A Journal of a Tour in the Congo Free State | Page 4

is the
famous Holy Cross which gives the town its name. There are also many
wax figures representing saints, mostly dressed in the costume of the
seventeenth century and enclosed in glass cases. The boy who acted as
our guide having discovered our nationality, pointed out with great glee
English organ, English clock. and finally with satirical
humour--probably unconscious--English flags. These flags are those
lost by Nelson at the siege of Santa Crus where he lost his arm and a
good story is told about them. An ambitious British middy stole them
from the Cathedral and was very disappointed, when instead of being at
once promoted, he was forced to apologize and restore them.
We next drive up a broad, fairly well kept, boulevard to the Bull Ring
situated in an open space behind the town. A woman conducts us into

the ring and shows us the stables in which the infuriated beasts are kept
before they are asked to shed their blood for the idle amusement of the
spectators. On the walls are many names which look like British, and
the guide is quite astonished when we refuse to add ours to their
number.
Commandant Arnold here takes on board six camels, for it is hoped
these ships of the desert will also sail equally well in the forest. The
experiment is at any rate not expensive, for they only cost £16 each and
will carry several hundred pounds weight of baggage.
From time to time the Congo Government has been charged with
forcing the natives to work against their will and with ill-treating them,
and it has also been alleged that the native soldiers committed many
atrocities during the wars against the revolting tribes. Many of these
charges have been collected and published in Civilisation in Congoland
written by Mr. H.R. Fox-Bourne, the Secretary of the Aborigines
Protection Society. The author has not travelled in the country himself,
but relies chiefly upon the evidence of the late Mr. Edward Glave, at
one time an official of the Congo International Association, and of the
late Mr. Sjöblom who was a Swedish Missionary in the Congo. The
book is not cheerful reading, for indeed it is chiefly a record of crimes
which have been committed in the past.
It has been frequently stated that acting under the orders, or at least
with the connivance of the agents of the Congo State and those of the
Commercial Companies in the country, the native police or sentries
have punished in a most barbarous manner all those natives who
refused to work. It is alleged indeed, that these sentries have actually
cut off the hands of those who did not collect the rubber or food-stuff
demanded by the agents. To even read of such sickening horrors is
terrible, and I was therefore much relieved to find that none of the State
officials on board had ever seen natives maimed in that or any other
manner by the soldiers of the State. There seems however, to be no
doubt that the native chiefs in the past mutilated both the living and
dead as punishment for crime. Mgr. Derikx told me that he had heard of
a case where a chief had ordered that the hand of his own son should be

cut off because he had committed adultery with one of his numerous
wives.
We arrived at Dakar, the capital of the French colony of Senegambia, at
daylight on July 3rd. Navigation is not easy here, for a reef runs parallel
to the coast and the channel between, is neither broad nor deep. The
town is built on the shores of a bay and faces an island strongly
fortified. The whole colony is being rapidly developed; a railway runs
to St. Louis and roads are being constructed across the desert towards
Timbuctoo and the northern coasts. A flourishing industry in palm oil is
carried on and Dakar is also an important military centre. Several of the
officers however, were engaged in the peaceful pursuit of fishing at the
end of the breakwater when we arrived.
At Dakar, Commandant and Madame Sillye come on board. The
former has served for ten years in the Congo and is now taking out ten
horses purchased in Senegambia, from which he hopes to breed. They
are a fine looking set, very quiet and well behaved, and take up their
quarters opposite the camels without creating any disturbance. We have
now quite a menagerie on board. Besides the camels and horses, there
are pigeons to be trained as carriers, guinea pigs with which the doctors
investigating the terrible disease the Sleeping Sickness, will experiment
and several dogs belonging to the passengers. Various kinds of rubber
and other living plants also occupy an appreciable part of the
promenade deck. Passengers and cargo