Africa by Élisée Reclus/Volume 3/Chapter 10
CHAPTER 10.
THE GABOON AND OGOWAY BASINS.
Spanish, French, and Portuguese Possessions.
ILL recently most of the seaboard stretching for about 900 miles between the mouths of the Rio del Campo and Congo was left to its native inhabitants, the European Powers confining themselves to a few points on the coast, such as Corisco, Libreville, and Kabinda. At present there is scarcely a desert strand or a single mangrove thicket that is not claimed as an integral part of some political domain, and fanciful frontiers have even been traced across remote, unexplored, or at least little-known regions of the interior. Were priority of discovery the only title to possession, the rights of Portugal could not be questioned, for the Lusitanian mariners had already crossed the line in 1470, and many of the headlands and inlets along the seaboard still bear Portuguese names. Thus the most advanced promontory, Cape Lopez, recalls the navigator Lopo Gonçalvez, while the neighbouring estuary of Fernão Vaz is named from another sailor of the same nationality. It is also certain that the Portuguese formed permanent settlements at several points along the coast, and the remains have even been discovered of buildings and of rusty guns in the island of Coniquet (Koniké), towards the centre of the Gaboon estuary. But for over three hundred and fifty years after the first discoveries, European commercial relations were mainly confined to the slave trade, those engaged in this nefarious business maintaining a studied silence, and screening from the eyes of the outer world the scenes of their profitable operations.
The work of exploration, properly so-called, was not seriously undertaken before the middle of the present century, after the acquisition by France of a strip of land on the north side of the Gaboon estuary as a depôt for revictualling her cruisers. The first station was founded in 1842, and soon after the whole estuary was surveyed, and expeditions sent to explore the Komo and Ramboé affluents. Then followed Du Chaillu's excursions to the interior, and his sensational accounts of the gorilla, the terrible "man of the woods," after which the Ogoway basin was thrown open and largely explored by Braouezec, Serval, Griffon du Bellay, Aymès, De Compiègne and Marche, Walker and Oscar Lenz. The systematic TH CE^fvKT^I. rii._y.. C. Sf Ccothcrine EastiCCrccnv^ick rx> le-n I N ■■* V •« ■ ■'•• -V' '^' ■■■ % :' *»■•■ • *' 1€0. 320 work of survey was completed by the two De Brazzas, Ballay, Mizon, Rouvier, and others, thanks to whose labours nearly the whole triangular region bounded east and south by the Congo, north by the Gaboon and the equator, is now known in its more salient features, while the numerous positions determined astronomically supply sufficient materials for detailed maps. The Spanish travellers Tradier, Montes de Oca, and Ossorio, have on their part traversed in various directions the whole region stretching north of the Gaboon as far as the Rio del Campo, and penetrated for 120 miles inland. Thus in order to complete- the preliminary survey of the equatorial lands which the European powers have appropriated by
diplomatic conventions, nothing remains except to visit certain north-eastern districts watered by the Congo affluents.
To France has been assigned by far the greater part of this equatorial region, her share including the whole of the Gaboon, Ogoway and Kwilu basins, besides those of the Congo affluents as far as the U-Banghi. Spain adds to the as island of Corisco and the two islets of Elobey a small strip of territory on the mainland, while Portugal retains possession of an enclave limited north by the river Massabi, east and south by conventional straight lines separating it from the new Congo State. The area of this enclave may be roughly estimated at 1,000 square miles, with a population of at least thirty thousand ; but the extent of the 386 WEST AFEICA. Frencli and Spanish territories can be measured only hj the degrees of latitude and longitude. Broadly speaking, " Equatorial France " may be said to have an area of about 240^000 square miles, while the territory claimed by Spain varies from 10,000 to a very few square miles, according to the different national and foreign estimates. As far as can be judged from the conflicting statements of travellers the total population cannot be less than two millions, while according to De Brazza it is more probably five millions, including the lands draining the Congo. Physical Features. In the whole of this region between the sea and the Congo there are no lofty ranges, the highest summits falling below 5,000 feet, while very few exceed 3,500 feet. In the north the most conspicuous eminence is Mount Batta, rising like a tower above the neighbouring hills. Eastwards from this point stretch the parallel Siete