The story of the Congo Free State

by Henry Wellington Wack

The Gospel of Thoroughness.

Realising to the full that complete success in any undertaking is only possible where all the conditions affecting it are thoroughly understood, the Congo State, early in its career, established nineteen scientific stations, at various points throughout its territories, for the collection of data relating to anthropology, botany, ethnography, geology, philology, pisciculture, mineralogy, zoölogy, etc., and for trigonometrical and astronomical surveys. Each of these stations is in charge of an expert, with properly qualified assistants. They have transmitted to Europe a whole literature of monographs, of great interest and value, upon all sorts of subjects, and their field of work is still far from being exhausted. The study of the Congo climate by these savants has proved especially valuable, their recommendations as to regimen, dress, habitation, etc., for travellers and settlers, having reduced the death rate of the whites to six per cent., thus dispelling for ever the old notion of the deadliness of Central Africa, and showing it to be at least as healthful as India, and healthier than either German East Africa, the Cameroons, the Niger Territory, or Cochin China. A small, but continual and increasing, influx of Europeans and Americans demonstrates the gradual abandonment of fear of the Congo climate, and faith in the hygienic system inaugurated by the Belgians,—a system which maintains sixteen State doctors to watch over and report upon the health of the various stations, and a permanent Hygienic Commission, which sits at Boma.

Museum at Tervueren.

At the royal palace of Tervueren, near Brussels, now used as a public museum, are exhibited nearly eight thousand objects illustrating industry and art among the primitive peoples of Central Africa, such as costumes, dwellings, musical instruments, and implements of hunting, fishing, agriculture, river navigation, and war. The museum also contains several thousand geological, mineralogical, and zoölogical specimens, and a very comprehensive herbarium, all collected within the borders of the Congo Free State. The latter is of particular interest, containing specimens of more than four hundred new species.

From the first it has been the unswerving policy of the Congo Free State to promote, by every means at its disposal, the advancement of science as it affects, and as it is affected by, conditions prevailing within its territories. Until the Belgians came among them, smallpox from time to time decimated the natives, and was as great an evil as the slave trade or their own internecine wars. They had no conception of its prevention or cure, and submitted to its ravages with unintelligent dumb passivity as a providential visitation impossible to resist. The white man with his vaccine was a revelation to them; and though they at first refused to believe in its efficacy, and would not accept vaccination, they soon perceived the error of their disbelief; and now they voluntarily come to the Belgian medical officers asking to be vaccinated. Both Boma and New Antwerp have vaccine producing institutions, and vaccine is also distributed from Coquilhatville and Stanleyville. The results are most gratifying; for although, unfortunately, smallpox is by no means stamped out of the Congo State it is far less prevalent and less virulent than formerly, so that it is not unreasonable to look for its practical extinction in the near future.

The Sleeping Sickness.

To the present, Science has proved powerless to cope with that strange malady, the sleeping-sickness. The ablest physicians, not only of Belgium, but of England, France, and Germany, have studied the disease exhaustively. Though much valuable data relating to its cause and effect have been collected, the discovery of its antidote seems as far off to-day as ever. The prevalence of this fatal sickness among its people makes it a subject of vital concern to the Congo Government, which is unceasingly vigilant in seeking to discover the means for its extinction or alleviation. In its pursuit of this object, all possible facilities have been afforded to foreign doctors visiting the Congo State. By request of the English medical faculty, three Congolese patients, suffering from sleeping sickness, were recently sent to the School of Tropical Medicine at Liverpool. On another occasion two others were sent to the Charing Cross Hospital in London. Animals have been infected with the germs of the disease, and its every symptom, from inception to climax, noted with minute accuracy. The disease, which is invariably fatal, appears to be on the increase, and there have been many victims of it on the Gold Coast as well as in the Congo State. For some obscure reason this dreadful malady has been strictly confined to individuals of the black race. Notwithstanding its want of success in combating the evil, the Congo Government may congratulate itself that it has neglected no precaution, and spared no expense, in its effort to mitigate what may conceivably develop into a veritable plague.[25]

In numerous ways has the Congo Government applied modern science to the uplifting and general betterment of the people over whom it rules, without distinction of colour or creed. Twenty-seven medical men, holders of European diplomas, twenty Health Committees scattered throughout the country, a Bacteriological Institute, and a Hospital for Natives at Boma not only labour for the cure of disease, but disseminate as widely as possible among the natives knowledge of the laws of health. On the whole, the work has been marvellously productive of good results, and the native is now incomparably more healthful, cleaner, better fed, and better housed than at any previous period of his history.

Progress of Agriculture.

Horses and Cattle.