FOOTNOTES:

[13] Boulger, The Congo State, 1898.

[14] See Appendix for full text.

[15] Boulger.

CHAPTER XII
THE CONGO BEQUEATHED TO BELGIUM

The Declaration supplemental to the General Act of the Brussels Conference, referred to in the previous chapter, assured an income to the Congo Free State, which, however inadequate for its needs at that time, served, in a degree, to clear its future of the doubt which had caused Belgium, as a nation, to shrink from incurring financial responsibility in support of it. The cost of the early undertakings, from the day in 1876 when Stanley took leave of King Leopold in Brussels and set out upon his expedition up the Congo River, and the expenses of the entire enterprise, including those of the International African Association, had been borne by the King and his immediate adherents. The amounts so expended each year now aggregated a sum approximating 100,000,000 francs. On 29th April, 1887, the Belgian nation had authorised the Congo State to raise a loan of 150,000,000 francs, which, however, it did not guarantee. These funds were largely employed to found the chartered companies provided for in the Decree of 27th February, 1887. The time had now again come when the Belgian Chamber should consider the reasonableness of asking the assistance of the Belgian nation, especially as the King’s African enterprise had been undertaken for the benefit of civilisation and the expansion of Belgian markets.

On the 3rd July, 1890, the day after the General Act of the Conference had been signed, a Convention was concluded between M. Beernaert, the Finance Minister, on the part of Belgium, and Baron Van Eetvelde, on the part of the Congo Free State, by which Belgium engaged to lend the Congo State 5,000,000 francs at once, and 2,000,000 francs a year for the next ten years—25,000,000 francs in all, on condition that Belgium should have the option, six months after the expiration of the ten years, of annexing the Congo Free State “with all the rights and advantages attached to the sovereignty of the State ...” provided it also assumed the obligations of the State to third parties, “the King-Sovereign expressly refusing all indemnity on account of the personal sacrifices he had himself made.” It was further agreed:

3. From the present time the Belgian State will receive from the Independent State of the Congo such information as it judges desirable, on the economical, commercial, and financial situation of the latter. It may specially ask for communication of the budgets of receipts and expenses, and of the customs dues both on imports and exports. This information is to be given, with the sole object of enlightening the Belgian Government, and the latter will not in any way interfere in the administration of the Independent State of the Congo, which will continue to be attached to Belgium only by the personal union of the two crowns. Nevertheless, the Congo State engages not to contract any new loan hereafter, without the assent of the Belgian Government.

4. If at the fixed time Belgium decides not to accept the annexation of the Congo State, the sum of twenty-five million francs lent, inscribed in the ledger of its debt, would not become demandable until after a fresh period of ten years, but it should bear in the interval interest at the rate of 3½ per cent., payable every six months, and even before this term the Independent State of the Congo should devote to partial repayments all the sums obtained from cessions of land or the mines of the domain.

The Governor’s House, Ponthierville (Upper Congo).

Long before the date of the Brussels Conference and the Convention just concluded, King Leopold had written to his minister, M. Beernaert, a letter clearly indicating his unselfish purpose in developing the Congo State. The persons who charge the King of the Belgians with governing the Congo for his personal benefit might temper their mendacity by the fact that this letter is dated 5th August, 1889, nearly a year before the conclusion of the Brussels Conference. Having regard to the false charges busily purveyed in respect of his Majesty’s true intentions towards his people and the Congo State, it seems but just to quote it:

5th August, 1889.

Dear Minister [M. Beernaert].—I have never ceased to call the attention of my countrymen to the necessity of extending their view to countries beyond the sea.

History teaches that States of limited size have a moral and material interest in stretching beyond their narrow frontiers. Greece founded on the shores of the Mediterranean opulent cities, centres of art and civilisation. Venice, later on, established its greatness on the development of its maritime and commercial relations, not less than on its political successes. Holland possesses in the Indies thirty millions of subjects, who exchange the commodities of the tropics for the productions of the mother country.

It is by serving the cause of humanity and progress that people of the second rank appear as useful members of the great family of nations. More than any other, a manufacturing and commercial nation like ours should strive to secure outlets for all its workers, for those of thought, capital, and labour.

These patriotic preoccupations have dominated my life. They determined the creation of the African work.

My labours have not been sterile. A young and vast State, directed from Brussels, has peacefully taken its place under the sun, thanks to the benevolent aid of the Powers which have applauded its beginning. Belgians administer it, whilst others of our countrymen, every day more numerous, profitably employ their capital in its development.

The immense river basin of the Upper Congo opens to our efforts ways of rapid and cheap communication, which permit us to penetrate direct into the centre of the African Continent. The construction of the railway of the region of the Cataracts henceforth assured, thanks to the recent vote of the Legislature, will notably increase these facilities of access. Under these conditions, a great future is reserved for the Congo, the immense value of which will soon be apparent to every eye.

On the morrow of this considerable act, I have thought it my duty to place Belgium herself, when death shall have struck me, in a position to profit by my work, as well as by the labour of those who have aided me in founding and directing it, and whom I thank here once more. I have therefore made, as Sovereign of the Independent State of the Congo, the Will that I send you. I ask you to communicate it to the Legislative Chamber at the moment which shall appear to you the most opportune.

European Houses at Coquilhatville (Equateur).

The beginnings of enterprises such as those which have so much occupied me are difficult and onerous. I have held myself bound to support the cost. A king, in order to serve his country, ought not to fear to conceive and to pursue the realisation of a work, even if it be apparently rash. The wealth of a sovereign consists in public prosperity; it alone can constitute in his eyes an enviable treasure, which he should endeavour constantly to increase.

To the day of my death I shall continue, in the same desire of national interest which has hitherto guided me, to direct and sustain our African work; but if, without awaiting this term, it should be agreeable to the country to establish closer links with my possessions on the Congo, I should not hesitate to place them at its disposal. I should be happy to see it, during my lifetime, in the full enjoyment of their possession. Allow me, in the meanwhile, to say to you how grateful I am towards the Chambers, as well as towards the Government, for the aid that they have afforded me on several occasions in that creation. I do not think I deceive myself by affirming that Belgium will derive important advantages from it, and that she will see opening before her, on a new continent, happy and larger prospects.

Believe me, dear Minister, etc.
Leopold.

Accompanying this noble expression of a monarch toward his people on his sacrificial work in their behalf, was the King’s Will, as Sovereign of the Congo Free State:

We, Leopold II., King of the Belgians, Sovereign of the Independent State of the Congo:

Wishing to assure to Our well-beloved country the fruits of the work which for many years We have pursued on the African Continent, with the generous and devoted co-operation of many Belgians:

Convinced of thus contributing to assure for Belgium, if she wishes it, the outlets indispensable for her commerce and her industry, and to open new paths for the activity of her children:

Declare by these presents, that We bequeath and transmit, after Our death, to Belgium all our sovereign rights over the Independent State of the Congo, as they are recognised by the Declarations, Conventions, and Treaties concluded since 1884 between the foreign Powers on the one side, the International Association of the Congo and the Independent State of the Congo on the other, as well as all the benefits, rights, and advantages attached to that sovereignty.

Whilst waiting for the Belgian Legislature to pronounce its acceptance of Our aforesaid disposition, the sovereignty will be exercised collectively by the Council of the three administrations of the Independent State of the Congo, and by the Governor-General.