Sierras, or " Seven Hidges," of the Spaniards, merging southwards in the range formerly known as the Sierra do Crystal, or " Crystal Mountains," with peaks said to exceed 4,600 feet. South of the Ogoway the culminating point. Mount Igumbi Kdele, in the Sette Kama basin, appears to be not much more than 3,500 feet high, while the hills about the Upper Kwilu rise little above 1,000 feet. Altogether the relief of the land presents a great uniformity, a series of ridges parallel with the coast following from west to east in the form of terraces skirted by chains of hills. The central terrace consists of gneiss flanked on the east by quartz, talcky and micaceous schists and elevated sandy plains as level as a lake. Westwards stretch chalk and Jurassic strata advancing with a few interruptions towards the coast, and in many places covered with laterite. Old lavas also occur overlying the terraces, and the early travellers even spoke of " burning mountains," such as the Onyiko and Otombi in the northern part of the Ogoway valley about 120 miles from the sea. But although recent exploration has shown that these " fetish mountains " are not volcanoes, there can be no doubt that great geological changes have taken place in this part of the continent, the very form of the coast attesting a considerable modification in the relative level of land and sea. The curve of the shore-line, tolerably regular north of Cape St. John and developed with almost geometrical symmetry south of Cape Lopez, is broken between these two points by the three deep inlets of Corisco Bay, the Gaboon estuary, and Nazareth Bay. Corisco island is itself a mere fragment of the old seaboard, while the numerous stagnant w^aters south of Cape Lopez represent old river beds that have shifted their channels. Possibly the great riverain lagoon of Banya may be nothing more than the remains of a former mouth of the Congo. PiVERS. Thanks to the copious rainfall, the region comprised between the Cameroons and the Congo is intersected by a large number of closely ramifying streams. The Etembwe, or Rio del Campo, southern limit of the German possessions, is followed by the Eyo, or San-Benito, which reaches the coast 36 miles north of Cape St. John, and which is navigable for 20 miles to the Yobé falls. The Muni (Angra, or Danger), which enters Corisco Bay opposite the Elobey Islands, is also obstructed by formidable cataracts during its passage through the red sandstone escarpments of the coast ranges.
South of the Muni the narrow island-studded inlet bounded on the west by the Cape Esteiras peninsula has received the name of Rio Munda, as if it were a river, being in reality a mere estuary into which are discharged a few feeble coast-streams. The same description applies to the Gaboon itself, which also received the name of rio from the early navigators, and which till within the last few
decades was still regarded as one of the great continental rivers, whose sources were sought in the great lakes of the interior. But the Gaboon, so called by the Portuguese from its fancied resemblance to a gabao, or "cabin," penetrates inland little more than 40 miles. In its general outlines, size, and hydrographic system it recalls in a striking way the French estuary of the Gironde, although somewhat broader and with a greater average depth. Like that of the Gironde, the entrance is obstructed with sandbanks, which have had to be carefully buoyed, marking off four deep channels with 26 to 33 feet of. water at ebb tide. In its upper reaches the estuary is accessible to vessels drawing 13 or 14 feet, and its two affluents, the Komo 'and Ramboé, as well as several of their tributaries, are also navigable by small craft. Of the two the Komo is the larger, rising like the Muni in the upland valleys of the Crystal Range.
Some 60 miles south-west of the Gaboon estuary, the sea is reached by the Ogoway, largest of all the rivers between the Niger and Congo, and like the Gaboon at first supposed to be also one of the great continental watercourses. Even after Livingstone's discovery of the Lua-Laba, by him wrongly supposed to be the Upper Nile, many geographers fancied that this emissary of the great Cazembe lakes might trend westwards to the Ogoway, and it was this theory that gave occasion to the expeditions of Oscar Lenz and of other explorers in this
region. But although occupying a much humbler position than had been supposed, the Ogoway still sends down a greater volume than either the Rhine or the Rhone, or any other river in the west of Europe. At the same time the estimates of 1,580,000 or 1,760,000 cubic feet per second during the floods are probably exaggerated; and allowing even that four-fifths of the rain falling within its basin of 120,000 square miles ultimately reaches the sea, the mean discharge cannot greatly exceed 350,000 cubic feet per second.
