financial venturing. But +so much time had been consumed in reaching Tshikapa +that I determined to return to Kinshassa, go on to +Matadi, and catch the boat for Europe at the end of +August.</p> +<p>There were two ways of getting back to Kabambaie. +One was to go in an automobile through the jungle, and +the other by boat down the Kasai. Between Kabambaie +and Djoko Punda there is practically no navigation +on account of the succession of dangerous rapids. Since +my faith in the jitney was still impaired I chose the +river route and it gave me the most stirring of all my +African experiences. The two motor boats at Tshikapa +were out of commission so I started at daybreak in a +whale-boat manned by forty naked native paddlers.</p> +<p>The fog still hung over the countryside and the scene +as we got under way was like a Rackham drawing of +goblins and ghosts. I sat forward in the boat with the +ranks of singing, paddling blacks behind me. From the +moment we started and until I landed, the boys kept up +an incessant chanting. One of their number sat forward +and pounded the iron gunwale with a heavy stick. +When he stopped pounding the paddlers ceased their +efforts. The only way to make the Congo native work +is to provide him with noise.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span></p> +<p>All day we travelled down the river through schools +of hippopotami, some of them near enough for me to +throw a stone into the cavernous mouths. The boat +capita told me that he would get to Kabambaie by sundown. +Like the average New York restaurant waiter, +he merely said what he thought his listener wanted to +hear. I fervently hoped he was right because we not +only had a series of rapids to shoot up-river, but at +Kabambaie is a seething whirlpool that has engulfed +hundreds of natives and their boats. At sunset we had +only passed through the first of the troubled zones. +Nightfall without a moon found me still moving, and +with the swirling eddy far ahead.</p> +<p>I had many close calls during the war. They ranged +from the first-line trenches of France, Belgium, and +Italy to the mine fields of the North Sea while a winter +gale blew. I can frankly say that I never felt such apprehension +as on the face of those surging waters, with +black night and the impenetrable jungle about me. +The weird singing of the paddlers only heightened the +suspense. I thought that every tight place would be +my last. Finally at eight o'clock, and after it seemed +that I had spent years on the trip, we bumped up against +the shore of Kabambaie, within a hundred feet of the +fatal spot.</p> +<p>The faithful Moody, who preceded me, had revived +life in the jonah jitney and at dawn the next day we +started at full speed and reached Djoko Punda by +noon. The "Madeleine" was waiting for me with steam +up, for I sent a runner ahead. I had ordered Nelson +back from Kabambaie because plenty of servants were +available there. He spent his week of idleness at Djoko +Punda in exploring every food known to the country. +At one o'clock I was off on the first real stage of my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg +277]</a></span> +homeward journey. The swift current made the downward +trip much faster than the upward and I was not +sorry.</p> +<p>As we neared Basongo the captain came to me and +said, "I see two Americans standing on the bank. Shall +I take them aboard?"</p> +<p>Almost before I could say that I would be delighted, +we were within hailing distance of the post. An American +voice with a Cleveland, Ohio, accent called out to +me and asked my name. When I told him, he said, +"I'll give you three copies of the <i>Saturday Evening +Post</i> if you will take us down to Dima. We have been +stranded here for nearly three weeks and want to go +home."</p> +<p>I yelled back that they were more than welcome for +I not only wanted to help out a pair of countrymen in +distress but I desired some companionship on the boat. +They were Charles H. Davis and Henry Fairbairn, +both Forminiere engineers who had made their way +overland from the Angola diamond fields. Only one +down-bound Belgian boat had passed since their arrival +and it was so crowded with Belgian officials on their way +to Matadi to catch the August steamer for Europe, that +there was no accommodation for them. By this time they +were joined by a companion in misfortune, an American +missionary, the Rev. Roy Fields Cleveland, who was +attached to the Mission at Luebo. He had come to +Basongo on the little missionary steamer, "The +Lapsley," and sent it back, expecting to take the Belgian +State boat. Like the engineers, he could get no passage.</p> +<p>Davis showed his appreciation of my rescue of the +party by immediately handing over the three copies of +the Post, which were more than seven months old and +which had beguiled his long nights in the field. Cleve<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg +278]</a></span>land +did his bit in the way of gratitude by providing +hot griddle cakes every morning. He had some American +cornmeal and he had taught his native servant how +to produce the real article.</p> +<p>At Dima I had the final heart-throb of the trip. I +had arranged to take the "Fumu N'Tangu," a sister +ship of the "Madeleine," from this point to Kinshassa. +When I arrived I found that she was stuck on a sandbank +one hundred miles down the river. My whole +race against time to catch the August steamer would +have been futile if I could not push on to Kinshassa at +once.</p> +<p>Happily, the "Yser," the State boat that had left +Davis, Fairbairn, and Cleveland high and dry at +Basongo, had put in at Dima the day before to repair +a broken paddle-wheel and was about to start. I beat +the "Madeleine's" gangplank to the shore and tore over +to the Captain of the "Yser." When I told him I had +to go to Kinshassa he said, "I cannot take you. I only +have accommodations for eight people and am carrying +forty." I flashed my royal credentials on him and he +yielded. I got the sofa, or rather the bench called a +sofa, in his cabin.