AFRICA IN BRUSSELS.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXVI, Issue 3259, 16 October 1897, Page 1 (Supplement)

AFRICA IN BRUSSELS.

A special feature of the Brussels Exhibition, The Times Correspondent says, is the section of the Congo State, in the beautiful old park of Ter neuron. A great portion of the park has been converted into the replica of a Congolese village, inhabited by some 200 natives of Darkest Africa. The huts are of conical shape, formed of bamboo and straw, but the natives sleep in a vast barrack-like building. Here, after an ample meal served at a long table, they are made acquainted with the novel refinements of camp bedsteads and a blanket apiece, with separate compartments for the married couples, who are duly subjected to the marriage ceremony before leaving Africa. A light, low rustic fence surrounds the encampment, and it is only by special permission that one is allowed the privilege of penetrating within the precincts, covering about an acre and a half, where the African subjects of King Leopold lounge, smoke, and paddle over an artificial lake. The greater number are Batatelaa, who, it is thought, will carry back to their rebellions countrymen wonderful tales of the power of their white oonquerers. There are also Basokos, Bangalas, and Myombes, but the family resemblance is strong among all. Taken as a whole, they are fine specimens of the negro type—large, loose-limbed and muscular. Tha military contingent perform their drill -in first-rate style. There are 32 women partitioned among the soldiers as their, legal spouses. Although the natives in general possess a fine physique, pitiable examples of human degeneration are embodied in the two dwarfs hailing from tha impenetrable forest described in Stanley’s travels. They are only 12 and 13 years old, but they have attained in their stunted proportions and hideous embryonic features all the manhood they can hope for. In the Terveuren palace we find admirable life-sized models of the native races peculiar to each district, in the postures proper to the pursuits of hunting, fishing, and warfare. Complete specimens of native workmanship and art are also admirably arranged. One is particularly struck by the artistic designs which permeate every article of manufacture, every weapon, and every utensil.