The farthest headstreams of the Ogoway, which has a total course of about 720 miles, rise in the Ba-Teke territory, within 120 miles west of the Congo. After its junction with the Passa, the main stream, already navigable for boats, at
least in the rainy season, meanders first westwards, then to the north, interrupted so frequently by rocky obstructions that the whole af its middle course may be described as a continuous rapid. At the Dume falls it trends abruptly westwards, beyond which it is again deflected towards the equator, which it follows in a somewhat westerly direction, as if to fall into the Gaboon estuary. Here it is joined above the Bowe falls by the Ivindo, a large stream which is supposed to have its source in the neighbourhood of the U-Banghi. From this point the Ogoway rolls down a great body of water, but the current is constantly impeded by rocky barriers, "fetish stones," as they are called, which the boatman in passing hopes to propitiate by sprinkling them with a few drops of water from his paddle. From the station of ]N"jole, below the last rapids, the lower course flows for 200 miles to Nazareth Bay, at some points narrowing to 500 or 600 yards, but else- where expanding to a breadth of nearly 2 miles. The current is dotted with numerous islands, some consolidated by the roots of trees, others mere sandbanks, or else floating masses of vegetable refuse, arrested by the tall sedge growing on the bottom. Even at low water, gunboats drawing 3 or 4 feet may ascend for over 180 miles from the sea, although till recently no whites were allowed to pass "Fetish Point," at the confluence of the Ngunie. This great affluent from the south is itself navigable for 60 miles to the Samba falls, which rise scarcely 4 feet above high-water level. Below the Ngunie junction, the Ogoway ramifies like the Senegal into lateral channels, which receive the overflow during the periodical inundations, when they expand into vast lacustrine or swampy reservoirs, dotted over with islands. Such is the great eliva {liba), or "lake," usually known by the name of Zonengway, famous for its holy island, residence of a powerful fetishman. This lagoon, about 40 feet at its deepest point, covers a space of at least 200 square miles, and communicates with the river through three navigable channels, two influents from, one an emissary to, the Ogoway. Farther west, but still on the same south side, occurs the Anenghe (lonenga, Onangwe), a basin of similar formation, while on the north side a branch of the main stream is skirted by the Azingo and some other lateral depressions, also large enough to deserve the name of lake. The delta properly so called, beginning at the Anenghe lagoon, comprises between the two chief branches, the Lower Ogoway in the north and the Wango in the south, an area of about 1,900 square miles, including the island of Cape Lopez, which projects far seawards. This region is intersected in all directions by shifting channels and backwaters accessible during the floods from at least three points— Nazareth Bay in the north, 20 to 30 feet deep, the Fernao Yaz channel in the south, and between the two. Cape Lopez Bay. The delta is continued south- wards by the extensive Nkomi lagoon, ramifying into a thousand creeks and fed from the north by the Wango branch of the Ogoway, from the south by the rembo (" river ") Obenga flowing from the hills to the south of Lake Zonengway. Other lagoons continue south-eastwards this half- submerged region, beyond which the Nyanga, escaping through the gorges of the coast range, falls into the sea below the Sette Cama estuary. But between the Ogoway and the Congo the most important stream is the Kwilu (Nguella), which higher up is known as the Niadi or Niari, with a total course of about 360 miles. Like the Ogoway, the Kwilu describes a great bend northwards, and after its junction with the Lilli and with an emissary from the Nyanga, it pierces the region of schistose hills through
a series of abrupt defiles. It is navigable by gunboats for 36 miles from its mouth to a "gate" of vertical rocks rising 100 feet above the stream, and supposed by the natives to be kept open by a powerful fetish, who, however, may close the passage at any moment. Higher up follow still more formidable gorges, in one of which the river, from 1,000 to over 2,000 feet broad on the plains, is contracted to a narrow channel 20 feet wide. The Kwilu, which in some respects offers greater facilities for penetrating inland than the Ogoway, leads to a region within 60 miles of the Congo, which is reported to abound in copper and lead deposits.
Climate.