</p> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-339a-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-339a-thumbnail.jpg" alt="THE PARK AT BOMA" title="THE PARK AT BOMA" /> </a> +<div class="caption">THE PARK AT BOMA</div> +</div> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-339b-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-339b-thumbnail.jpg" alt="A STREET IN MATADI" title="A STREET IN MATADI" /> </a> +<div class="caption">A STREET IN MATADI</div> +</div> +<p>On the "Yser" I found Mr. and Mrs. Charles L. +Crane, both Southerners, who were returning to the +United States after eight years at service at one of the +American Presbyterian Mission Stations. With them +were their two youngest children, both born in the +Congo. The eldest girl, who was five years old, could +only speak the Baluba language. From her infancy +her nurses had been natives and she was facing the +problem of going to America for the first time without +knowing a word of English. It was quaintly amusing +to hear her jabber with the wood-boys and the firemen +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>on board and +with the people of the various villages +where we stopped.</p> +<p>The Cranes were splendid types of the American missionary +workers for they were human and companionable. +I had found Cleveland of the same calibre. Like +many other men I had an innate prejudice against the +foreign church worker before I went to Africa. I +left with a strong admiration for him, and with it a +profound respect.</p> +<p>Kinshassa looked good to me when we arrived after +four days' travelling, but I did not tarry long. I was +relieved to find that I was in ample time to catch the +August steamer at Matadi. It was at Kinshassa that +I learned of the nominations of Cox and Harding for +the Presidency, although the news was months old.</p> +<p>The morning after I reached Stanley Pool I boarded +a special car on the historic narrow-gauge railway that +runs from Kinshassa to Matadi. At the station I was +glad to meet Major and Mrs. Wallace, who like myself +were bound for home. I invited them to share my car +and we pulled out. On this railway, as on all other +Congo lines, the passengers provide their own food. +The Wallaces had their servant whom I recognized as +one of the staff at Alberta. Nelson still held the fort +for me. Between us we mobilized an elaborate lunch +fortified by fruit that we bought at one of the many +stations where we halted.</p> +<p>We spent the night at the hotel at Thysville high +in the mountains and where it was almost freezing cold. +This place is named for General Albert Thys, who was +attached to the colonial administration of King Leopold +and who founded the Compagnie du Congo Pour le +Commerce et l'Industrie, the "Queen-Dowager," as it +is called, of all the Congo companies. His most endur<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg +280]</a></span>ing +monument, however, is the Chemin de Fer du Congo +Matadi-Stanley Pool. He felt with Stanley that +there could be no development of the Congo without a +railway between Matadi and Stanley Pool.</p> +<p>The necessity was apparent. At Matadi, which is +about a hundred miles from the sea, navigation on the +Congo River ceases because here begins a succession of +cataracts that extend almost as far as Leopoldville. In +the old days all merchandise had to be carried in sixty-pound +loads to Stanley Pool on the heads of natives. +The way is hard for it is up and down hill and traverses +swamps and morasses. Every year ten thousand men +literally died in their tracks. The human loss was only +one detail of the larger loss of time.</p> +<p>Under the stimulating leadership of General Thys, +the railway was started in 1890 and was opened for +traffic eight and a half years later. Perhaps no railway +in the world took such heavy toll. It is two hundred +and fifty miles in length and every kilometer cost a +white life and every meter a black one. Only the graves +of the whites are marked. You can see the unending +procession of headstones along the right of way. During +its construction the project was bitterly assailed. +The wiseacres contended that it was visionary, impracticable, +and impossible. In this respect it suffered the +same experience as all the other pioneering African +railways and especially those of Sierra Leone, the Gold +Coast, Uganda, and the Soudan.</p> +<p>The scenery between Thysville and Matadi is noble +and inspiring. The track winds through grim highlands +and along lovely valleys. The hills are rich with +colour, and occasionally you can see a frightened antelope +scurrying into cover in the woods. As you approach +Matadi the landscape takes on a new and more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> +rugged beauty. Almost before you realize it, you +emerge from a curve in the mountains and the little +town so intimately linked with Stanley's early trials as +civilizer, lies before you.</p> +<p>Matadi is built on a solid piece of granite. The name +is a version of the word <i>matari</i> which means rock. +In +certain parts of Africa the letter "r" is often substituted +for "d." Stanley's native name was in reality "Bula +Matari," but on account of the license that I have indicated +he is more frequently known as "Bula Matadi," +the title now bestowed on all officials in the Congo. It +was at Matadi that Stanley received the designation because +he blasted a road through the rocks with dynamite.</p> +<p>With its winding and mountainous streets and its +polyglot population, Matadi is a picturesque spot. It is +the goal of every official through the long years of his +service in the bush for at this place he boards the +steamer that takes him to Europe. This is the pleasant +side of the picture. On the other hand, Matadi is where +the incoming ocean traveller first sets foot on Congo +soil. If it happens to be the wet season the foot is +likely to be scorched for it is by common consent one of +the hottest spots in all the universe. That well-known +fable about frying an egg in the sun is an every-day +reality here six months of the year.