IN BELGIAN CONGO.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 139, 14 June 1932, Page 3

IN BELGIAN CONGO.

MISSIONARY'S ACCOUNT.

NATIVES OF FINE TYPE

An address to which Rotarians listened intently was given at the Auckland Rotary Club's luncheon yesterday by Mr. J. A. Clarke, a missionary and explorer. Mr. Clarke said that it was over thirty years ago that, 111 response to that "intangible something which called one from over the ranges," lie had left Scotland for Africa, and ultimately he found his way to the heart of that continent. He spoke chiefly of Katanga, one of the Belgian provinces, which contained the huge mountain of copper 200 miles long that had brought that district increasingly before the commercial world in recent years. Of the climate Mr. Clarke said that, although situated in the tropics, it was essentially a white man's country, for there was a large tableland thousands of feet above sea-level which provided reasonable coolness. There were marked periods of six months' rainfall and six months of dry weather. The only real drawback was the presence of malarial mosquitoes and the tsetse fly. This latter made transport difficult, for neither oxen, horses nor dogs could be employed, and it was generally understood that this fly was the carrier of the sleeping sickness germ.

Mr. Clarke spoke highly of the natives in the Congo, whom he described as industrious, docile and hospitable. Though ignorant of Christianity, they were religious by instinct, and had their God. They revered the aged, although this trait was unfortunately minimised after contact with the white people. Matrimonially they were polygamous. So great was the preponderance of women that in some districts there would be an average of 30 wives to one man. The present depression had affected the district through slackness at the copper mines, yet there was no unemployment, for the worker, dismissed from the mines, simply went back to his little farm, which was worked by his wives. Communication in the Congo, said Mr. Clarke, had been greatly facilitated by the completion of the Bengulaa railway. As a result a journey from the Atlantic coast to Katanga that would have taken 18 months a few years ago could now be accomplished comfortably in 50 hours. Of the administration of the country Mr. Clarke said that the "Congo atrocities," which had distressed the world, no longer existed. Thanks to King Albert, who had made a number of visits to the territory, a complete change had taken place, and the natives received wise and generous treatment from the Government.