A GLIMPSE OF THE CONGO STATE.*
• The First Ascent of the Mimi, being some Records of Service under the Lone Star. By Charles Somerville Latrobe Bateman. London: George Philip and Son. Mn. LATROBE BATEMAN, who did some service under the "Lone Star"—that is, the flag of the Congo Free State—has put into one instructive volume, illustrated by etchings, engravings, and chromo-lithographs from his sketches, the record of his observations and experiences in a country east . of Stanley Pool and south of the great African river. Originally employed in a business house at Mayumba, he took service early in 1884 ;. was much engaged in contending with a
European and semi-European population of mixed nationality and almost unmiTed villainy;" then in route-surveying ; after- wards as Adjutant at a camp of instruction, where he met Sir Francis de Winton, who placed him under Dr. Wolf's command. Lieutenant Wissmann, who had struck the upper Kasai and descended that river to the Congo, was escorted by a native chief, Calemba, and his subjects through hostile tribes ; and the duty entrusted to Dr. Wolf was that of conveying the friendlynatives, Baluba, back from Leopoldville to their own country, and of establishing a station in the neighbourhood. That involved the ascent of the Kasai River as far as it was navigable, or rather, to the junction of two other streams, the Lulua and Luebo, above the point where their combined waters mingle with the Kasai. The returning expedition embarked in two steamers, performed the dangerous duty successfully, though not without mishaps. The boats frequently grounded on the shoals of the stream along which they had to pick their way, and the crews were obliged to fight hostile tribes at one point ; bat, on the whole, the people were by no means unfavourable, often friendly, indeed, to the strangers. Arrived at Luebo, the chief Calemba and his folk marched home by land, Dr. Wolf started to explore the Sankaro- River, and Mr. Bateman planned and built his station. At a later period, Calemba was visited in his capital, near which Wissmann had established, on a grassy hill, a station named Luluaburg. Such is the bare outline of the narrative until the writer, being relieved, went home.
The interest of the story, of course, lies in the plenitude:of detail needful to describe the people, their dwellings, habits, manufactures, to indicate the geography, illustrated by an excellent map, and present some picture of the scenery south of the Equator. Mr. Bateman seems to think that the land- scape, as seen from the rivers, appears to be "less beautiful than it really is ;" and he modestly suggests that the absence of human associations detracts from the beauty of these remote African scenes. He found them "lonely always, unjoined with human story," the degraded life of the poor black people adding nothing to the glory of Nature, as the storied life of men does in other lands. But from his and other descriptions we should imagine that the aspect of the country was profoundly impressive, as it is certainly rich and varied, in sky, woods, waters, and luxuriant vegetation. It is an unkempt land, except in patches, and one is led to think that there is too much nature and too little of the art which springs out of civilisation, although that art, as we all know from bitter experience, can substitute hideous deformity for what was once Nature in her loveliest hues and forms. The people dwelling in this region of mighty streams are not, we should infer, a hopeless race. They differ in their qualities, and all are low enough, judged by a European standard. Yet there should be something to be made out of the Bashilange Baluba, a tall, strong, not stupid tribe, concerning whom Mr. Bateman writes in these terms :-
" Like all negro races with which I am acquainted, they are easily excited to any imaginable degree of frenzy. Their insensi- bility to pity, their natural cruelty and untruthfulness, are also characteristics possessed by them in common with other negro tribes. Not so, however, are their virtues, which are, in my experience, unhappily, almost unique in Africa. They are thoroughly and unimpeachably honest ; somewhat reserved in speech ; brave to foolhardiness ; and faithful to each other and to their superiors, in whom, especially if Europeans, they place the most complete, absolutely unquestioning reliance. They are pre- judiced in favour of foreign customs rather than otherwise, and spontaneously copy the usages of civilisation. They are warm- hearted and affectionate towards their friends, and especially their kinsfolk, and they are the only African tribe amongst whom, in their primitive state, I have observed anything like a becoming conjugal affection and regard. To say nothing of such recom- mendations as their emancipation from fetichism, their ancient abandonment of cannibalism [practised among their neighbours], their heretofore most happy experience of Europeans, and their national unity under the sway of a really princely prince, I believe them to be the most open to the best influences of civilisation of any African tribe whatsoever."
These are words of high praise, yet the picture is not without
dark shades ; for even among the Baluba under Calemba and his sister, "a woman of great intellectual power and force of character," an abominable society, called the Lubuku, nominally for the purpose of smoking " lhiamba," or bhang, made from hemp, has grown up, and Mr. Bateman hesitates to say whether it is " a secret brotherhood, a religion, or a society for the propagation of licentiousness." The initiatory rites of this evil association are performed by the King or his sister; but no European knows what they are, and can only guess at them from their fruits, alike shameless and shameful.