</p> +<p>Matadi is the administrative center of the Lower +Congo railway which has extensive yards, repair-shops, +and hospitals for whites and blacks. Nearby are the +storage tanks and pumping station of the oil pipe line +that extends from Matadi to Kinshassa. It was installed +just before the Great War and has only been +used for one shipment of fluid. With the outbreak of +hostilities it was impossible to get petroleum. Now that +peace has come, its operations will be resumed because<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg +282]</a></span> +it is planned to convert many of the Congo River +steamers into oil-burners.</p> +<p>Tied up at a Matadi quay was "The Schoodic," one of +the United States Shipping Board war-built freighters. +The American flag at her stern gave me a real thrill for +with the exception of the solitary national emblem I +had seen at Tshikapa it was the first I had beheld since +I left Capetown. I lunched several times on board and +found the international personnel so frequent in our +merchant marine. The captain was a native of the +West Indies, the first mate had been born in Scotland, +the chief engineer was a Connecticut Yankee, and +the steward a Japanese. They were a happy family +though under the Stars and Stripes and we spent many +hours together spinning yarns and wishing we were +back home.</p> +<p>In the Congo nothing ever moves on schedule time. +I expected to board the steamer immediately after my +arrival at Matadi and proceed to Antwerp. There was +the usual delay, and I had to wait a week. Hence the +diversion provided by "The Schoodic" was a godsend.</p> +<div class="center"> <a href="images/illus-345-full.jpg"> <img src="images/illus-345-thumbnail.jpg" alt="A GENERAL VIEW OF MATADI" title="A GENERAL VIEW OF MATADI" /> +</a> +<div class="caption">A GENERAL VIEW OF MATADI</div> +</div> +<p>The blessed day came when I got on "The Anversville" +and changed from the dirt and discomfort of the +river boat and the colonial hotel to the luxury of the +ocean vessel. It was like stepping into paradise to +get settled once more in an immaculate cabin with its +shining brass bedstead and the inviting bathroom +adjacent. I spent an hour calmly sitting on the divan +and revelling in this welcome environment. It was almost +too good to be true.</p> +<p>Nelson remained with me to the end. He helped the +stewards place my luggage in the ship, which was the +first liner he had ever seen. He was almost appalled +at its magnitude. I asked him if he would like to ac<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg +283]</a></span>company me to Europe. He shook his head +solemnly +and said, "No, master. The ship is too big and I am +afraid of it. I want to go home to Elizabethville." As +a parting gift I gave him more money than he had ever +before seen in his life. It only elicited this laconic +response, "Now I am rich enough to buy a wife." With +these words he bade me farewell.</p> +<p>"The Anversville" was another agreeable surprise. +She is one of three sister ships in the service of the +Compagnie Belge Maritime du Congo. The other two +are "The Albertville" and "The Elizabethville." The +original "Elizabethville" was sunk by a German submarine +during the war off the coast of France. These +vessels are big, clean, and comfortable and the service +is excellent.</p> +<p>All vessels to and from Europe stop at Boma, the +capital of the Congo, which is five hours steaming down +river from Matadi. We remained here for a day and a +half because the Minister of the Colonies was to go +back on "The Anversville." I was glad of the opportunity +for it enabled me to see this town, which is the +mainspring of the colonial administration. The palace +of the Governor-General stands on a commanding hill +and is a pretentious establishment. The original capital +of the Congo was Vivi, established by Stanley at a +point not far from Matadi. It was abandoned some +year ago on account of its undesirable location. There +is a strong sentiment that Leopoldville and not Boma +should be the capital and it is not unlikely that this +change will be made.</p> +<p>The Minister of the Colonies and Monsieur Henry, +the Governor-General, who also went home on our boat, +received a spectacular send-off. A thousand native +troops provided the guard of honour which was drawn<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg +284]</a></span> +up on the bank of the river. Native bands played, flags +waved, and the populace, which included hundreds of +blacks, shouted a noisy farewell.</p> +<p>Slowly and majestically the vessel backed away from +the pier and turned its prow downstream. With +mingled feelings of relief and regret I watched the +shores recede as the body of the river widened. Near the +mouth it is twenty miles wide and hundreds of feet deep.</p> +<p>At Banana Point I looked my last on the Congo +River. For months I had followed its winding way +through a land that teems with hidden life and resists +the inroads of man. I had been lulled to sleep by its dull +roar; I had observed its varied caprice; I had caught the +glamour of its subtle charm. Something of its vast and +mysterious spirit laid hold of me. Now at parting the +mighty stream seemed more than ever to be invested +with a tenacious human quality. Sixty miles out at sea +its sullen brown current still vies with the green and +blue of the ocean swell. It lingers like the spell of all +Africa.</p> +<p>The Congo is merely a phase of the larger lure.