Leopold.

Done at Brussels the 2nd of August, 1889.

The announcement of the King’s Will, bequeathing the Congo State to the Belgian people, was received with a demonstration of popular approval. In 1901 the Convention of 3rd July, 1890, giving Belgium the right to annex the Congo State, was extended for another term of ten years. Meantime the great prosperity of the State and the voice of saner liberalism in the Belgian Chamber are combining to identify the more intimate support of the Belgian Government with King Leopold’s progressive African colony. That the Belgian State will take over that colony in 1910, or on the death of King Leopold, is hardly within the pale of rational doubt.

Cicatrised Batetela Woman (Lualaba-Kassai).

Specimens of Hairdressing among Women of the Sango Tribe, Banzyville (Ubanghi).

CHAPTER XIII
TRIBES OF THE CONGO STATE

Population of Congo State.

The difficulty in arriving at an estimate of the native population of the Congo Free State that tolerably approximates the truth is very great. Some authorities place it at as high as 30,000,000, some as low as 15,000,000, while other observers, equally entitled to respect, assert that 20,000,000 is about accurate.

This wide divergence of opinion ceases to be matter for surprise when we reflect that the population of an empire so important as China, known to white men for centuries, is variously estimated by them at anything between 300,000,000 and 400,000,000.

Compared with our knowledge of China, our acquaintance with the countries and peoples comprised within the boundaries of the Congo Free State is a thing of yesterday. The nomadic habits of the various semi-savage tribes of which the population of the Congo Free State consists renders their exact enumeration impossible. Besides, there can be no doubt but that vast numbers of the dwarf (Pigmy) race inhabit parts of the great Central African forest not yet penetrated by the white man.

Advancing Civilisation.

It is certain, however, that all the vast region with which this book is concerned contains no race or tribe that has not come in contact with the civilising Belgians, or whose barbarous habits and customs have not, in greater or lesser degree, been modified into some semblance of conformity with the standard of civilisation exemplified by their new masters. At present that conformity is far from being general, and where it is found it is invariably more superficial than real. To frankly admit so much is in nowise a reflection upon the extent or value of the civilising influence exerted by the Belgians upon their King’s dusky subjects. The complete transformation of the barbarian into the civilised man is not possible in one generation. A consideration of the principal tribes, their habits and customs, as they were when the white strangers first appeared among them, and as to some extent they continue to this day, cannot, therefore, fail in interest.

Origin of Congo Races.

The nomadic habits of the native races inhabiting the Congo region, discussed at length in another chapter, render an inquiry into their origin a work of great difficulty and uncertain result. Sir Harry Johnston, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., whose expert opinion upon this subject is entitled to the utmost respect, believes that the Negro type which originated in Southern Asia wandered across the peninsula of Arabia into Eastern Africa, mingling, perhaps, on the way, with the Caucasians from the north, evolving that negroid race known as the Hamite, whence sprang the early Egyptians, and to which the Somali, Gala, Abyssinian, and Nubian owe their origin.

Funeral at Bumba (Bangala).

From Eastern Africa this primitive race is thought to have spread, in the course of ages, throughout all Central Africa, and probably to have penetrated almost to the southern and western coasts of that continent, changing their physical characteristics according to their environment, and again modifying those characteristics by subsequent intermixture. The numerous Central African tribes, as they exist to-day, exhibit marked differences in height, shape, language, habits, customs, and even in colour, some being an intense black, some of a chocolate hue, some reddish brown, and some of a bronze aspect. The five main divisions, according to Johnston, appear to be: (1) the forest Pigmy; (2) the Bantu; (3) the Nile Negro; (4) the Masai, and (5) the Hamite.

The native tribes in the neighbourhood of Leopoldville consist chiefly of the Musserongés, the Kakongos, the Baoilis, and the Mayombés.

Some Tribal Traits.

The Musserongés are difficult of approach. Not only do they hold themselves severely aloof from the white man, they are also very shy and guarded in their intercourse with other native tribes, and are never known to combine with any of them, even when threatened by a common enemy. They are tall, strong, and better-looking than most members of the Negro race, though this commendation must not be taken for a certificate of beauty. They file their teeth to a point, or cut them square, or into semicircles, their object being to provide themselves thereby with a weapon for use as a last resort in a fight, when they literally throw themselves upon their enemies and seize them by the throat with their fangs, as a bulldog might do. They wear their hair short, and indulge in the practice of tattooing, for purposes of ornament, but not to any great extent. Strange to say, the women are taller and stronger than the men, which may perhaps be explained by the fact that all the work of the tribe, except hunting and fishing, falls to their share.

The Kakongos and Mayombés are less intensely distrustful, but the Baoilis are markedly hostile to the white man. They have been known to refuse to barter oysters—their principal diet, of which they frequently have supplies largely exceeding their requirements—for European commodities which it has been certain that they ardently desired to possess.

Women Beating Rice, Uelle.

Modes et Robes à la Congo.

All these four tribes are of cleanly habits; and their practice of bathing daily, when the proximity of a river or lake puts it in their power to do so, may put to shame some of the inhabitants of great cities. The forest tribes, to whom cleanliness by water is impossible, smear their bodies with palm oil and a kind of red ochre, which they afterwards scrape off. The original costume of a few leaves, or an exceedingly small apron made from fibrous bark, for women, and a loincloth of the same material for men, has yielded to the superior attraction of common cotton goods, which now reach them from far-away Manchester or Saxony. These stuffs, ornamented by large patterns in flaming reds or yellows, delight the eye and rejoice the heart of the Congolese maid and matron, while such of the men as desire to stand well with the gentler (?) sex will also condescend to use them. No time and skill are devoted to making a garment. A piece of the gaudy stuff wound in loose folds around the loins suffices both for men and women. In every tribe, children of both sexes are entirely nude until they reach the age of puberty. In at least one tribe, neither men nor women wear any covering. In a few tribes it is customary for the women to remain nude until they are married. Some women denote their married state by covering their breasts with strange ornaments, while others secure this object by elaborately dressing their hair, which they build up to a great height by aid of palm fibre and gum. Both men and women, of whatever tribe, ornament themselves with just as many collars, bangles, and anklets as they can obtain. Without exception, the possession of a few strings of coloured beads is to them a source of great happiness. They gaze upon such treasures with delight and guard them with jealous care. Some of their customs are very peculiar. Men and women will not eat together. A man guilty of eating in company of his wives would be hopelessly disgraced. In time past they have eaten one another, and would doubtless do so again should existing restraint be removed, but they may not eat together. After their separate repast, the sexes mingle again freely, and both engage in smoking their long-stemmed pipes.

Congo Pigmies.

All the males of the Congo Pigmies seen by Sir Harry Johnston were circumcised, and all in both sexes had their upper incisor teeth and canines sharpened to a point. In their forest homes they go naked, both men and women; but in presence of strangers the men usually don a small covering of genet, monkey, or antelope skin, or a wisp of bark-cloth, and the women leaves or bark-cloth.

