UP THE CONGO.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XLI, Issue 2211, 5 September 1910, Page 7

UP THE CONGO.

TRAVEL IN CENTRAL AFRICA. The Congo has its source, in the Chingambo Mountains, on the plateau between Lakes Tanganyika and Nyassa, where it is known as the Chambezi. Crossing Lake Bangweolo it assumes the name of Luapula, and continues through Lake Moero ; on its issue from Lake Moero, however, it is known as the Luvua, as far north as Ankoro, where it joins the Lualaba ; the junction, which is called th'e Lualaba between Ankoro and Nyangwe, north of Nyangwe becomes the Congo. Again, the latter is divided into the upper, Middle, and Lower Congo, and these divisions are due to tha cataracts at Stanleyville and Leopoldville respectively. Leopoldville is the point of embarkation on the great waterway. But between Leopoldville and the sea is the region of the lower cataracts, the main barrier to the westward course of the Congo. Over this barrier the waters forced their way ages ago, and thoy rush in enormous volume to the sea. Sixty miles from the mouth of the Congo the ocean steamer finds its speed diminished by the cross-current of the Congo overflow ; at a distance of thirty miles from the same locality the sea assumes a reddish, muddy tinge,, a colour characteristic of Congo waters. To circumvent the lower cataracts, which render the Congo unnavigable for a great distance, a railway was built from Matadi, just below the Falls to Leopoldville, just above them, on the south side of Stanley Pool. This railway, 249 miles in length, running about twenty miles to the south of the Lower Congo, waß built at a cost of over £2,300,000, and opened in July, 1898. The ocean steamer which enters the Congo at Banana and calls at Boma, the headquarters of what, on the lucus a non lucendo principle, is known as the Congo Free State Government, proceeds up-river as far as Matadi. The railway journey from Matadi to Leopoldville takes two days, for the trains, which run thrice a week, do not travel at night. A halt for the night is made at Thysville, 145 miles distant from Matadi. This narrow-gauge railway is a marvellous feat of engineering skill, and passes through some very grand and interesting scenery, more especially in the valley of the Mpozo. But its rolling-stock is of the most primitive description, and the accomodation provided—more suitable for monkeys than for human beings—is calculated to render the newcomer indifferent to any hardships he may later encounter. From Leopoldville to Stanleyville is a distance of approximately one thousand miles, throughout which the Congo flows, in a stately current, studded with small Islands, at one time broadening out to a width of as much as ten miles, at another narrowing to a channel of not mose than a few hundred yards. The up-river journey is made by steamer, and takes three weeks. The unfurnished cabins provided on the Congo State steamers, which are mostly stern-wheelers of from fifty to 300 tons burden, are not luxurious and, although he is charged seventeen francs per diem, the traveller must consider himself fortunate if he succeeds in getting more than milkless coffee, stockfish, and sauerkraut, which form the regular bill of fare, varied now and again with a little goat's flesh or a fresh fowl and half a bottle of vin ordinaire. There is little excitement on these steamers beyond that afforded by grounding on a sandbank, an event of almost daily occurrence. The traveller must learn to possess himself in patience, however, and, although he will get few chances of a stretch ashore, he can sit and contemplate the impenetrable equatorial forest of which perhaps the late Sir H. M. Stanley has given the most exact description. "Imagine," he write in '"Tropical Africa," "the whole of France and the Iberian peninsular closely packed with trees varying from 20 feet to 150 feet high, whose crowns of foli- I age interlace and prevent any view of the sky and sun, and each tree j from a few inches to four feet in di- j ameter. Then from tree to tree run [ cables from two to fifteen inches in j diameter, up and down in loops and | festoons and W's and badly-formed M's : fold them round the tree in great tight coils, until they have run up the entire height, like endless anacondas. Let them flower and A leaf luxuriently, and mix up above with the foliage of the trees to hide the sun; then from the highest branches let fall the ends of the j cables, reaching near to the ground j by hundreds, with frayed ends, for | these represent the air roots of the epiphytes (parasites) ; let slender cords hang down also in tassles with open threadwork at the ends, work others through and through these as confusedly as possible, and pendant I from branch to branch, and at every ' fork and on every horizontal branch j plant cabbage-like lichens of the lar- j gest kind, and orchids and clusters of vegetable marvels and a drapery ' of delicate fronds. Now cover tree branch, twig, and creeper with a thick moss like a green fur, and the ground with a thick crop of phrynia and amoma. . . . until the whole is one impervious bush." i Although shooting from the steamboats has hern prohibited, on the "riYC-r its«lf little animal life is visible, for both hif; 1 .- and boasts have wisely withdrawn into" the backwaters, or onto the affluent?, which on either bank are very numerous. A lazy, louCiging hippo rises and snorts from time to time ; from tht sandbanks crocodiles glide softly but swiftly into the water on the steamer's approach ; branches quiver with the balance of monkeys, red, black, and grey, jumping to a coign of vantage to spy the boat as she passes, and then to retreat hastily into the impenetrable foliage ; flocks of email and brightly-feathered birds