</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> +<a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX</h2> +<p> +Albert, Lake, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a><br /> +Alberta, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, +<a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a><br /> +Albertville, <a href="#Page_60">60</a><br /> +Ants, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a><br /> +Armour, J. Ogden, <a href="#Page_125">125</a><br /> +<br /> +Bailey, Sir Abe, <a href="#Page_135">135</a><br /> +Ball, Sidney H., <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a><br /> +Baluba, <a href="#Page_203">203</a><br /> +Bangala, The, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, +<a href="#Page_203">203</a><br /> +Barclay, Mrs. Edwin, <a href="#Page_265">265</a><br /> +Barclay, Mr. Edwin, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a><br /> +Barnato, Barney, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>-<a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br /> +Basuto, <a href="#Page_92">92</a><br /> +<br /> +Bechuanaland, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>-<a href="#Page_108">108</a>, +<a href="#Page_113">113</a><br /> +Behr, H. C., <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br /> +Beira, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a><br /> +Belgian Congo, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, +<a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, +<a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>-<a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, +<a href="#Page_227">227</a>-<a href="#Page_230">230</a>, +<a href="#Page_241">241</a>-<a href="#Page_284">284</a><br /> +Benguella, <a href="#Page_151">151</a><br /> +Bia Expedition, <a href="#Page_241">241</a><br /> +Bolobo, <a href="#Page_202">202</a><br /> +Botha, General, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>-<a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, +<a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, +<a href="#Page_24">24</a>-<a href="#Page_26">26</a>, +<a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, +<a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a><br /> +Braham, I. F., <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a><br /> +Brandsma, Father, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a><br /> +British South Africa Company, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>-<a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, +<a href="#Page_126">126</a>-<a href="#Page_127">127</a><br /> +Broken Hill Railway, <a href="#Page_146">146</a><br /> +Bukama, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a><br /> +Bulawayo, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>-<a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, +<a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, +<a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, +<a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, +<a href="#Page_150">150</a><br /> +Bunge, Edward, <a href="#Page_244">244</a><br /> +Butner, Daniel, <a href="#Page_149">149</a><br /> +Butters, Charles, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a><br /> +<br /> +Cairo, <a href="#Page_57">57</a><br /> +Cameroons, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a><br /> +Campbell, J. G., <a href="#Page_167">167</a>-<a href="#Page_168">168</a><br /> +"Cape-boy," <a href="#Page_93">93</a><br /> +Cape Colony, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a><br /> +"Cape-to-Cairo," <a href="#Page_57">57</a>-<a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, +<a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>-<a href="#Page_151">151</a><br /> +Capetown, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>-<a href="#Page_30">30</a>, +<a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, +<a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, +<a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, +<a href="#Page_114">114</a><br /> +Carnahan, Thomas, <a href="#Page_149">149</a><br /> +Carrie, Albert, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>-<a href="#Page_249">249</a><br /> +Carson, Sir Edward, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br /> +Casement, Sir Roger, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a><br /> +Chaka, <a href="#Page_105">105</a><br /> +Chaplin, Sir Drummond, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>-<a href="#Page_110">110</a><br /> +Chilembwe, John, <a href="#Page_94">94</a><br /> +Clement, Victor M., <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a><br /> +Cleveland, President, <a href="#Page_227">227</a><br /> +Cleveland, Rev. Roy Fields, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, +<a href="#Page_278">278</a><br /> +"Comte de Flandre," <a href="#Page_189">189</a>-<a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a><br /> +Congo-Kasai Province, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a><br /> +Congo River, The, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>-<a href="#Page_145">145</a>, +<a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>-<a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>-<a href="#Page_284">284</a><br /> +Coquilhatville, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>-<a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a><br /> +Crane, Mr. and Mrs. Charles L., <a href="#Page_278">278</a>-<a href="#Page_279">279</a><br /> +Creswell, Col. F. H. P., <a href="#Page_29">29</a>-<a href="#Page_30">30</a><br /> +Cullinan, Thomas M., <a href="#Page_90">90</a><br /> +Curtis, J. S., <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a><br /> +<br /> +Davis, Charles H., <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a><br /> +Dean, Captain, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a><br /> +DeBeers, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>-<a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a><br /> +Delcommune, Alexander, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>-<a href="#Page_244">244</a><br /> +Diamonds, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>-<a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, +<a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, +<a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, +<a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Congo Fields, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>-<a href="#Page_269">269</a>;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Congo Output, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></span><br /> +Djoko Punda, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, +<a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, +<a href="#Page_276">276</a><br /> +Doyle, Donald, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a><br /> +Doyle, Mrs. Donald, <a