The Pigmies [says Johnston] have practically no religion, and no trace of spirit- or ancestor-worship. They have some idea that thunder, lightning, and rain are the manifestations of a Power or Entity in the heavens, but a bad Power, and when (reluctantly) induced to talk on the subject, they shake their heads and clack their tongues in disapproval, for the mysterious Something in the heavens occasionally slays their comrades with his fire [lightning]. They have little or no belief in a life after death, but sometimes think vaguely that their dead relations live again in the form of the red bushpig, whose strange bristles are among the few brightly coloured objects that attract their attention. They have no settled government or hereditary chief, merely clustering round an able hunter or cunning fighter, and accepting him as law-giver for the time. Marriage is only the purchase of a girl from her father. Women generally give birth to their offspring in the forest, severing the navel string with their teeth, and burying the placenta in the ground. The dead are usually buried in dug graves, and if men of importance, food, tobacco, and weapons are buried with the corpse.

Tribunal at Boma. Sentencing a Native to Death for Cannibalism Committed in the Upper Congo.

Cicatrisation.

The same authority has observed that all the Bantu-speaking forest folk on the Upper Congo practise cicatrisation. Scores and weals of skin are raised either by burning or cutting with a knife, and introducing the irritating juice of a plant into the wound. The effect of this is to raise on the surface of the body large or small lumps of skin. Sometimes these raised weals are so small that they produce almost the effect of tattooing; at other times they are large, ugly excrescences. The Babira people cicatrise their chests and stomachs; but in the forest, toward the waters of the Congo, their faces are hideously scarred. Both men and women of the Bantu Kavirondo extract the two middle incisor teeth from the lower jaw, in the belief that if a man retains all his lower incisor teeth he will be killed in warfare, and that if the wife fails to pull out her teeth it may cause her husband to perish. For the same reason of averting ill-fortune, a woman inflicts cuts on the skin of her forehead, which leave small scars. The women also, as a means of securing good fortune for themselves and their husbands, make a number of small incisions, usually in patterns, in the skin of the abdomen, into which they rub an irritant, so that huge weals rise up into great lumps of skin. The Kavirondo husband, before setting out to fight or starting on a journey attended with great risks, usually makes a few extra incisions on his wife’s body.

A Gross Fraud.

The traveller in the Congo will frequently observe repulsive disfigurements in the natives, and is very liable to attribute to the cruelty of oppression what are but manifestations of old-time tribal customs. The danger is accentuated by the organised campaign of slander now proceeding against the Congo Free State, which does not scruple to make capital out of such an opportune circumstance.

Almost all the tribes entertain a hazy notion of an invisible Supreme Being; but they regard themselves as of no account in His estimation, and direct their petitions for supernatural aid to their fetiches, which they endeavour to propitiate by gifts through the medium of their witch doctor or medicine man, a kind of priest who pretends to possess supernatural powers and abuses the credulity of his followers to an extraordinary extent.

Strangling Widows.

Among the Mangbettus, a dead chief is buried in a sitting posture, in the centre of a new hut specially built on the banks of a stream. Five of his widows are strangled and their bodies laid out with their feet towards their dead husband. The bodies are then covered with bark-cloth saturated with palm oil, after which the spot is held to be sacred and must not be approached, under penalty of death, by anybody but the ruling chief and one attendant.

The Azandé.

At the mouth of the Uelle is found the great mass of the Azandé, a very numerous and important tribe, who range the country from 23 degrees east to 30 degrees west, and from 6 degrees north to 3 degrees south. There are three subdivisions of the Azandé—the Abandjia, the Avongura, and the Makraka, born fighters all, and devoted to cannibalism. Some of the Azandé men, however, will eat only the flesh of their enemies whom they have slain in battle, declining a diet of human flesh otherwise obtained, though they all (except such of them as dwell south of the Uelle) forbid their women and children to touch it.

Kassai Women Returning from Market.

Batetela Women (Lualaba-Kassai).

And here arises a curious subject for speculation. The cannibalistic Azandé are much farther advanced in the arts of peace and war than many other tribes that are not cannibal—the forest Pigmies, for instance. Notwithstanding some peculiar customs concerning them, they hold their women in high regard, and never barter them for goats and cows, the almost universal practice among other Central African tribes. Their skill, too, in agriculture, pottery, and in the making and playing of their musical instruments, seems quite incompatible with their abhorred anthropophagy.

Each Azandé chief is really a despotic king. His power over his subjects is absolute, and any one of them who is so unfortunate as to offend him is simply handed over to the executioner, a procedure which to the Azandé mind seems the most natural thing in the world. The courage of the Azandés is beyond praise. They know no fear; and when assailed by a murderous fire, against which they have no chance of success, they will rush right up to their enemy and grapple with him hand to hand, though nine-tenths of their fellows fall by the way. Their favourite weapons are the lance and light throwing-spear, and each warrior carries, in addition, a shield.

Ordeal by Poison.

Among the Azandé, criminals condemned to death are despatched with the lance. Occasionally, however, they employ a peculiar method of trial, known as the ordeal by poison, which precludes this method of execution. On such occasions the chief acts as judge, and the person accused is made to drink a cup of poison, the theory being that if the accusation is baseless the accused survives unharmed. Of course, the invariable result is that the drinker falls dead within a minute or so. It is safe to assume that an Azandé chief is sufficiently intelligent never to subject one of his tribe to this ordeal whose death he has not previously determined upon.

Blood-Brotherhood.

Another singular custom, not peculiar to the Azandé, but common to all Central African tribes, is the ceremony of blood-brotherhood. Two men who are in no way related having agreed to become “blood-brothers,” i. e., to live in peace and amity for ever after, meet in the open air, in the presence of the chiefs and people, when a small incision is made in the forearm of each “brother,” sufficiently deep to cause a little blood to flow. Each mutilated one then licks the blood from the other’s arm, and thenceforth they are related as brothers.

African Belles. Hairdressing of Sango Women at Banzyville, 1894 (Ubanghi).

A slight modification of this ceremony was early conceded by the various chiefs to accommodate the pardonable squeamishness of Europeans; and now, instead of licking each other’s blood, the “brothers” merely rub their incisions together, so that their blood may mingle. Stanley was made blood-brother to so many African chiefs that at last his arm was well scored with incisions. Several Belgian commandants, and a few Englishmen, have submitted to this operation; always, it is almost needless to remark, from motives of policy, for it has been proved that Africans regard the rite with real veneration, and esteem the “brother” they acquire by it at least as highly as they would a natural brother.

It is not necessary in this place to give the names of all the tribes of which the native population of the vast Congo region is composed. They are numerous, and for the most part not easily pronounceable. Of the tribes not already referred to, the Basundis, Bakuendas, Batekas, Bayanzis, Bangalas, Batetelas, Mongos, Bantu, and Mombettus are most prominent. While differing in personal appearance, prowess, habits, and customs, clearly denoting that they are not descended from a common stock, there are not wanting certain traits which distinguish them all. All are polygamous, nearly all are cannibal, and the morals of the most advanced among them such as shock the average civilised man upon his first contact with them. Strangely inconsistent with the low moral sense which prevails among most of the tribes, some of them punish the crime of adultery with death, others by horribly mutilating the male offender.

Cannibalism.

