The Europeans and the natives were on the worst of terms. One of the first things he did was to hold a conference with all the neighboring chiefs, and endeavor to restore the feelings of good-fellowship which had previously existed. So successful was he, that he soon induced the chiefs to sign a treaty, in which they agreed to unite with him, as a representative of the Association, to control the entire country south and west of Stanley Pool for the purpose of promoting civilization.
The Association had always been regarded as the chief power. It was in the eyes of the native chiefs invested with sovereign rights affecting peace, war, and commerce. Each chief received a flag of the Association as a symbol of the new confederation. This he was to hoist above his grass-roofed hut on specified state occasions.
Soon after this treaty was signed, Stanley and his little fleet prepared to depart for the Upper Congo. He had a force of about eighty men and a cargo of about six tons, on board his little fleet of vessels, which consisted of two steamers, a launch, a whale boat, and a canoe.
He writes of his outfit: "We have axes to hew the forests, hammers to break the rock, spades to turn up the sod and to drain the marsh, or shovels to raise the rampart, scythes to mow the grass, hatchets to penetrate the jungle, and seeds of all kinds for sowing, saws to rip planking, and hammers, nails, and cabinet-makers' tools to make furniture, needles and thread for sewing all the cloth in these bales, twine to string their beads; and besides these useful articles in the cases, there are also countless 'notions' and fancy knick-knacks to appease the cupidity of the most powerful chief, or excite the desire for adornment in woman."
Among other items may be mentioned some articles used in trade by the white man when he journeyed on the Congo: "A case of velvet caps and hats, six cases of fancy beads, forty-seven bales of cloth, an enormous quantity of medicine, ammunition, and provisions, and four thousand pounds of brass rods."
It is interesting to know that the currency of this section of Africa consists of a brass rod, short and slender. Great numbers of these are required to equal the value of a very small amount of money. Stanley, at one time, had to pay eight hundred of these rods for provisions enough to last the station at Leopoldville three days.
Stanley gives an interesting description of the Upper Congo above Chumbiri, where the wide stretches of the river are thickly studded with islets.
"We have been voyaging, since leaving Boma and the estuary-like breadth of the Lower Congo, in a pass, or defile. From Boma to Vivi, we steamed between two lines of mountain heights. Between Vivi and Isangila, we traveled in a narrow valley parallel with the chasmic trough of the Congo. Between Isangila and Manyanka, our boats ran up the crooked, ravine-like valley of the river. Between Manyanka and Leopoldville, we marched along the edge of the deep fracture in the high land through which the Congo continuously roars.
"Then, after a slight relief, obtained by the lake-like expansion called Stanley Pool, we have been confined again between two mountain lines of more or less picturesqueness, up as far as the rocky point above Chumbiri, to finally emerge into the lacustrine breadth, which the voluminous waters of the Congo have scooped out of the plains and lowlands which we now behold on either hand.
"The real heart of Equatorial Africa is this central fertile region, whose bountiful, unparalleled richness of soil will repay the toil and labor required to bring it within the reach of Europe.