href="#Page_264">264</a><br /> +Dubois, Lieutenant, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>-<a href="#Page_188">188</a><br /> +Dunn, Dr. John, <a href="#Page_262">262</a><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span>Durban <a href="#Page_69">69</a><br /> +Dutoitspan Mine, <a href="#Page_81">81</a><br /> +<br /> +Elizabethville, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, +<a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, +<a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a><br /> +<br /> +Fairbairn, Henry, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a><br /> +Forminiere, The, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>-<a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>-<a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, +<a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, +<a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a><br /> +Franck, Louis, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>-<a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a><br /> +Francqui, Emile, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>-<a href="#Page_243">243</a><br /> +Fungurume, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a><br /> +<br /> +George, Lloyd, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>-<a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a><br /> +German East Africa, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a><br /> +German South-West Africa, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, +<a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, +<a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, +<a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a><br /> +Germany in Africa, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>-<a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, +<a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, +<a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, +<a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, +<a href="#Page_231">231</a><br /> +Gerome, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a><br /> +Gordon, General, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a><br /> +Grenfell, George, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, +<a href="#Page_255">255</a><br /> +Grey, George, <a href="#Page_147">147</a><br /> +Groote Schuur, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>-<a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, +<a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, +<a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a><br /> +Guggenheim, Daniel, <a href="#Page_235">235</a><br /> +<br /> +Hammond, John Hays, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, +<a href="#Page_128">128</a>-<a href="#Page_129">129</a>, +<a href="#Page_235">235</a><br /> +Harriman, E. H., <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a><br /> +Hellman, Fred, <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br /> +Hertzog, General W. B. M., <a href="#Page_25">25</a>-<a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, +<a href="#Page_50">50</a>-<a href="#Page_51">51</a>, +<a href="#Page_53">53</a><br /> +Hex River, <a href="#Page_76">76</a><br /> +Honnold, W. L., <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br /> +Horner, Preston K., <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a><br /> +Hottentot, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a><br /> +Hoy, Sir William W., <a href="#Page_66">66</a>-<a href="#Page_67">67</a><br /> +Huileries du Congo Belge, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, +<a href="#Page_208">208</a>-<a href="#Page_212">212</a>, +<a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, +<a href="#Page_263">263</a><br /> +<br /> +Jadot, Jean, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>-<a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, +<a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a><br /> +Jameson, Raid, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, +<a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, +<a href="#Page_115">115</a><br /> +Jameson, Sir Starr <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, +<a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, +<a href="#Page_136">136</a><br /> +Janot, N., <a href="#Page_245">245</a><br /> +Jenkins, Hennen, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a><br /> +Jennings, Sidney, <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br /> +Johannesburg, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, +<a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, +<a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, +<a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, +<a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a><br /> +Johnston, Sir Harry, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, +<a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a><br /> +<br /> +Kabalo, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a><br /> +Kabambaie, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, +<a href="#Page_276">276</a><br /> +Kaffir, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, +<a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a><br /> +Kahew, Frank, <a href="#Page_149">149</a><br /> +Kambove, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a><br /> +Karoo, <a href="#Page_77">77</a><br /> +Kasai River, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>-<a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, +<a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, +<a href="#Page_199">199</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, +<a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, +<a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, +<a href="#Page_247">247</a>, +<a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>-<a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, +<a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a><br /> +Katanga, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>-<a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, +<a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, +<a