Cannibalism has long been suppressed by the Congo Government just as murder is suppressed among civilised communities; but the horrid practice is still indulged here and there, as opportunity occurs for evading the vigilance of the authorities. So recently as 1898, and possibly to the present day, it was necessary to maintain a constant guard at the cemetery in Leopoldville, the chief station on the Upper Congo, to prevent the Bangalas unearthing the dead and carrying them off to feast upon. Several such cases were proved against them, and capital punishment had to be resorted to in order to stamp it out. This horrid subject is sickening to contemplate; but no description, however brief or superficial, of the Congo people, can ignore a fact which has occasioned, and still presents, such a tremendous difficulty for civilisation to surmount. This is but one of many difficulties with which the Congo Free State has had to contend, and those who sit in judgment upon that State should bear in mind that the Central African black is not by nature predisposed to civilisation. Not all the cannibal tribes are so repulsive and cruel as the Bangalas. Most of them eat no other human flesh but that of their enemies slain in battle. That source of supply will not suffice for the Bangalas, who make up its deficiency with prisoners or slaves. Having broken their victim’s limbs, they place him in a pool of water, with his head supported just above its surface so that he may not drown. After having left him in that position for three days (if he survives so long), he is killed and eaten. Another method is to behead the victim, singe all the hair from the body over an ember fire, and then cut it into pieces for cooking. The portions not immediately eaten are smoke-dried and put aside for another occasion. The teeth are extracted and made into necklaces by the women. Sometimes the skin is used for drumheads.

Bakusu Chiefs, Stanleyville.

Bangala Women.

Polygamy.

It is the general opinion of competent observers that polygamy will for many years survive the extinction of cannibalism. Nothing but the spirit of Christianity will overcome that evil. The native mind cannot be induced by ordinary argument to see any wrong in it. Why a man should not have just as many wives as he can afford to buy and keep is too much for his comprehension. He regards woman as created solely for his pleasure and profit, and trades in her accordingly. He buys her from her father for one or two goats or a cow; she becomes the mother of his children, and prepares and cooks his food for him. That is her career, and she shares it with as many other wives as her husband’s inclination and resources permit him to buy. When she dies she is buried—sometimes. Certain Central African tribes regard burial after death as a superfluous ceremony for women, and place their bodies where they will be devoured by hyænas and vultures. From two to three wives is the average quantum of the ordinary Central African barbarian, and between thirty and forty for a chief.

After their prodigious effort and expense in suppressing the slave trade, the Belgians set to work to weld into a homogeneous civilised State a vast region full of warring tribes with attributes such as these, utterly oblivious to all sense of right and truth as readers of these pages understand these words.

A Reflection.

Looking at the Congolese as they were in 1876, and again as they are in 1905, who can honestly deny that King Leopold has, so far, well performed his arduous mission?

CHAPTER XIV
THE CONGO PUBLIC FORCE

To Maintain Order.

The State’s military organisation is constituted by what is called the Congo Public Force (Force Publique). It had its origin in the necessities of the International Association before the State had gone far along its difficult way. It was recruited from the blacks of Zanzibar and along the West Coast at Lagos, Sierra Leone, Elmira, and Accra. The first troops were, therefore, foreigners—Zanzibaris and Haussas. Their foreign origin was, in a sense, an element of security to the Association when it had to direct repressive measures against some of the Congolese tribes. The Zanzibaris and the Haussas had great military aptitude and, lacking sympathy for the Congolese, were generally loyal to their commanders. They loved an enemy from the instinct inherent in savage natures.

The maintenance of this early body of troops was exceedingly expensive for the young State. Besides food, uniform, and medical attendance, these mercenaries received one franc twenty-five centimes a day. Moreover, on the expiration of their term of service they were sent back to their homes at the expense of the Government. As the term of their engagement was only three years, this obligation formed an important addition to their cost.

Group of Warriors, Djabbir.

Coffins for Native Chiefs, Wangata, 1897 (Equateur).

It was beyond the financial power of the State to provide an adequate military organisation on such a basis. While the administrators of the Congo were devising means for the support of an efficient force at a reduced cost, the British government on the Gold Coast prohibited further recruiting of Haussas by foreign states. Barred from getting its soldiers from surrounding British territory, the Congo Government proceeded to develop its earlier plans for raising a native local force, the first purpose of which was that it should supplement the main body of regular troops.

The nucleus of what is the present Public Force were the men of the Bangala tribe, whom Captain Coquilhat employed as armed police when he founded Equateurville in 1885. A short time thereafter, Captain Van Dorpe made the same experiment among the Manyanga. Finding the men from both tribes fit for a military career, the principle of employing aboriginal races in the Public Force was followed with the rapid establishment of the numerous posts and stations erected at that time. The wisdom of employing natives for the organisation of such a national force was soon apparent. In 1888 an order was issued to form eight companies of one hundred and fifty men, with power to increase the number to two hundred and fifty. It was not, however, till 1891 that Baron Van Eetvelde and the Governor-General, M. Camille Janssen, drafted a practical scheme for the foundation of a permanent Public Force. Mr. Demetrius C. Boulger, whose volume entitled The Congo State treats at length of the subject up to 1898, describes the scheme which the Sovereign had approved:

The principal features of the scheme were, that the force should be divided into twelve companies corresponding with the administrative districts, and that one hundred and twenty European officers, chiefly Belgians, should be appointed to the command and disciplining of this force. The different grades of this army were: one commandant, eleven captains, ten lieutenants, thirty-nine sub-lieutenants, and sixty sergeants. The new system of recruiting was of two kinds. The first provided for the engagement of volunteers for a period not exceeding seven years, and the second for an enforced levy of militia by order of the Governor-General, and arranged between the commissary of the district affected and the local chiefs. The levy was to be made, wherever possible, by lot, among the men between the ages of fourteen and thirty. The term of service for the latter was to be five years, with a further period of two years in the reserve. Each man received, besides food for himself and his wife (if he had one), a daily pay of twenty-one centimes, or a sixth of that which had to be paid for the alien soldier. Moreover, the expense of sending the men back to their homes was reduced to a minimum. The reduction in the cost meant, besides a saving to the Government, the possibility of raising the strength of the force to a figure more in proportion to the requirements of the State. Of the old alien contingent, it has never been found possible to maintain more than three thousand men, and the native contribution to this was about two hundred; but in 1891 the latter was increased to sixteen hundred men, and in 1897, by which time the alien element had been eliminated, the Public Force was raised to a grand total of eight thousand militiamen and four thousand volunteers. The number of companies had been raised to twenty-two, with a nominal strength of nine thousand five hundred and forty men at the end of last year (1897), whereas in 1891 the total was only two thousand nine hundred and fifty.

A Bangala Chief, with his Harem.

Native Making Butter at his Home in Botandana (Kivu).

For the purpose of training these forces, seven camps of about five hundred men each were formed, and the period of training the men undergo is fixed at eighteen months. The uniform is blue linen, or, for full uniform, blue cloth, with a scarlet fez. The arm in general use is the Albini, with a short bayonet. The white officers carry the Mauser rifle, with a magazine. The greatest pains is taken in the fire-training and discipline of the men. Competitions are held every three months among sections of fifty men, and prizes awarded. A great improvement has been effected in the housing of the troops, who are now almost entirely accommodated in brick barracks. The artillery of the force is of considerable strength, and includes, Krupps, Maxims and Nordenfelts.