The broad features of the climate are revealed by the periodical rise and fall of the fluvial waters. Thus the Ogoway continues to rise from September to the middle of December, and then falls to the end of J; anuary, indicating the season of
the winter rains followed by a short interval of fine weather. Then follow the great rains, when the river again begins to rise, usually attaining its maximum about the first week in May, and again regularly subsiding till September. The rainfall gradually diminishes southwards from the Rio del Campo to Cape Lopez and thence to the Portuguese territory, falling from about 120 inches north of the Gaboon to 100 about the equator, but varying greatly on the Loango coast, where it fell from 63 inches in 1875 to no more than 16 in 1877. The quantity of moisture precipitated corresponds generally to the frequency and density of the 892 WEST AFRICA. nebulosity, and M. Teisserenc de Bort's chart indicating the lines of equal cloud- ness for tlie whole continent, shows that fogs and mists occur most frequently in the Gaboon and Ogoway basins. In the same region the annual temperature has an extreme range of about 45° F., falling from 100^ to 57° at Shinshosho in 6° 9' south and from 93° to 62° at Sibanghe in 0° 30' north of the equator. During the hottest days in March and April the glass oscillates between 78° and 93° F., and in the relatively cool months of July and August between 73° and 86° F. Hence on this part of the seaboard what is most to be dreaded is not so much the actual heat as the great quantity of moisture contained in the atmosphere. The land and sea breezes alternate with great regularity, the former usually prevailing from eleven or twelve o'clock at night till the first hours in the morning, the latter from about eleven o'clock in the forenoon till the evening. Tornadoes occur chiefly during the early rainy season, and nearly always at night. But they are little dreaded, and by the Europeans of Libreville are even hailed with rejoicings, owing to their cooling effect on the atmosphere. The insalubrity of the climate is greatly increased for the whites by the poisonous exhalations rising from the morasses, the Ogoway, thanks to the sandy nature of its bed, being in this respect considered less dangerous than the Gaboon. But all Europeans alike are everywhere subject to fever and ulcers in the legs, the two maladies sometimes alternating. Flora and Fauna. The flora is neither so rich nor so varied as might be expected in such an abundantly watered equatorial region. Vast treeless tracts occur in some parts of the territory, the absence of arboreal vegetation being largely due to the sandy character of the soil. In the Gaboon gigantic draconas overtop all the sur- rounding trees, amongst which are several kinds of palms flourishing spontaneously. The cocoa-nut and all other industrial plants of the torrid zone have been intro- duced by the missionaries, but mostly without any practical results. On the other hand, the forest species which contributed to the export trade during the early period of the occupation have lost their relative value, their products having to be brought from greater distances inland since the exhaustion of the supply from the woodlands on the coast. Thus traders no longer take the trouble to export the *'red" wood {Baphia nitida) formerly so highly prized, and some varieties of which were even preferred to those of Brazil by dyers. Ebony {Diospyros), both green and black, is still collected by the natives, as well as caoutchouc, although the liana yielding this commodity is disappearing from the neighbourhood of the stations. In general the indigenous flora is poor in edible plants,, although the Okotas of the Ogoway basin live almost exclusively on the large green fruit of the dika, which abounds in their forests. This equatorial region has become famous for its quadrumana of large size, including the njina (jina) of the natives, to which Europeans have given the name of " gorilla," originally applied by Hanno and his Carthaginian companions to certain hairy women seen by them on the west coast of Africa. The domain of FAUNA OF THE OGOWAY EEGION. 893 this formidable anthropoid ape extends from the San-Benito to the Loango ; on the upper Ogoway he is very rare, and nowhere met in the Congo basin, although according to some authorities he is found in the Niam-Niam country. He was known only by vague reports before 1847, when the American missionary Savage discovered a skull of this animal in the Gaboon. Some ten years afterwards Du Chaillu met and hunted the terrible apes in their native forests, although his descriptions of their strength and ferocity were certainly exaggerated. From later accounts the gorilla appears to be rather a timid animal, easily tamed if taken young, and about 5 feet high, although one seen by M. Ponel, near Bowe, had a height of no less than 5 feet 9 inches, which is above that of the average European. This animal has disappeared from several of the forests where he was met by the first explorers, and is no longer found in the island of Cape Lopez. The chimpanzee, also an inhabitant of West Central Africa, occurs especially in the Ogoway and Kwilu basins, but rarely in the vicinity of human dwellings. Being also a more