is to be hoped that all the stations will in time become self-supporting. whole town was anticipating a big feed; but, alas! how uncertain are the joys of life! That big feed never came off; for the officer in command, hearing of Mata Bwyki's death, prepared a coffin lined with red cloth, and telling the Bangalas that, as the late king had been "a big friend of the white men," the mindeli would bury him with appropriate honors, had him safely boxed, nailed up, and buried seven feet deep before any one could interfere. The disappointment was great; for it is the custom to cut the dead man in two half of him and half of one of the men killed at the funeral, and bury this. The remaining half is made into a stew with manioc and bananas, and eaten along with the rest of the sacrifices. I do not know how they put up with their loss, as I was absent at the time (on the expedition to be described presently), and only heard on my return that Lieutenant Baert had stopped the slaughter in the manner described, and that he had kept the station ready to act on the defensive for some time after, as it was feared that the natives might attack it. The Bangalas are a fine race physically, being tall, powerful, and splendidly formed, with features by no means of the negro type; the women are the handsomest I have seen in Africa. Their dress is scanty, consisting for the most part only of a waistcloth for the men and a short kilt of woven grass for the women; but men of high degree often wear mantles of | dressed goat or other skins. They cicatrise their arms, shoulders, and busts in patterns by cutting the skin and inject-lengthwise, make up an entire corpse with ing some irritant. Sometimes the result looks very well; but in other cases the process is not successful, and raises huge, unsightly lumps of flesh. The chief of Iboko,* when I arrived, was an old man over eighty-his age was reported by some to be eighty-four, by others eightysix-who had lost one eye in battle and possessed fifty wives. He was over six feet high, with a fine, well-developed figure, and but for his dirty white hair and shrivelled skin, would have passed for a man of half his age. He was much attached to Captain Coquilhat (named (Mwafa or the Eagle by the natives), and never undertook anything without consulting him. The scene just after our arrival at Bangala, when, "Le roi des Bangalas being announced as we were all sitting over our after-dinner coffee, Mata Bwyki entered, wearing his royal hat of leopardskin, and attended by several of his wives, and enfolded Captain Coquilhat, goldspangled uniform and all, in an ample bear's hug, was really worth seeing. Having released Mwafa, his Majesty made the circuit of the table to shake hands with the rest of us, and then ordered mesdames les sauvagesses to bring in the malafu (palm wine), which he thereupon helped the company to drink. He was a tremendous toper, consuming quantities of that comparatively innocuous beverage which would have killed him ten times over had it been anything stronger and more civilized. When the Stanley returned to us after her journey to the Falls, her captain brought word that the station (then under the command of Mr. Deane) had been attacked by some Arab slave-traders encamped in the neighborhood, but that they had been beaten off and quiet was restored. Captain Coquilhat said that they would probably attack again as soon as the steamer had left; and circumstances proved him to be right, for two days later I was aroused at midnight by the barking of all the dogs in Bangala. I thought at first it was only some nigger stealing fowls; but when I heard the watch present arms, and the chief leave his room, I was up in a moment and standing, sixshooter in hand, behind Captain Coquilhat at the front door. It turned out that a canoe had arrived, bringing some Gold Coast Men who had formed part of the garrison of the Falls, and who said that the station had been abandoned, and that or captives furnished by the parents as a ransom for their daughters. The latter part of the account seems almost too ingeniously horrible to be true; but it is not worse (though it may seem nastier in detail) than some of the things described by Cameron in "Across Africa." According to him, in Urua the chief's wives were actually buried alive. It seems that a woman kidnapped by the Arabs had escaped from them and taken refuge in the station, where Mr. Deane refused to give her up when claimed. This led to the first attack,, after which a palaver was held, and matters were (seemingly) settled in a friendly way-till after the departure of the Stanley. T the white men (Deane and Lieutenant | Deane was hiding in the woods and isl On our way down we steamed in close to the Arab village which had saluted us before. They opened fire long before we were within range; but we soon let them have enough, and they disappeared behind trees, whence they kept up a pretty hot fire, while all we could do was to watch till a head or arm emerged, and then "draw a bead on it." We had about reached the middle of the village (which, like all the native towns, had a long river frontage) when the man at the wheel got a shot (apparently) through the jaws, and letting go, fell to the bottom of the boat with a tremendous outcry. The A. I. A. swung round, end on to the shore, and received a raking fire fore and aft, which wounded Captain Coquilhat and twelve others, and would have been still more destructive, | case of a bilious fever the all-important had not our commander seized the helm point is, that it must be attended to as and brought her round again. I cannot once; which, indeed, any one who has felt help adding- -as people are so fond of the first symptoms of an attack, will saying that there is no pluck or manliness scarcely be disinclined to do. Malaria in these days that, not to speak of the fever is not common on the Upper Congo; wound just mentioned, he was ill when he but chills, which have the same effect, left Bangala, and grew so much worse just have to be guarded against with the great before we reached the Falls, that I thought est care. The nights are chilly and even he was dying, but he suddenly recovered cold, and almost the first thing that was when we came in sight of Kiusi Katini, ordered me, when suffering from an attack and had kept up ever since. We had too of fever just after my