The seven camps of instruction are Zambi, for the Lower Congo; Kinshassa, Bolobo, Irebu, Kassongo, Umangi, La Romee, for the Upper Congo. The principal armed camps, as they are called (because they are bases of military power), are those at Lusambo, Bomokandi, and the Aruwimi; but Vankerckhovenville, Dungu, and Redjaf are now of equal, if not of greater, importance. At Kinshassa, on Stanley Pool, a fort with a battery has been constructed for the protection of Leopoldville and the railway terminus; and here an experiment has been successfully tried of utilising the services of prisoners of war. Men selected from the captives of the numerous expeditions have been passed through a probationary course on the works of this place, and in this manner a considerable number of recruits have been obtained for the Public Force on more favourable terms than the militiamen recruited through the chiefs. Kinshassa is not the only fortified place within the State territory; for at Chinkakassa, near Boma, a strong fort has been constructed, commanding the navigation of the Congo and the approaches from the ocean. Here Captain Petillon, of the Belgian Engineers, has placed eight Krupps and a number of smaller guns in an admirably selected position, while the Mongos tribe, from the Equateurville district, has supplied an adequate number of skilful and handy gunners. The authorities of the Congo State will experience no difficulty in procuring suitable men for this arm of their Public Force.

The first and oldest company of the Public Force deserves a special notice to itself. This is the auxiliary company of the Congo Railway, and was founded by royal decree of 9th August, 1890, or twelve months earlier than the decree constituting the general force. Its organisation was entrusted to Captain Weyns, an officer of the Carabiniers. Its strength was first fixed at the modest total of fifty men; in 1892 it was increased to a hundred men, and afterwards it received a further addition of fifty men. The task entrusted to this corps was the protection of the railway works and of the villages through which the railway passed. As eight thousand navvies were employed on the line, and as these were composed of many nationalities, the task was no sinecure, but it was performed with perfect success and without friction. The auxiliary force was recruited in a different manner from the rest of the military. It contained several elements: for instance, twenty-five Senegalese, and fifty Batetelas from the country between the Sankuru and the Lualaba. Although of precisely the same race as the mutineers of the Dhanis column, the latter gave no trouble in 1897. Like the other militiamen of the State, they serve for five years with the colours and for two years in the reserve, but the cost of maintaining this corps is borne by the railway company. It, however, forms an integral part of the general Public Force, and can be utilised if any occasion arises. Captain Weyns reported so favourably of the quickness of the Batetela recruits and their military aptitude, that all vacancies in this company are now, like those in the rest of the Public Force, filled up with natives of the Congo territory.

In the archives of the Congo State’s Administration in Brussels, there are interesting official reports dealing with the question of creating a reliable native force from the most civilised of the Congolese tribes. The problem was not without many peculiar difficulties. Baron Van Eetvelde, whose lofty aims for Congolese civilisation were fortified with many wise measures of great utility to the Government, had formulated plans for the establishment of a system of military conscription, as to which in January, 1897, he reported as follows:

The State has set itself to the task of creating a purely national army, with the view of lightening the budget of the considerable charges which weighed upon it through having to recruit abroad, and also with the view of putting an end, in accordance with the highest dictates of policy, to its dependence in this matter upon foreigners. It considers, moreover, the period of military service as a salutary school for the native, where he will learn respect for authority and the obligations of duty. It is happy, from this view, to see the number of national militiamen increase, and, in order that the institution may preserve all its value, special provisions have been made to prevent abuses, to regulate the recruiting, to assure the welfare of soldiers on service, and to provide occupation for those who have served their term. The decree on the recruiting of the Public Force is not more rigorous than any other similar act of legislation, and the incorporation is made under as sure guarantees of human liberty as in the armies of Europe. As is the case in almost all countries, the recruiting, independent of voluntary engagements, is made by annual levies, but “within the limits of the contingent fixed by the King-Sovereign,” and within these limits “the Governor-General determines the districts and localities in which the levy is to be made, and also the proportion to be furnished by each locality.... The mode according to which the levy operates is determined by the district commissary in agreement with the native chief; and although the drawing by lot is recommended, we must recognise that it would be difficult, in the present circumstances, to have recourse always and everywhere to this method in each village, and to refuse to recognise the customary authority of the village chief, when he designates the militiamen among his own dependants.... The length of active service is for five years. At the expiration of this term, the men pass two years in the reserve. The time passed under the colours, then, cannot exceed seven years—a term which experience shows not to be excessive; and it is strictly forbidden to keep under the flags men who are no longer borne on the lists, or whose term of service has expired, under pain of misdemeanour. These organic dispositions have been completed by instructions, which prescribe on the officers ‘to watch carefully that the men receive a sufficient nourishment, are comfortably housed, that the sick are well taken care of, that the men are always properly treated, that their misconduct is dealt with in conformity with the regulations, and carefully avoiding all excessive severity.

In fact, this system renders light for the native his obligations as a soldier. We do not desire any other proof than those four thousand volunteers who are actually enrolled, and those numerous re-engagements, which show the taste of the native for the profession of arms. It was not with an army of malcontents that the State could have carried out its anti-slavery campaign. The State continues to interest itself in its soldiers after their term has expired. The time-expired men, sent back to their homes at its expense, together with their wives and children (if there are any), are the object of special protection, and receive concessions of land in a station at their own choice.

Native Canoes, Lower Congo.

Fishermen, Uvvia.

The latest report of the Vice-Governor-General (July, 1904) indicates the great improvement to which the Public Force has attained since the date of Baron Van Eetvelde’s statement of the system which prevailed in 1897. Local experience in savage lands should be the foundation of the reforms imposed. In the case of the State’s Public Force, many local conditions, traits, and prejudices, and much inaptitude, were encountered to modify or extend those principles of police control which the State’s earlier administration had adopted with characteristic hopefulness. M. Fuchs sets forth the present position of the Force with considerable detail and suggestion:

The Government is aware that the military service of the black race must be the object of constant watchfulness, in order that it may be impossible for them to practise the cruelties to which their primitive instincts might impel them.

The officers and commanders of the troops have been often warned that they must show themselves inflexible guardians of the observance of those instructions, which have been issued for the protection of the natives against any possible abuse on the part of soldiers left in isolated positions or subject to insufficient control. Instructions have been given to this effect—and I am happy to be able to say that they have been almost everywhere faithfully carried out. Any contravention of the order forbidding the despatch of armed soldiers under the command of black officers is also severely punished, and may entail even the dismissal of the agent in fault. These measures have been completed by the formal prohibition of the employment of auxiliaries under no matter what circumstances.

It has also been laid down that direct relations are to be established between the natives and European agents. In order still further to strengthen the maintenance of discipline among the soldiers of the black race, the regulations on the subject have been completed by the penalty of dismissal from the Public Force. This is the most severe punishment in the eyes of the soldiers, for they highly esteem the profession of arms. Dismissal from the Public Force is inflicted on those soldiers who show themselves absolutely incorrigible or who are unworthy to remain in the ranks. In order to surround this rigorous measure with all the necessary guarantees, the soldiers whom it is wished to dismiss are brought before a Council of Discipline. The dismissal is pronounced, at Boma by the Commander of the Public Force; in the districts by the District Commissioner or by the head of the expedition, after examining the charge, the evidence, and the decision of the Council. Chiefs of zones cannot pronounce dismissal.