active climber, he is more difficult to capture than the gorilla, but domesticated with equal ease. Of the chimpanzee there are several varieties, such as the nshfego mbuve {Troglodytes calvus), who builds strong nests in the trees, and the kula (kulu), which of all apes appears to approach nearest to the human type. The Colobus tholonij a new species of monkey, has also been dis- covered in the Ogoway basin. In the western districts there are no lions, and the panthers and other felidai seldom attack man. The elephant, said b}^ Du Chaillu to be a distinct species, is withdrawing to the interior, so that ivory, as in the Cameroons, is becoming an object of luxury instead of regular traffic. The animals most dreaded by the natives are the buffaloes, and the white-faced wild-boar {PotamocJuerus alhifrons)^ which leaps streams several j^ards wide at a bound. The hippopotamus still abounds in the rivers, and Is even met In the saline estuaries about Cape -Lopez. The crocodile frequents the lagoons of Loango, where he never attacks man. In the forests dwell numerous rodents, such as the Kendo, smallest of squirrels, and the Mboko {Sciunis ehorivorus), which gnaws ivory. Here have been found several new species of birds, reptiles, fishes, and insects. Of birds the most remarkable are the Chrysococcyx smaragdinens, all burnished gold with emerald tint, and the Souimanga magnijicus, a merle of metallic lustre rivalling in beauty the Senegambian variety. The shondo, a fish in the Ogoway, with its horny beak excavates perfectly regular cup-shaped spaces in which Its eggs are deposited. In the shallows of the island of Corisco occurs a species of proteus, and electric fish frequent the Kwilu waters. Most of the snakes appear to be venomous, and some of the ants, such as the ferocious bashikwe, are far more dreaded than the beasts of prey. According to Compiegne, spiders, almost unknown in the Cameroons, are here represented by an incredible number of species ; " but the great scourge of the country is the jigger {Pulex jmtetrans) imported from Brazil. 89— AF 394 WEST AFEICA. Inhabitants. The inliabitants of West Equatorial Africa consist for tlie most part of immi- grants from the east, the ceaseless tides of migration either sweeping away the aborigines, or else by intermingling with them forming fresh ethnical groups which now render all classification impossible. The best known nation are the Mpongwes (Pongos) of the Gaboon, whose Bantu language is by far the most widely diffused throughout these coastlands. It has been carefully studied by the missionaries and others, who speak with admiration of its harmonious sounds and logical structure. Thanks to the precision of the rules determining the relations of roots and affixes, all ideas may be expressed with surprising accuracy, so that it has been found possible to translate the gospels and compose several religious works without borrowing a single foreign word. The Mpongwes, who call themselves Ayogo, qr " the Wise," possess a copious collection of national songs, myths, and traditions, besides which the elders are acquainted with the " Hidden Words," a sort of secret language of unknown origin. Although the transition is abrupt between Mpongwe and the eastern Bantu idioms, all clearly belong to the same linguistic stock, and fully one-fifth of the Mpongwe vocabulary reappears in the Swahili of the east coast. The Mpongwes proper are a mere fragment of a formerly powerful nation, and are being gradually absorbed by the immigrants from the interior. Those who call themselves " Children of the Soil," and who were distinguished by their physical beauty, are slowly disappearing, carried off by small -pox, consumption, scrofulous affections, and the pernicious habit of smoking liamba, a kind of hemp like the hashish of Eastern peoples. Those grouped round the Catholic and Protestant missions call themselves Christians, and even the fetish- worshippers sell their sacred groves for ardent spirits. All are intelligent, but without perseverance, and frivolous boasters, who have to be replaced on the Government works by Kroomen or coolies from Senegambia. The Benga (Mbenga) tribes of Corisco Island and the opposite coast speak a distinct Bantu dialect, nearly related to that of the Ba-Kale, a powerful nation who have not yet reached the coast, occupying the inland forest between the Muni and Sette Kama rivers. The Ba-Kale, whose chief tribes lie south of the Ogoway, are said to number about one hundred thousand, but are rapidly diminish- ing, whole clans having disappeared within a generation under the pressure of the inland peoples advancing seawards. Since the appearance of the whites in the Ogoway basin, the social usages of the Ba-Kale have been considerably modified. Formerly warriors and hunters, they are now mostly traders, packmen, and brokers, monopolising the transit traffic about the lower cour§e of the river ; their Di-Kele language, mixed with Mpongwe elements, has become the chief medium of intercourse among the riverain populations as far as the first cataracts. They have ceased to work iron and copper, and now obtain by barter all the European arms and utensils that they require.
The Ba-I^gwes, who dwell some 60 miles east of the cataracts between the 
The Fans.