flutter over the reeds disturbed in the narrow channels by the steamer's wash. There are several picturesque white stations to be seen on the banks, notably Coquilhatvllle aud Nouvel Anvers, and numerous missions, of which, perhaps, those at Bolobo, Lukolela, and La Romee are the most striking. But the steamer seldom halts for more than au hour or two at these brighter spots, and at night anchors in the bush, in order to secure fuel for the morrow. While the upper deck of the stern- ' wheeler is reserved for Europeans, on the lower travel natives. The latter are compelled to sleep ashore, and j their camp fires do something to lighten or intensify the dense darkness of th« tropical forest. Frequently a tornado bursts at nightfall, shaking with its thunder the mighty forest, and threatening with its hurricane and crested wave to sweep the boat from her moorings, j There are few more striking or more : dazzling sights than the play of the lightning, which sheds its repeated I flashes only to make the gloom appear gloomier than before. Later, when the tornado has spent I itself and the forest is hushed, the ! mosquitoes will resume their noisy hum, while the rhinoceros-bird, with its spectral, mocking laugh, hovers j overhead, and the little boat and i her occupants sink quietly to sleep. It is possibly with a feeling of some relief that the traveller disembarks at Stanleyville, after having been for three weeks cramped, cabined, and confined. At Stanleyville he must engage his full complement of "boys" and overhaul his equipment, if only to see that everything is in order after the long voyage from Europe. It is to be presumed that during this voyage he has obtained a book knowledge of Swahili, the lingua franca of Central Africa, which he will soon have to put to the test. Stanley Falls are within easy distance from Stanleyville, and are well worth a visit. On resuming the journey these Falls will be avoided by a railway, not [yet open to general traffic, but on I which the traveller may be allowed to instal his deck-chair on an open truck, an infinitely more comfortable way of travelling than in the stifling,, filthy, tiny carriages provided bejtween Matadi and Leopoldville. The ! railway from Stanleyville to Pon--1 thierville, some eighty miles in j length, has been cut through the ! dense equatorial forest, which may here be seen in all its virgin grandeur ; for the clearing made is only just sufficient for the passage of luggage trains, and the traffic is frej quently impeded by trees falling i across the line. The railway is still jin the making, and the wooden j bridges, one of which is built wholly i of mahogany, are only gradually beI ing replaced by iron and stone. i The scene along this railway is one ! mass of colour, which the tropical sun intensifies to an almost dazzling degree ; for, in addition to the innumerable flowering trees, creepers, and shrubs, butterflies of every conceivable hue seem to have adoptod the line itself as their home, and are j only roused by the train, to resettle i when it has passed. | Above Pontherville the Congo be- | comes navigable again, and the jourj ney may be continued in one of the ; small steamers which convoy ma- : teriai and rails four days further up j stream to Lombolombo, the head of the railway to the south. This railway, running from Nsendwe to the | neighbourhood of Bull, will eventuali ly. by avoiding the cataracts known ' as the Devil's Gates, and uniting the ■ Congo with the Lualaba, tap the ' rich tin mines of the Katanga.—G. B. Beath, in "Travel and Exploration." I