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.