The Government have just finally decided that, for the future, the soldiers of the Public Force shall not take part in work at the stations, and that their time shall be exclusively given up to their instruction, education, and military service. The former arrangements which put soldiers, during some hours of the day, at the disposal of the territorial chiefs, chiefs of zones, and chiefs of posts, over and above the hours assigned for military duty, have been modified so as to maintain in a more continuous fashion the men under the control of their officers. In order to make this decision of the Government as fruitful as possible, the territorial chiefs have been ordered to reduce to the effective force strictly necessary for the assurance of security, the garrisons stationed at the posts in zones and districts, and to concentrate at the chief places in the territory garrisons as complete as possible. These measures are intended to produce the best results from the point of view of educating and instructing the troops, as well as from that of assuring military discipline, provided the territorial chiefs scrupulously carry out the new instructions mentioned above.

It has also been pointed out to them that it will be expressly recommended to the officials charged with the inspection—and the Government has decided to increase the inspections throughout the State territories—to ascertain if all these instructions, concerning the execution of the new table of daily work for the public force, have been carried out.

The other measures of organisation which have been passed, the formal prohibition to establish posts commanded by black officers, or to confide military operations to them, and finally forbidding the practice of taking sub-officers from their military duties to employ them as chiefs of stations, are of a nature to make us hope that very soon our public force will constitute a body in which we may have complete confidence.

Uelle Chief and his Wives, Van Kerckhovenville.

Port of Leopoldville. Natives at Work.

In February, 1904, I thought it my duty to point out to the Government the manner in which instruction was given in the camps, and to draw its attention to the necessity that there would be to engage quickly a superior officer entrusted more especially with the mission of seeing to the higher direction and the general control of all the orders issued concerning the Public Force. The Government, which had also occupied itself with the question, has confided this high employment to a superior officer who will be entrusted with the command of the Public Force.

The Government has resolved to send, at the same time three or four officers of the grade of commandant to be attached to the staff of the Public Force, and whom the commander will be able to appoint to exercise constant control over the companies and camps.

It is right to recall the fact that military service is so far from constituting a laborious servitude for those subjected to it, by virtue of the organic law of conscription, that voluntary engagements increase from year to year. Besides, the instructions of the Government encourage this state of mind by improving the well-being of the soldier from the triple point of view of habitation, food, and clothing. And they are not only natives of Congolese territory, properly speaking, who seek there military employment; numerous Africans coming from the English colonies of the West Coast solicit engagement at Boma.

The table (on page 174) of the engagements of men, natives of the coast and British subjects, is characteristic in this respect.

The multiplicity of voluntary enrolments will gradually remove, from the absolutely indispensable law of conscription, what might seem rigorous, particularly in the eyes of people not yet thoroughly acquainted with civilisation, and with the idea of the necessity of public order.

It is nevertheless important to note that the efforts attempted with the view of nationalising the police forces are being crowned more and more with success. The State can now renounce the assistance, elsewhere advantageous, of foreign mercenaries, thanks to the methodical, extensive, and wise application of the militia law, and especially to the considerable increase in the number of national volunteers. But there

YearsAccraHaussas (Lagos)Sierra-Leonese
(British)(British)(British)
EngagedRe-EngagedOfficersEngagedRe-EngagedOfficersEngagedRe-EngagedOfficers
188350
188430
1885202
188652
18876422016
1888300517
18891054204
18901,2005312
18915426119
1892300169125133
1893192345013979039
18942951760141471052
1895362330101172202
18963230028111364010
189766706855432
1898813320011142003712
1899191171401576529
1900152017550388
1901131526692439
190226110504427010
190371021737596
56343115,3353411772,59842382

could be no question of abandoning the system of recruiting by means of regional conscription. It signifies, indeed, that all the population throughout the whole extent of the territory participates in this public charge as much in the interests of the regular and permanent operation of the recruiting of the national militia as in that also of the natives who benefit by the lessons of their military profession (a sense of order, discipline, cleanliness, clothes, hygiene, habitation, &c.). The stay in the ranks of the armed force has as its principal advantage their initiation in civilised life, and their preparation for a regular life of work.

Tailors’ School, New Antwerp (Bangala).

The proportion of deaths has become very low among the blacks of the Public Force and among the labourers. This is due in a great degree to the improved conditions under which our men live. The lodgment is well aired and neatly kept. The food is varied as much as possible, and its careful preparation is provided for. The camps of the soldiers of the Public Force are well kept up. Barracks constructed in stone with cemented floors serve in the Lower Congo as lodgment for our troops. The black officers have their habitation separate from that of their men.

In the stations on the upper river these prescripts are also well followed. At Boma the creation of a working city, constructed of well-chosen materials, is in progress.

It is interesting to quote with regard to the constant and progressive improvement in the existence of the natives the following paragraphs from the report of Mr. Casement, His Britannic Majesty’s Consul:

“Then (in 1887) I had visited most of the places I now revisited, and I was thus able to institute a comparison between a state of affairs I had myself seen when the natives lived their own savage lives in anarchic and disorderly communities, uncontrolled by Europeans, and that created by more than a decade of very energetic European intervention. That very much of this intervention has been called for, no one who formerly knew the Upper Congo could doubt, and there are to-day widespread proofs of the great energy displayed by Belgian officials in introducing their methods of rule over one of the most savage regions of Africa.

“Admirably built and admirably kept stations greet the traveller at many points.

“The Government station of Leopoldville numbers, I was informed by its chief, some 130 Europeans, and probably 300 native Government workmen, who all dwell in well-ordered lines of either very well-built European houses, or, for the native staff, mud-built huts.

“On the whole, Government workmen at Leopoldville struck me as being well cared for, and they were certainly none of them idle.”

In thus taking care of their employés the agents have performed a duty which has not only resulted in the well-being of the blacks, but has also allowed of a reduction in the number of the workers, and accomplishing better and more rapidly executed work.

Imperfect, but Good.

It will be observed elsewhere in this volume that some of those who condemn the State’s system of government point to the Force Publique as the chief instrument by which the Administration encompasses the enslavement of the native population. There are glaring discrepancies in what such persons, either maliciously or in ignorance, represent as the police system which prevails in the State at the present time. There does not exist a police system anywhere in Europe or Africa which has not some inherent defect. To expect the highest discipline and the utmost control in a police body composed of the imperfectly civilised Negroes of Equatorial Africa is only one manifestation of that narrow, unintelligent outlook upon the subject over which certain persons are agitating themselves into suspicious frenzy. The report of M. Fuchs denotes that the State’s police system is founded upon high principles of justice, that discipline and order are being maintained without the abuse of power, and that, whatever individuals may have done to transgress in the sphere of their opportunity, no such extravagant charges of misgovernment as a few persons have made can be fixed upon a State with the police laws above indicated. A million square miles of savage territory are governed with 14,270 natives enrolled in the State’s military service. This is seven soldiers to about every 625 square miles. Does this not signify native respect for, and tranquillity in, the State? What civilised community maintains its authority with such a meagre force?

Steam Saw-Mill, Boma.

CHAPTER XV
BELGIAN CAMPAIGNS AGAINST THE ARABS

A Fight to the Death.

IT had long been foreseen, as an inevitable result of the advent of the Belgians in Central Africa, that a direct conflict between them and the Arabs, continued to the extinction of one or other of the belligerents, must sooner or later take place. The chief cause of the presence of the Belgians in the country being the suppression of slavery was in itself sufficient to assure this. As shown in the chapter dealing with that subject, the Belgian pioneers in establishing posts throughout the country were guided chiefly in their selection of sites by a desire to obstruct the natural routes of the slave-traders; and this, as we have seen, had the effect of frequently bringing Belgians and Arabs into collision.