Most of the region east of the Gaboon and north of the Ogoway is now held by the Fan intruders, who have driven towards the south-west all the other indigenous and immigrant populations. When the French first settled in the Gaboon the Fans were almost unknown, although so early as 1819 Bowditch had already mentioned them under the name of Paämways, describing them as a Fulah people. Their most advanced villages were at that time still restricted to the hilly inland
plateaux north of the Ogoway affluents; now they have become the immediate neighbours of the Mpongwes of Glass and Libreville on the banks of the Komo, stretching north to the confines of the Ba-Tonga territory, while south of the Gaboon their pioneers have already reached the coast at several points. The Syake Fans occupy the zone of rapids above the Ivindo; the Osyebas have crossed the middle Ogoway, and others have even penetrated to the Rembo Obenga in the delta region. Dreaded by all their neighbours, the Fans are at present a rising power THE FANS. 897 who become undisputed masters wherever they present themselves. In the districts known to the whites their numbers are estimated at two hundred thousand, and since the middle of the century they are said to have increased threefold both by constant immigration and by the natural excess of births over the mortality. The future of French influence in this region depends mainly on the relations that may be established between the whites and these formidable invaders, all other peoples being divided into a multitude of detached groups incapable of any serious resistance. The Fans, that is to say, "Men," are known by many other names, such as Pahuin, Pa-Mue, Mpangwe (not to be confounded with Mpongwe), Pan we, Fanwe, and within French territory they form two distinct groups, the Ma-Kima of the Upper Ogoway and the Ma-Zuna about the Gaboon, speaking different dialects and waging a deadly warfare against one another. According to some authors the Fans are sprung from those Jaggas, who in the seventeenth century overran the kingdom of Congo, and the vocabularies collected by Wilson, Lenz, and Zoller prove that their language is also of Bantu stock, more alKed to the Benga than to the Mpongwe, but spoken with a very guttural pronunciation. Anthropo- logists now generally believe that they belong to the same family as the Niam-Mams cf the Upper Welle region, from whom they are now separated by an intervening space of 900 miles, also probably inhabited by kindred populations. Both present the same general physical appearance, complexion, stature, features, and attitude ; both file the incisors to a point, dress the hair in the same way, use bark coverings, and vegetable dyes for painting the body. The chiefs also wear leopard skins, and use the same iron dart — a weapon with several points that tears the flesh. Blue glass trinkets and cowries are prized as ornaments by both nations, who also breed hounds of the same species. Lastly both are decided cannibals, employing the word nia in the same sense of "to eat," so that the Fans would seem to be the western division of the great Niam-Niam race. They are of lighter complexion and less wholly hair than the Ogoway coast tribes, which has caused some ethnologists to regard them as of non-Negro stock. The men, whose only occupation is fighting and hunting, are generally tall and slim, but very muscular, with haughty bearing and defiant look, very different from the obsequious downcast glance of the Gaboon Negroes. The women, who perform all the household and agricultural work, soon acquire heavy ungainly figures. But the characteristic trait of both sexes is the bulging frontal bone, forming a semicircular protuberance above the superciliary arches. The young men and women delight in personal ornaments of all sorts, adding cosmetics to tatooing, intertwining the hair with pearls, foliage, and feathers, encircling neck and waist with strings of cowries and china buttons, loading the calves with copper rings, like those in use among the natives of East Africa. Some of the women are as bedizened as any fetish, and so overladen with ornaments as to render locomotion ahnost impossible. But when they have to mourn the death of a chief or of a near relative they must put everything aside, and appear abroad either naked or clothed only with foliage and bedaubed with yellow or greenish ochre, which gives them a very cadaverous appearance. 893 WEST AFEICA. The practice of cannibalism, on which the unanimous testimony of the first explorers leaves no room for doubt, appears to have been abandoned in the neigh- bourhood of the coast. In the interior, prisoners of war are still eaten, but the banquet partakes of a religious character, being enjoyed in a sacred hut far from the eyes of women and children, the object being to acquire the courage of the enemy by devouring him. Wizards are also said to be consumed in the same way, and on many occasions slaves would appear to be immolated and passed from village to village for solemn feasts. Among certain tribes, the old alone are privileged to touch human flesh, which is fetish for all others. Thus the custom seems to be gradually falling into abeyance, the Fans being compelled, like other conquerors, to modify their usages when they come in contact with different populations and become subject to new conditions of existence. Formerly hunters, they have now mostly taken to trade, husbandry, and fluvial navigation. Of all the Gaboon antl Ogoway peoples, the Fans are the most energetic and industrious. They are skilled forgers and ingenious armourers, who have dis- covered the art of making ebony crossbows, with which they hunt apes and antelopes, that would be scared by the report of firearms. They arc also famous potters, and in the neighbourhood of the whites have become the best gardeners, so that they are now the hope of the colony. Those of the Komo district, still in a transition state between the nomad hunting and settled agricultural life, take care always to provide themselves with two stations, far removed one from the other. They have a riverain settlement well situated for trade, but exposed to the attacks of warlike flotillas, and a village in the forest affording a refuge when warned in time by the tam-tam or the ivory trumpet of a threatening danger. The riverain hamlet may be destroyed, but the other remains, and in that are preserved all their valuables. All villages are disposed so as to guard against sudden surprise, and sentinels are always stationed at both ends of the street. In the centre stands the palaver house, where the warriors assemble to deliberate, all capable of bearing arms having the right to make their voice heard in the assembly. In the hilly region about the Ogoway, IN^yanga, and Kv/ilu headstreams, dwell the A-Shangos, akin to the Okandos and A-Shiras of the Ngunie and Rembo basins. According to Du Chaillu, although darker than their neighbours, the A-Shiras are amongst the finest and most intelligent peoples in Africa. But they are rapidly decreasing, partly through the fearful ravages of small-pox, partly through their depraved taste for the use of liamba. From the A-Shira territory comes this pernicious drug, which with alngn, or "brandy," is the great " civilising medium " throughout the Gaboon and Ogoway lands. The A-Bongos, Ma-Yombes, and Ba-Fyots. Scattered amongst the A-Shango forests, and farther east towards the great river, are the frail leafy huts of the pigmy A-Bongos (Obongo), a shy, timid people living on roots, berries, and game. They are the 0-Koas (A-Koas), v
hunt the python with assegais and eagerly devour its flesh. But although keeping mostly aloof from the surrounding peoples, the A-Bongos are gradually adopting their usages.