arrival at Bangala, many men disabled to attempt storming was two more blankets. the village (which, as nearly as we could judge, contained about two hundred Arabs), so, after firing a few more rounds of cartridge as a parting salute, we steamed away. None of our men were killed, and the wounds received were not very serious; indeed, the man at the wheel, as I found to my great disgust, when he came to me to get his chin dressed, had nothing the matter with it, except that the skin was scratched by a splinter of lead. We had no means of knowing the loss of the Arabs, but I am certain that several were killed and a good many wounded. We reached Bangala without further adventures, and after a stay of two or three days, we took on board the deserters (who had been confined here in the mean time), and started for Léopoldville. Captain Coquilhat, once the excitement was over, fell ill again, and was ordered home. I fear we shall not see him on the Congo again; but it will be long before he is forgotten there, and the natives of the district above Bangala often ask "when Deane and Mwafa are coming back." All this happened in September, 1886, and some of the events, at least, have been noticed in English papers. As to the liquor question, there is no doubt that many men out here ruin their health by excessive drinking; but I think that many others, chiefly missionaries, ruin theirs by a mistaken and exaggerated abstinence. Stanley recommends two or three ounces of good wine every evening after sunset, and I find that most men who have passed any time on the Congo agree with him. Every one becomes more or less anæmic after a short residence in this climate; and a man who feels himself getting unaccountably weak, with a strong desire for stimulants, may injure himself by frequent use of them--and, as a mat ter of fact, many do so on the lower river, where liquor is plentiful. A teetotaler, on the other hand, will most likely be prostrated by sickness, when the timely use of a little wine would have kept up his strength. As a friend of mine, who has passed some years out here, puts it, “A cocktail every night before dinner, if it does not save you altogether from anæmia, will enable you to get through your term of three years, and leave you in good health at the end; but if you take to drinking, in any quantity, at any hour of the day, you will soon have to clear out of the country, if you wish to keep alive." effect of brandy drunk under a hot sun is to cause a burning pain in the region of the liver; and I have seen men, who had spent some two years out here, choking and gasping for breath after less than half a wine-glassful of neat brandy taken in the middle of the day. The A word or two on the climate, and I have done. A great deal has been said and written on this subject, and I do not wish to dwell on it at length, only to mention that, so far as my experience of the country goes, it coincides with the statements made by Stanley in "The Congo, and the Founding of its Free State." The country is far healthier than Sierra Leone or the Gold Coast, and, with ordinary care, need be no more deadly than Jamaica or Singapore; but it is often blamed for illness brought on by a man's own folly or carelessness. The fevers of the country, if treated in time, are not dangerous, and may generally be avoided by care, though the new-comer generally has to pay the toll of one or two. But as Feb. 24, 1887.—We had a most trein all tropical illnesses-especially in the mendous tornado the night before last, I believe that, when the country is opened up a little more, and Europeans are able to bring out home comforts, eto., they will be able to live here with as much ease and safety as they now do in India; and as a company is being formed to con struct a railway from Matadi to Léopoldville, it is to be hoped that day is not far distant. kumbu, of which the seed-pods are an excellent substitute for coffee. It was described to me as a forest tree, producing a large crop of seeds. I can speak from experience of the beverage made from them. We habitually drank it during my afternoon visits to the pasha, and the seed and the manner of its preparation were shown to me. It is an aromatic, brown pod, containing four or five small bright crimson seeds. When fresh I was told that one pod is sufficient to fill a room with its scent. That which we drank had been gathered for eighteen years, and was still extremely fragrant. The coffee made from it was rather more pungent than or dinary coffee, and I fancy more stimulat the thunder lasting for full ten minutes by toes. From The Contemporary Review. II. ZEBEHR spoke of the country to which he had now come as a green and flowery land full of running water. It was chiefly the abundance of water which caused him to fix upon it as his place of residence. He described the climate as very healthy, less hot than some parts of Darfour and Kordofan, and the soil as fertile almost beyond description. European trees grew and flourished side by side with trees of the tropics. "All that I have seen here in Gibraltar grew also there, but in much greater perfection." Bananas grew wild in great variety, some of them reaching to three or four times the size known to us, and in such profusion that they were commonly used as fodder for animals. Potatoes also grew wild. These the pasha described as of three kinds: some big as a man's head, but longer in shape; others a great deal longer and narrower, and attached to roots which sometimes spread as far as twenty feet, close under the surface of the ground - when ripe they cracked the soil above them, and lay exposed to the_air; the third kind was our ordinary European potato, as big as a man's fist, and very mealy when boiled. Tobacco was native to the soil, and a tree called komba or VOL. LX. 3084 LIVING AGE, in which cayenne pepper pods or ginger had been soaked. Grapes, in many vari eties of black and white, grow wild in Mandugba; *the sugarcane, the indiarubber plant, the tamarind and the date, all kinds of European corn, many fruits of which the pasha could not give the names, flowers in profusion 66 so that at one time the earth is scarlet, and then again it is white or blue;" and the variety of birds and animals is great. There is a kind of date-palm from which the natives make butter. The fruit of it grows in bunches, so large that