After the Belgian operations on the Uelle and Lualaba, the Arabs became seriously alarmed. They perceived not only their nefarious method of livelihood at stake, but their very existence as a coherent fighting force was also threatened. In dread at this prospect, the Arabs resolved to precipitate matters, and took the offensive. It is not easy to see what other conclusion they could have reached, for the Belgians had now concerted practical measures which rendered their raids upon Negro villages no longer possible, while such Negro chiefs as had hitherto been amenable to Arab influence had been either alienated or killed off in fair fight. A tax on ivory, too, imposed by the Congo Government in 1891, though moderate in amount and perfectly just in its incidence, was bitterly resented by them. It was clear, therefore, that the only hope for the Arabs lay in recovering the country which the Belgians had wrested from them; and as with every day that passed their chances of doing this became more remote, they resolved to stake all that was left to them upon one desperate effort.

Camp of Bangalas, Stanleyville.

The first practical proof of this intention came upon the Belgians somewhat as a surprise. M. Hodister, acting on behalf of the Belgian Society of the Upper Congo, a company of merchant adventurers, had founded two stations on the river Lomami. In this act, M. Hodister was held by the Congo Administration to have exceeded the range permitted him, Lieutenant Le Marinel, the Belgian officer commanding that region, having foreseen danger in pressing so closely upon the Arabs, a contingency with which he was not as yet prepared to deal. But the opportunity of striking a blow afforded by Hodister’s precipitate act was too inviting to be neglected, and the Arabs promptly seized it. The blow fell March 15, 1892, near Riba Riba, on the Congo, the Arabs murdering Hodister and his ten white companions. It was not a fight; it was a massacre. Elated by their success, the Arabs next proceeded to burn the factories belonging to the Belgian Society of the Upper Congo, and to kill their inmates; so that, for the moment, the collapse of Belgian power in that section of the country was complete.

Another event that occurred about this time served to emphasise the determination of the Arabs. Rashid,[16] the Arab governor of Stanley Falls, on being invited by the Belgians to assist in obtaining the punishment of the murderers of Hodister and his companions, absolutely refused to have anything to do with the matter, and with difficulty concealed the satisfaction he felt at that tragic event. Sefu, a son of Tippo Tip, began now to realise his father’s property, an ominously significant act. On all sides it was felt that a crisis was at hand, and Lieut. Le Marinel prepared to meet it by appointing to the command of the camp at Lusambo Lieut. Francis Dhanis, an officer who had distinguished himself by founding the camp at Bosoko, on the Aruwimi, and in many other ways exhibited uncommon energy and resource.

Immediately upon the arrival of Lieut. Dhanis at Lusambo, intelligence reached him that Gongo Lutete was on the war-path, seeking to pass the Sankuru. This Gongo Lutete was a Negro chief who had allied himself with the Arabs and assisted them in enslaving his own race. The following is a description of him from the pen of Dr. Sidney Hinde:

Gongo Lutete was by blood a Bakussu. He had himself been a slave, having as a child fallen into the hands of the Arabs. While still a youth, as a reward for his distinguished conduct and pluck on raiding expeditions, he was given his freedom. Starting with one gun at eighteen years of age, he gradually collected a band of brigands round him, whom he ruled with a rod of iron, and before long became Tippo Tip’s chief slave and ivory hunter. At the time of his adhesion to the State, Gongo was perhaps thirty years of age. He was a well-built, intelligent-looking man of about five feet nine inches in height, with a brown skin, large brown eyes with very long lashes, a small mouth with thin lips, and a straight comparatively narrow nose. His hands were his most remarkable characteristic; they were curiously supple, with long narrow fingers, which when outstretched had always the top joint slightly turned back. One or both hands were in constant movement, opening and shutting restlessly, especially when he was under any strong influence. His features meanwhile remained absolutely immovable. One had to see this man on the war-path to realise the different aspects of his character. The calm, haughty chief, or the genial and friendly companion, became on the battle-field an enthusiastic individual with a highly nervous organisation, who hissed out his orders one after another without a moment’s hesitation. He was capable of sustaining intense fatigue, and would lead his warriors through the country at a run for hours together.

Types of Lokélés, Jafungas (Oriental Province).

With such a redoubtable fighter as Gongo Lutete to contend with, it was clear to Lieut. Dhanis that no time must be lost. Believing, with von Moltke, that the best defence against your enemy is to attack him, Dhanis moved against Lutete without delay, and brought him to battle on the 23d of April, and again on the 5th and 9th of May. The first two engagements were undecisive. The third proved a hard fight. At first the fortunes of the day were all in favour of the Arabs; and when his native auxiliaries turned and fled it seemed impossible for Lieut. Dhanis to gain the victory. But that very circumstance, so disconcerting in itself, saved the Belgians. As the Arabs advanced, they shouted: “Do not fire! These are natives; make them prisoners.” It was a fatal command. The Belgians rallied, and received their foes with such a tremendous fusillade that they were thrown into confusion and took refuge in flight. Gongo Lutete surrendered unconditionally to Lieut. Dhanis, and professed himself henceforth a faithful vassal of the Congo State. He was an able man, probably the most intelligent of the Negro race in the country, and certainly the best acquainted with the wily Arab and his ways; so, after some hesitation, his overtures of friendship were accepted. The force which Gongo Lutete had commanded being now at the disposal of the Belgians, its first employment under its new masters was the establishment of a new post on the Lomami, at Gandu, on the route to Nyangwe and Kassongo.

Arab Treachery.

Meanwhile Sefu, son of Tippo Tip, had not been inactive. With cunning worthy of his father, he had no sooner returned from Stanley Falls to Kassongo than he made war upon the station there and seized it. Two Belgian officers, Lieutenants Lippens and De Bruyn, were also captured by him, to whom he confided the comforting assurance that he only refrained from putting them to death because he hoped to find them useful as hostages in his negotiations with the Congo Government. Sefu had for his ally Munie Moharra, chief of Manyema, a powerful Arab leader. Between them they raised a formidable force, which they hastened to employ against the Belgians. Before doing so, however, they stated the terms upon which they would make peace. As these terms included, among other provisions, handing over to them Gongo Lutete and the establishment of a new frontier to be indicated by them, there was really nothing for the Belgians to consider. Their terms being, of course, refused, the Arabs marched from Nyangwe and Kassongo in the direction of the Lomami. Their exact numbers are not known; but notwithstanding the defection of Gongo Lutete and his following, it is certain that they were very numerous.

The force at the disposal of Lieut. Dhanis, though not so great as that of the Arabs, was yet a considerable one. His staff consisted of seven Europeans, and he had three hundred and fifty regular troops and one 7-5 Krupp gun. The command of the troops acquired by Gongo Lutete’s defection from the Arabs, numbering several thousands, was entrusted to Captain Michaux, with Lieut. Duchesne second in command. The Arabs having crossed the Lomami at a lower point than where they had been expected, were met by Captain Michaux and Gongo Lutete at Chige, and a battle ensued. The Arabs numbered sixteen thousand men, not more than half of whom were armed with muskets, the rest carrying bows and spears. Lutete having complained that his men could not fight because their guns had become wet with the rain, Michaux, knowing that the Arabs must be labouring under a like difficulty, ordered a general attack. His men responded nobly and a fierce fight ensued, but it was of brief duration. Perceiving that they were out-generalled, the Arabs became confused and rushed madly into the river which they had recently been at so much pains to cross, only to find that retreat was impossible. In that situation they were shot down in great numbers. Twelve hundred Arabs were drowned, more than half that number lay dead upon the battle-field, and nearly a thousand prisoners were captured, together with a large quantity of war material. Thus opened the Arab campaign on November 23, 1892, with the battle of Chige.