The mixed populations dwelling near the coast, south of the Nyanga river, and collectively known as Ba-Lumbos or Ba-Vilis, consist largely of runaway slaves from the Gaboon and Congo factories, who have taken refuge on this inhospitable seaboard, where they are sheltered from attack by the surf-beaten shore and surrounding swamps and forests. By alliances with the aborigines they have formed fresh ethnical groups, which, however, differ little in their customs from the neighbouring Ba-Yahas in the interior. Like them they suspend 400 WEST AFRICA. the dead to trees, and keep powerful fetishes, which forbid the women to eat goat or game, and command them to till the land and to obey their husbands in all things. The Ba-Lumbos still shrink from contact with the whites, still remem- bering the days of the slave-trade. Their chief industry is the preparation of salt, which they obtain from the sea- water by means of artificial heat, and export it to the Ba-Yahas, who prefer it to the European article. The Ma-Yombes of the Kwilu basin and neighbouring Portuguese territory are grouped in numerous republics or chieftaincies, some comprising a single village, others forming confederations of several communities. For centuries they have maintained direct relations with the Portuguese traders, from whom they have learnt to build houses in the European style. But the influence of the whites disappears rapidly in the direction of the east beyond the coast ranges, which have only in recent years been crossed by explorers. Here dwell the Ba- Kunyas, Ba-Kambas, and pthers, regarding whom the strangest reports were long current amongst the Ma-Yombes. Some were dwarfs, others giants, or one-armed or one-legged, or else people with tails, which when they sat down were inserted in holes in the ground. Possibly there may have been some foundation for the statement that one of their kings never rose from his couch except by the aid of two spears which pierced the breasts of two wretches daily devoted to death. In the district between the Kwilu and the Congo dwell the Ba-Fyots, or Ba- Fyorts, who claim to be much more civilised than the surrounding barbarous tribes, and who appear to form the transition between the Bantus of the Gaboon and those of the Congo. In the sixteenth and first half of the seventeenth century the whole region bounded north by the Kwilu formed part of the empire of the Mfuma, or " great father," king of the Congo. But the imperial power was represented by lieutenants {muene, mani-fmna), who gradually asserted their independence. Thus were founded the kingdoms of Loango, Kakongo, and [N^goyo, which again became subdivided into autonomous territories, each with its chief, assisted by ministers and a council of elders. After the king's death, his obsequies were deferred for several years, the power during the interregnum being entrusted to the ma-homa, or " master of terror." It is related that at the last death the people were too poor to worthily celebrate the funeral rites, and that consequently he was left unburied. He is supposed still to live, the actual chiefs being officially regarded as simple delegates or viceroys. Several bear Portuguese names, and are surrounded by officials with titles and functions recalling the influence formerly exercised by the representatives of the Court of Lisbon. Even certain Christian practices have survived, such as processions headed by the crucifix, and baptism, followed however by circumcision. Nzambi, the great god or goddess of the Ba-Fyots, is mostly confounded with Sa-Manuelu, the Madonna, or with the " Earth," mother of all. The native theologians have also a sort of trinity, Nzambi, mother of the Congo, being associated with her son in the government of the universe, while a third person, Deisos, takes part in the direction of human affairs. The goddess is represented by the most venerated of all fetishes, who punishes with death those guilty of eating forbidden meats, possibly a reminiscence of the Christian fasts. Every prayer addressed to the fetish is clenched by a nail buried in the body of the wooden effigy, and it must sink deep and cause even a painful wound, so that the goddess pay due heed to her humble votary's supplication. So recently as 1870 human sacrifices were still made at the burial of a prince, and in 1877 a witch was burned in front of the European factories at Cabinda.