href="#Page_150">150</a>-<a href="#Page_153">153</a>, +<a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>-<a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, +<a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, +<a href="#Page_241">241</a><br /> +Kimberley, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, +<a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, +<a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, +<a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, +<a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a><br /> +Kindu, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>-<a href="#Page_169">169</a>, +<a href="#Page_170">170</a><br /> +Kinshassa, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, +<a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, +<a href="#Page_221">221</a>-<a href="#Page_222">222</a>, +<a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, +<a href="#Page_281">281</a><br /> +Kitchener, Lord, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a><br /> +Kito, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>-<a href="#Page_181">181</a><br /> +Kongolo, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, +<a href="#Page_177">177</a><br /> +Kruger, Paul, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, +<a href="#Page_87">87</a>-<a href="#Page_88">88</a>, +<a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, +<a href="#Page_107">107</a><br /> +Kwamouth, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a><br /> +Kwilu River, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a><br /> +<br /> +Labram, George, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>-<a href="#Page_83">83</a><br /> +Lane, Capt. E. F. C., <a href="#Page_43">43</a><br /> +Leggett, T. H., <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br /> +Leopold, King, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, +<a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, +<a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, +<a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, +<a href="#Page_230">230</a>-<a href="#Page_235">235</a>, +<a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a><br /> +Leopoldville, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a><br /> +Leverhulme, Lord, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a><br /> +Leverville, <a href="#Page_209">209</a><br /> +Lewaniki, <a href="#Page_125">125</a><br /> +Livingstone, Dr., <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a><br /> +Lobengula, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, +<a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a><br /> +"Louis Cousin," <a href="#Page_160">160</a>-<a href="#Page_162">162</a><br /> +Lowa, <a href="#Page_170">170</a><br /> +Lualaba River, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, +<a href="#Page_161">161</a>-<a href="#Page_164">164</a>, +<a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, +<a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, +<a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a><br /> +Luluaburg, <a href="#Page_215">215</a><br /> +Lusanga, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span><br /> +Mabonda Mine, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a><br /> +"Madeleine," <a href="#Page_252">252</a>-<a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a><br /> +Mafeking, <a href="#Page_103">103</a><br /> +Maguire, Rochfort, <a href="#Page_107">107</a><br /> +Mahagi, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>-<a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a><br /> +Maize, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>-<a href="#Page_125">125</a><br /> +Mashonaland, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>-<a href="#Page_112">112</a><br /> +Matabele, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, +<a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, +<a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, +<a href="#Page_134">134</a><br /> +Matadi, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>-<a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a><br /> +Matopo Hills, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>-<a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, +<a href="#Page_135">135</a><br /> +McMillan, William, <a href="#Page_267">267</a><br /> +McMillan, Mrs. William, <a href="#Page_268">268</a><br /> +Mein, Capt. Thomas, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a><br /> +Mein, W. W., <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br /> +Merriman, J. X., <a href="#Page_94">94</a><br /> +Milner, Lord, <a href="#Page_118">118</a><br /> +Mohun, R. D. L., <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a><br /> +Moody, G. D., <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, +<a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, +<a href="#Page_276">276</a><br /> +Morgan, J. P. <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a><br /> +Morrison, Rev. W. M., <a href="#Page_273">273</a><br /> +Moul, R. D., <a href="#Page_143">143</a><br /> +<br /> +Nanda, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a><br /> +Natal, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, +<a href="#Page_122">122</a><br /> +Nelson, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>-<a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, +<a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, +<a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, +<a href="#Page_283">283</a><br /> +Newport, Glenn H., <a href="#Page_271">271</a><br /> +Nile River, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a><br /> +Nyassaland, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a><br /> +<br /> +Oliver, Roland B., <a href="#Page_245">245</a><br /> +Orange Free State, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, +<a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, +<a href="#Page_139">139</a><br /> +<br /> +Perkins, H. C., <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br /> +Plumer, Lord, <a href="#Page_113">113</a><br /> +Ponthierville, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a><br /> +Port Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a><br /> +Portuguese East Africa, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, +<a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, +<a href="#Page_150">150</a><br /> +Prester, John, <a href="#Page_94">94</a><br /> +Pretoria, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, +<a href="#Page_93">93</a><br /> +<br /> +Rand, The, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>-<a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, +<a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, +<a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a><br /> +Reid, A. E. H., <a href="#Page_245">245</a><br /> +Reid, C. A., <a href="#Page_245">245</a><br /> +Rey, General de la, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a><br /> +Rhodes, Cecil, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, +<a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>-<a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>-<a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, +<a href="#Page_104">104</a>-<a href="#Page_110">110</a>, +<a href="#Page_114">114</a>-<a href="#Page_121">121</a>, +<a href="#Page_125">125</a>, +<a href="#Page_129">129</a>-<a href="#Page_137">137</a>, +<a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, +<a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a><br /> +Rhodesia, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, +<a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>-<a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>-<a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>-<a href="#Page_131">131</a><br /> +Roberts, Lord, <a href="#Page_16">16</a><br /> +Robinson, J. B., <a href="#Page_85">85</a><br /> +Robison, J. E., <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a><br /> +Rondebosch, <a href="#Page_32">32</a><br /> +Roos, Tielman, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>-<a href="#Page_54">54</a><br /> +Roosevelt, Theodore, <a href="#Page_19">19</a><br /> +Rudd, C. D., <a href="#Page_107">107</a><br /> +Ryan, Thomas F., <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>-<a href="#Page_235">235</a>, +<a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a><br /> +<br /> +Sabin, Charles H., <a href="#Page_74">74</a><br /> +Sakania, <a href="#Page_144">144</a><br /> +Sanford, General H. S., <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, +<a href="#Page_228">228</a><br /> +Selous, F. C., <a href="#Page_111">111</a><br /> +Seymour, Louis, <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br /> +Shaler, Millard K., <a href="#Page_245">245</a><br /> +Smartt, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_52">52</a><br /> +Smith, Hamilton, <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br /> +Smuts, Jan Christian, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>-<a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, +<a href="#Page_24">24</a>-<a href="#Page_26">26</a>, +<a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>-<a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a><br /> +Snow, Frederick, <a href="#Page_149">149</a><br /> +Société Generale, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>-<a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a><br /> +Solvay, Edmond, <a href="#Page_244">244</a><br /> +Soudan Railway, <a href="#Page_60">60</a><br /> +Stanley, Henry M., <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, +<a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, +<a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>-<a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, +<a href="#Page_196">196</a>, +<a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, +<a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>-<a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, +<a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, +<a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a><br /> +Stanley Pool, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a><br /> +Stanleyville, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, +<a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, +<a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>-<a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, +<a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, +<a href="#Page_190">190</a>, +<a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a><br /> +Steyne, President, <a href="#Page_49">49</a><br /> +Stoddard, Lothrop, <a href="#Page_96">96</a><br /> +Stonelake, Dr., <a href="#Page_202">202</a><br /> +<br /> +Tambeur, General, <a href="#Page_165">165</a><br /> +Tanganyika Lake, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, +<a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a><br /> +Teneriffe, <a href="#Page_69">69</a><br /> +Thompson, F. R., <a href="#Page_107">107</a><br /> +Thompson, Samuel, <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br /> +Thompson, W. B., <a href="#Page_74">74</a><br /> +Thys, General Albert, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span>Tippo Tib, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, +<a href="#Page_184">184</a>-<a href="#Page_185">185</a><br /> +Togoland, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>-<a href="#Page_101">101</a><br /> +"Tony", <a href="#Page_133">133</a><br /> +Transvaal, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, +<a href="#Page_106">106</a><br /> +Tshikapa, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, +<a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, +<a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, +<a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, +<a href="#Page_282">282</a><br /> +<br /> +Uganda, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br /> +Union of South Africa, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a><br /> +<br /> +Van den Hove, Adrian M., <a href="#Page_251">251</a>-<a href="#Page_252">252</a><br /> +Venezilos, <a href="#Page_15">15</a><br /> +Verner, S. P., <a href="#Page_244">244</a><br /> +Victoria