Other neighbouring communities are also described. The Bakuda have their seats on and between adjacent large streams which feed the Kasai. They have a King, or bead chief, called the Lukwengo, whose authority is bound up with
fetichism, and who himself is " a fetich institution." The Bakuda are brave, thieves and liars, barbarous, but not cannibals ; they are skilled in the useful arts of weaving and metal-work, iron and copper, keen hunters, and expert fishermen. The Tueongo are a powerful and savage nation of whom little is known, in which they resemble the Bailunda
The most original tribe near them is the Matchioko, a people unrivalled in iron-work, furnishing their neighbours with blacksmiths, and, having a special fondness for trade, "they are to be found all over the country swindling their less wily neighbours, and making mischief of all kinds in order to serve their own ends," introducing Lubuku among the Baluba, Mr.
Bateman thinks, "for purposes of fraud." His immediate neighbours were the Bakete, an interesting people, but effeminate—that is, the men are—and slothful, even put upon by nomadic tribes of fighting dwarfs. The women, however, are industrious agriculturists. Their gardens and plantations are filled with a variety of vegetables ; " but what pleased me," says Mr. Bateman, " was not so much the variety of the plants as their cultivation." They were arranged in symmetrical plots and beds, separated by straight, broad alleys, weeded, swept, and kept up in the greatest neatness and order. He found these people to be excellent neighbours, perhaps because he really protected them from the aggressive tribes. The station girls would bathe near the confluence of the Lulua and Luebo, although forbidden because the river abounds with
alligators. Mr. Bateman drew a sketch of a girl pursued by an alligator, and exhibited his picture to enforce his commands.
They would not be persuaded, and one day he went personally to order them ashore :- " All came out except Kafinga—the very girl whose portrait [it is in the book] I had sketched—a bright, cheerful creature. She was the farthest out from the shore, and was laughingly main- taining her liberty when, in an instant, uttering a piercing shriek, she disappeared beneath the water. Momentarily forgetting the alligators, I sprang after the hapless girl, but in vain : indeed, I had drifted some distance down the stream, and was in no small danger myself, when I was picked up by some of my Zanzibaris, who had instantly put off in a canoe to my rescue. Afterwards, the natives remembered the strange coincidence of the portrait, and considered the tragedy as a piece of witchcraft in which I
had played a leading, but not altogether an enviable part." _
There seems to have been no gratitude for his unselfish plunge into the waters. On another occasion, when Mr. Bateman succoured a poor man struck by lightning, far from being thankful for his aid so promptly given, the tribe ascribed the tempest to his magic arts, and prepared to kill him. He was saved by his presence of mind, and turning their superstition against themselves, threatened if they did not disarm, he would call back the thunderstorm. " The preposterous message " was instantly effective, so real is this terrible belief in the black art. Mr. Bateman gives a graphic account of an astonishing chief, dreaded on account of his violent fits, reminding one of Peter the Great, and of this chief's trances and predictions. He was a giant in height, much emaciated, and would have been ludicrous—he wore a shako, a Coldstream Guards' tunic, and a loin-cloth—" had it not been for the expression of his face, and wild, steel-grey eyes." When in a shrieking-fit, he was held down by three of his wives. In ten minutes he recovered, and " showed himself a shrewd man enough, wise and amenable to reason." Mr. Bateman says he could account on physical grounds for the fits and trances, but not for his accurate predictions of the future,—two unlikely events being strictly verified. The full sketch of this singular Negro is very interesting.
Not less so is the glimpse we get of life at an equatorial station, and the indications, by no means few, that so far the Congo Free State administration appears to have really sowed the seeds of civilisation among the Negroes. At all events, here are the germs of law, order, and commerce. Domestic slavery there is, but no longer slave-dealing, which is some- thing. One fact will suggest the widespread effect produced by the inroad of Europeans. While at Luluaburg, a chief from Ulungu, on the shores of Tanganyika, arrived there at the head of an embassy, to beg Lieutenant Wissmann to estab- lish a station in their country ! They brought a letter of commendation given to them by Commander Cameron, and had travelled hundreds of miles to secure this favour. That is remarkable testimony. The whole book is well worth reading; it is instructively illustrated, and its pages present an excellent picture of life in a corner of the Congo Free State, and of death too ; for in Africa, as elsewhere, the foundations even of relatively slight improvements are the lives of men.
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