two bunches will load a camel. The date itself is small and rich; when boiled it melts into a compound, yellow as brass, having a slightly sweet taste, but resembling butter more than anything else, and useful, like butter, for cooking. Honey is plentiful as water; iron and copper abound. Of other minerals the pasha could not speak. He regretted his want of knowledge on this subject, saying with a smile that he was, like a native, ignorant, and waiting to be taught. He had reason, however, to believe that other minerals exist. "The land is so rich," he said, "that it is a treasure-house, but for want of knowledge the natives are poor. They do not know what they possess. With all the fruits that lie on the earth they eat each other. They fight because it is their custom to spend their lives in hunting, and they know no other way to settle their quarrels. Yet they are by nature gentle and good, and they are ready to learn the ways of peace from those who go to them peacefully." This was the country and these the in Schweinfurth gives to this place the name of produce, as closely as I can, the name by which Zebehr Dehm-Nduggoo. În calling it Mandugba I only respoke of it to me. It was also called by the natives, he told me, Bahia and Craish. worship from one tribe or another; but the diversity of religion was not so serious an obstacle to Zebehr's schemes as the diversity of language. Devotees were not bigoted; and if fire failed to answer the prayers addressed to it, water received a sacrifice. "Perhaps he is out hunting," habitants which Zebehr was called upon | the dialects. Everything had its share of to rule. As a trader he found himself in presence of a new and rich market; as a man there was ample work before him. "From that time," he simply remarked, "I was very busy. I never had leisure again till I came to Cairo. I had no wish to be a king; I wished to trade and to civilize; but I could not help myself.. I" Perhaps he sleeps," was often the cry of was then, as I am now, what God made me sultan or prisoner matters comparatively little. Equally in his hand, I have tried equally there, as here, to keep my life pure. And I have this satisfaction, that if you go down to my country and ask my people, you will find none to say that Zebehr was cruel or unjust. They will tell you: 'Zebehr did not cheat us nor lie He did not oppress the poor, nor forget the unhappy; but he was strong to do justice. While he ruled over us there was order in the land, and none feared his neighbor's wrong-doing.""* to us. "It their impatience, and their conversion appears to have been quite as rapid as the conversion of the idolators of old. Though Zebehr was an ardent believer in his own faith, he did not at first attempt to proselytize: "They were too ignorant,” he said. The first necessity was to procure order, and to do this, however peaceful his de sires, he had to be strong himself. Within a few days of his acceptance of the sultanate most of the neighboring States of fered him their submission. Among these were Angato, Banda, Kutwaka, Abd-elBari, Dahoot, Naka. Wugghi alone was In order to understand his own view of hostile; but after seven days' fighting it the work he did, it is necessary to under- was subdued. In two months the country stand the condition of the people over for as far as could be travelled in twenty whom he ruled. They were nearly all days was at peace. Zebehr then called blacks, and most of them cannibals, though a council of all the chiefs who had enthere were, as has once before been said, tered into treaty with him, and spoke to some white native races amongst them. them, saying: "I have made peace now The slave trade was already flourishing in your country." They answered: in the outlying provinces, and man-hunt- is fortunate for us that you have come to ing was everywhere a common practice, rule in our country." He said: "You see whether for purposes of eating or selling. I have done this because with a few of This led, of course, to endless feuds, and my soldiers I am strong. It is not numfighting was practically the only occupa-bers but wisdom which makes my strength. tion of the people. Their ignorance was indescribable. They were without even the most elementary notions of trade or agriculture. With regard to travellers, their only notion was that they were to be killed. Justice and honesty were unknown. A curious side of the matter, but one upon which Zebehr frequently touched, was that these virtues were only unknown; when known they were on the whole appreciated. The dialects of the people were very various. In order to be able to communicate directly with the chiefs, Zebehr himself learned sixteen, but he was still constantly obliged to use interpreters. Religion varied no less than I understand it is a fact that among the tribes of the Soudan the people sing hymns of praise to Zebehr. "But of most universal employment among them is human fat.. The carcases of all who fall in bat tle are distributed upon the battle-field, and are prepared by drying for transport to the homes of their conquerors. They drive their prisoners before them without remorse, as butchers would drive sheep to the ambles, and these are only reserved to fall victims on rday to their horrible and sickening greediness." ibalism of Manbuttoos: Schweinfurth's Heart of 93.) Give me now, therefore, your young men, and I will train them to fight like my sol diers. I will arm them, and we shall no more be many weak States, but one strong State." At this the chiefs were very pleased. They sent their young men to him to be trained; he caused arms to be sent down from Egypt, and formed an army. It reached eventually to the number of twelve thousand, and how it was recruited will be seen; but at this period everything was in an embryonic state. All the organization and training were still to do. His own soldiers served as a nucleus, and the king's sons, with their picked followers, who considered it a priv ilege to be allowed to use European arms, were good material to begin with. Simul taneously with the formation of an army, he labored to instil the first principles of agriculture and internal trade. His soldiers, who represented the only gov ernment officials, were used for many pur poses. Before the rains, he divided all that he had, and sent them round to the principal chiefs, saying: "Now collect |