Falls, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>-<a href="#Page_132">132</a><br /> +Vryburg, <a href="#Page_119">119</a><br /> +<br /> +Wallace, Major Claude, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, +<a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a><br /> +Wallace, Mrs. Claude, <a href="#Page_212">212</a><br /> +Wangermee, General Emile, <a href="#Page_148">148</a><br /> +Wankie, <a href="#Page_128">128</a><br /> +Ward, Herbert, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>-<a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a><br /> +Warriner, Ruel C., <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br /> +Webb, H. H., <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br /> +Webber, George, <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br /> +Wheeler, A. E., <a href="#Page_149">149</a><br /> +Whitney, Harry Payne, <a href="#Page_235">235</a><br /> +Williams, Gardner F., <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a><br /> +Williams, Robert, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, +<a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a><br /> +Wilson, Woodrow, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, +<a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a><br /> +Wissmann, Herman, <a href="#Page_255">255</a><br /> +<br /> +Yale, Thomas, <a href="#Page_149">149</a><br /> +Yeatman, Pope, <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br /> +<br /> +Zambesi River, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>-<a href="#Page_132">132</a><br /> +Zambesia, <a href="#Page_108">108</a><br /> +Zimbabwe Ruins, <a href="#Page_130">130</a><br /> +Zulu, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, +<a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, +<a href="#Page_266">266</a><br /> +</p> +<div class="mynote"> +<p><b>Transcriber's notes:</b></p> +<p>Typos replaced:</p> +<ul> +<li><a href="#Page_26">p 26</a>: separate +streams → separate streams"</li> +<li><a href="#Page_38">p 38</a>: +Africa.—the → Africa,—the</li> +<li><a href="#Page_40">p 40</a>: betwen +→ between</li> +<li><a href="#Page_49">p 49</a>: man con +→ man can</li> +<li><a href="#Page_51">p 51</a>: betwen +→ between</li> +<li><a href="#Page_52">p 52</a>: Britian +→ Britain</li> +<li><a href="#Page_56">p 56</a>: 'The +destiny → "The destiny</li> +<li><a href="#Page_56">p 56</a>: Britian +→ Britain</li> +<li><a href="#Page_57">p 57</a>: n the world +→ in the world</li> +<li><a href="#Page_59">p 59</a>: beteween +→ between</li> +<li><a href="#Page_72">p 72</a>: It no +→ It is no</li> +<li><a href="#Page_73">p 73</a>: a quarter +or → a quarter of</li> +<li><a href="#Page_73">p 73</a>: +reoganization → reorganization</li> +<li><a href="#Page_82">p 82</a>: speriority +→ superiority</li> +<li><a href="#Page_89">p 89</a>: Eeast +→ East</li> +<li><a href="#Page_89">p 89</a>: stragetic +→ strategic</li> +<li><a href="#Page_100">p 100</a>: auother +→ another</li> +<li><a href="#Page_101">p 101</a>: Belian +→ Belgian</li> +<li><a href="#Page_103">p 103</a>: III +→ CHAPTER III</li> +<li><a href="#Page_103">p 103</a>: 'We've +→ "We've</li> +<li><a href="#Page_110">p 110</a>: +irrenconcilable → irreconcilable</li> +<li><a href="#Page_124">p 124</a>: +considering, Every → considering. Every</li> +<li><a href="#Page_140">p 124</a>: stock, +The → stock. The</li> +<li><a href="#Page_131">p 131</a>: maximun +→ maximum</li> +<li><a href="#Page_132">p 132</a>: marval +→ marvel</li> +<li><a href="#Page_139">p 139</a>: IV +→ CHAPTER IV</li> +<li><a href="#Page_139">p 139</a>: +controversay → controversy</li> +<li><a href="#Page_152">p 152</a>: +developent → development</li> +<li><a href="#Page_163">p 163</a>: invarably +→ invariably</li> +<li><a href="#Page_163">p 163</a>: +conspicious → conspicuous</li> +<li><a href="#Page_166">p 166</a>: rail-dead +→ rail-head</li> +<li><a href="#Page_169">p 169</a>: +distaseful → distasteful</li> +<li><a href="#Page_174">p 174</a>: +Rockerfeller → Rockefeller</li> +<li><a href="#Page_177">p 177</a>: V +→ CHAPTER V</li> +<li><a href="#Page_182">p 182</a>: Adthough +→ Although</li> +<li><a href="#Page_184">p 184</a>: invaribly +→ invariably</li> +<li><a href="#Page_184">p 184</a>: cruelity +→ cruelty</li> +<li><a href="#Page_186">p 186</a>: +exporations → exploration</li> +<li><a href="#Page_187">p 187</a>: capured +→ captured</li> +<li><a href="#Page_190">p 190</a>: removed +whole line "from his automobile and the creaky, jolty +train started" from between "that you" and "feel on"</li> +<li><a href="#Page_191">p 191</a>: sacrified +→ sacrificed</li> +<li><a href="#Page_193">p 193</a>: Uguanda +→ Uganda</li> +<li><a href="#Page_195">p 195</a>: +resplendant → resplendent</li> +<li><a href="#Page_201">p 201</a>: high +sease → high seas</li> +<li><a href="#Page_210">p 210</a>: incased +→ encased</li> +<li><a href="#Page_214">p 214</a>: +unforgetable → unforgettable</li> +<li><a href="#Page_219">p 219</a>: arival +→ arrival</li> +<li><a href="#Page_222">p 222</a>: Begian +→ Belgian</li> +<li><a href="#Page_225">p 225</a>: VI +→ CHAPTER VI</li> +<li><a href="#Page_226">p 226</a>: +Transporte → Transports</li> +<li><a href="#Page_241">p 241</a>: Forminere +→ Forminiere</li> +<li><a href="#Page_243">p 243</a>: Banqe +→ Banque</li> +<li><a href="#Page_249">p 249</a>: +chololate-hued → chocolate-hued</li> +<li><a href="#Page_255">p 255</a>: heirarchy +→ hierarchy</li> +<li><a href="#Page_255">p 255</a>: Wissman +→ Wissmann</li> +<li><a href="#Page_258">p 258</a>: Fir +→ For</li> +<li><a href="#Page_270">p 270</a>: that +→ than</li> +<li><a href="#Page_283">p 283</a>: that +→ than</li> +<li><a href="#Page_285">p 285</a>: 194 +→ 194,</li> +<li><a href="#Page_286">p 286</a>: 85' +→ 85,</li> +<li><a href="#Page_287">p 287</a>: Societe +→ Société</li> +<li><a href="#Page_288">p 288</a>: Wissman +→ Wissmann</li> +</ul>No attempt was made to harmonise the inconsistent hyphenation; e.g. both spellings <i>bed-room</i> and <i>bedroom</i> can be found in this book. +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's An African Adventure, by Isaac F. 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