Samba: A Story of the Rubber Slaves of the Congo

Samba and the crocodile
HERBERT STRANG
Author of One of Clive's Heroes, Kobo, Brown of Moukden, Tom Burnaby, etc., etc
ILLUSTRATED BY WILLIAM RAINEY, R.I.
Botofé bo le iwa!—Rubber is Death! — Congo Proverb .
SECOND EDITION
LONDON HENRY FROWDE ——— HODDER & STOUGHTON OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS ——— WARWICK SQUARE, E.C. 1908
Copyright, 1906, by the BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY, in the United States of America.
Butler and Tanner, The Selwood Printing Works, Frome, and London
Nearly a generation has passed since King Leopold was entrusted by the great Powers with the sovereignty of the Congo Free State. The conscience of Christendom had been shocked by the stories, brought back by Stanley and other travellers, of Arab slave raids on the Upper Congo; King Leopold, coming forward with the strongest assurances of philanthropic motive, was welcomed as the champion of the negro, who should bring peace and the highest blessings of civilization to the vast territory thus placed under his sway. For many succeeding years it was supposed that this work of deliverance, of regeneration, was being prosecuted with all diligence; the power of the slave traders was broken, towns were built, roads made, railways opened—none of the outward signs of material progress were wanting.