Having re-formed his forces, Lieut. Dhanis now crossed the Lomami, determined to carry the war into the enemy’s stronghold. His army, which had been reinforced, was now quite a large one, numbering six Belgian officers, four hundred regulars, and twenty-five thousand natives, the latter being commanded in detail by their own chiefs. Lieut. Scherlink and Dr. Hinde commanded the advance guard. Michaux and Gongo Lutete marched together, and joined forces with Scherlink and Hinde at Lusana. On the route, several Negro chiefs made their submission and strengthened the force with men and provisions.

A Triple Tragedy.

On reaching Lusana, the Belgian leaders learned with deep regret that Sefu, son of Tippo Tip, had put to death their brave comrades, De Bruyn and Lippens, and that he had also executed a native who had endeavoured to save them, in circumstances at once pathetic and heroic. Sefu, it now appeared, accompanied by Munie Moharra, was hurrying to attack Dhanis, and the latter instructed Lieutenants Delcommune and Francqui, then just returned from Katanga, to intercept him if possible.

But the second battle of the campaign was to be fought by Dhanis’ force. It took place on December 30th, and opened inauspiciously for the Belgians, Gongo Lutete’s men being defeated and dispersed. Fortunately they formed only the advanced guard, and on Dhanis and Michaux coming up the fortune of the day changed. Dhanis confined his energies to a frontal attack, while Michaux assailed the Arabs’ flank. What Lutete’s irregulars had been unable to do, the Belgians accomplished—but not easily. Part of the battle was fought in a swamp.

The Belgians displayed great courage under extraordinary difficulties, and continued the fight until the Arabs broke and fled. The honours of the day rested with the Krupp gun, which killed many and frightened more. The Arabs left two hundred men dead on the field, the Congo State only eighty, in which number is included the wounded. When the Belgians captured their enemies’ camp, it was found that they had slain their own women, that being the barbarous custom of the Arabs to which they resort whenever there is danger of their women being made prisoners of war.

Review of Troops by Governor-General at New Antwerp.

Immediately after this battle, the Congo State force crossed the Mwadi to a plateau known as the Gois Kapopa, and, having set up a camp there, rested for a week. At the end of that period intelligence reached Lieutenant Dhanis that Sefu had gathered about him a vast following and was again threatening trouble. Slightly counteracting the danger this implied, the same messenger also announced that, by order of Lieutenant Delcommune, Lieutenant Cassart, with a numerous body of men, was then on his way to join Dhanis.

Cassart came, as announced, but met with a desperate adventure by the way. He had been entrusted to bring to Dhanis fifty thousand cartridges, and was provided with an escort of thirty European soldiers and about two hundred and fifty of Gongo Lutete’s men. All went well with him until dawn of January 9, 1893, when he was suddenly attacked by Moharra. A short, sharp fight ensued, as a result of which Cassart contrived to reach Dhanis’ camp with a loss of only seven men; he also saved his cartridges, all but the five thousand or so that he had used during the fight.

The conflict between Moharra and Cassart occurred not far from the Belgian camp and was heard there, whereupon Dhanis sent a detachment of his men under Lieutenant De Wouters to join Cassart. De Wouters failed to effect his object; but he came upon a portion of Moharra’s men, who mistook his force for a contingent from Sefu coming to their aid. When within twenty yards of the Arabs, De Wouters undeceived them by opening a terrific fire upon them. At the first volley Moharra fell dead. He had been wounded in his fight with Cassart, and was being carried by his wives when he met his fate.

A Cannibal Feast.

The manner in which the news of Moharra’s death was conveyed to Sefu is a sufficiently striking proof of the debased savagery with which the Belgian civilisers have had to contend. They “broke the news gently” to him, thus: “We ate Moharra a few days ago.”

The death of Moharra and defeat of his troops so upset Sefu’s calculations that he immediately abandoned his strong camp on the Kipango, and betook himself and his followers behind the Lualaba, on Nyangwe. But for the unfortunate breaking of a bridge, Dhanis would have attacked him in his retreat. In consequence of that accident, Sefu was enabled to cross the river without molestation. Dhanis, having no canoes, could not come up with him; so the two forces settled down on either side of the river for five weeks and occasionally exchanged harmless shots.

Soldiers’ Mess, Suruango, 1903 (Uelle).

Soldiers’ Wives, Bumba.

The canoes in which the Arabs had crossed the river belonged to the Wagenia, a tribe who made their home hereabouts and who lived chiefly by fishing. Nearly all their canoes were now in the possession of the Arabs, who evinced no disposition to part from them. Dhanis exerted all his wit to induce the Wagenia to provide him with canoes, but they either could not or would not. Professing friendship for both belligerents, and ready at all times to take bribes from each, they proved useful go-betweens. One day the Wagenia reported that the store of provisions in Nyangwe was almost exhausted. “Here,” said Dhanis to his informant, “take these six fowls to Sefu and present them to him from me. Tell him that at present I have plenty, but when my supply runs out I will cross the river.” This message deceived Sefu, as it was intended to do. As a matter of fact, the six fowls were the only ones Dhanis had in his camp. The effect of this strategem was perceived before many days, the Arabs coming over to the western side of the river, where they began to build forts, or “bomas,” as they call them, a short distance below the Belgian camp. Dhanis resolved to attack them at once, and with this object divided his force into two columns. The engagement that ensued proved a complete triumph for the State troops. The Arabs lost nearly a thousand men, many being drowned in an attempt to swim across the river. The Wagenia, anxious to ally themselves with the winning side, hastened to produce canoes in abundance. Dhanis was now able to transport his troops across the Upper Congo, and, that object achieved, he captured Nyangwe almost without an effort, Sefu retreating to Kassongo without firing a shot. This event occurred on 4th March, 1893.

Though Dhanis was now master of Nyangwe, his difficulties were not all surmounted. He had not been installed there many days before it became necessary to burn down a large part of the town in order to frustrate an attempt by the Arabs to surprise it. Then other and worse dangers threatened. Influenza and smallpox broke out among his men and decimated them. No active prosecution of the campaign was possible until April, when these plagues abated and reinforcements, five hundred strong, under Commandant Gillain and Lieutenant Doorme, arrived.

Civilisation Triumphant.

Leaving De Wouters in command at Nyangwe, Dhanis now marched on Kassongo. It was a bold venture, for while the Arabs had sixty thousand men, and held four “bomas,” Dhanis disposed of only three hundred regular troops and two thousand auxiliaries. On April 22, Doorme had the good fortune, at the beginning of the fight, to rush an important fort which commanded the Arab rear. The Arabs were greatly perturbed by this circumstance, and fought with less than their usual valour. Before two hours had passed, Kassongo was in the hands of the Congo State troops, with vast quantities of valuable spoil. The triumph of civilisation over savagery was complete, the only jarring note in Belgian ears being confirmation of the murder of Emin Pasha a month before.[17]

Hospital, New Antwerp.

The White Man’s Cemetery, Stanleyville.