The Ba-Fyots, called by the Portuguese Cabinda or Cabenda, from the trading
station some 86 miles north of the Congo mouth, are skilful boatmen, who build the so-called palhabotes, substantial seaworthy craft, with which they carry on coast trade along the seaboard from the Gaboon to Mossamedes. Like Kroo-men, they also take temporary service in the factories or on board the European vessels. They are also excellent masons, cooks, and tailors, constituting in the southern Portuguese possessions a large part of the artisan population. It is noteworthy that amongst the Cabindas infant mortality is almost unknown, the 402 WEST AFRICA. children being entirely exempt from rickets and the numerous other maladies that sweep off so many in civilised lands. In these equatorial regions the interior is henceforth opened to European enterprise, and the natives, who till recently took no part in international trade, may now exchange their gums and ivory for European wares. But without systematic cultivation of the soil the French possessions can have no economic value. They will become mere military settlements surrounded by a few groups of factories and missionary stations, and useful for keeping open the communica- tions with the interior. Hitherto no symptoms can be detected of any great social change, except that the Mpongwes are being gradually displaced by the more industrious and more intelligent Fans. But apart from trade, with all its attendant evils, the civilising efforts of the whites have borne so little fruit that a serious beginning has apparently still to be made. What has most to be dreaded is the employment of force, which in a single day would undo the work already accom- plished in the Ogoway and Alima basins by the patience and forbearance of M. Brazza and his associates. Topography. North of the Gaboon estuary there are no settlments beyond a few factories and missionary establishments about the mouths of the San- Benito and other rivers. The largest centre of native population is found in the Spanish island of Corisco, that is, "Lightning," so named from the thunderstorms here witnessed by the first Portuguese navigators. Corisco is a flat island about 6 square miles in extent, forming a southern continuation of Cape St. John, and inhabited by about one thousand Mbengas, over a fourth of whom have been taught to read and write by the Protestant and Catholic missionaries stationed amongst them. No European traders reside on the island, the attempts made by the Dutch in 1879 to make it a commercial settlement having failed. Great Elobey also, lying to the north-east near the head of the bay, has been abandoned to the natives, the foreign dealers confining themselves to Little Elobey, an islet half a square mile in extent lying nearly opposite the mouth of the Muni. From this point they are able to super- intend and communicate with their factories on the coast, for Little Elobey lies in smooth water, sheltered by Corisco and Great Elobey from the Atlantic surf. The only inhabitants are the European traders with their agents and Kroo domestics, who are supplied with provisions by the Mbengas of Great Elobey. The islet enjoys a healthy climate, and serves as a health resort for the whites engaged on the mainland. Ofiicially all these islands depend on the government of Fernando- Po, but this political connection appears to be little better than a fiction, the sovereign power being unrepresented by a single Spanish sentinel. The factories also nearly all belong to Hamburg merchants, paying neither imports nor customs to Spain. Libreville, capital of the French possessions, so named from the emancipated slaves settled here in 1849, lies on the north side of the Gaboon estuary, on a terrace dominated by the Bouet and Baudin hills to the north. Although containing no more than fifteen hundred inhabitants — French and other whites, Senegalese, Kroomen, and Mpongwes — Libreville is scattered over a space of about four miles along the roadstead. Here is a Catholic establishment, where over a hundred children are taught various trades, and also cultivate extensive cocoa-nut, oil-palm, and other plantations, serving as a sort of nursery for the whole region between the Niger and Congo mouths. At the opposite extremity of Libreville lies the American missionary station of Baraka, where instruction has now to be given in French, the official language of the colony. Near it are the factories of Glass, mostly belonging to foreigners, and much more important than the French
houses. Notwithstanding its great political value since the acquisition of the Ogoway basin and the foundation of the Congo Free State, Libreville is far from being a source of profit to France, the revenue derived from a few taxes and import dues scarcely representing one-fourth of the annual outlay.
But notwithstanding its present restricted commerce, there can be no doubt that Libreville must sooner or later become a great centre of international trade. Not only is it the natural emporium for all the produce of the Komo and Romboe basins, but through the latter river it also commands the route to the Ogoway. Ass soon as a railway or even a carriage road is opened, all the traffic of this basin above the Ngunie confluence must flow to the Gaboon estuary. But meantime Libreville has scarcely any value except as the centre of the military power. Besides the gardens attached to the Catholic mission, the only great plantation in the neighbourhood is that of Sibanghe, founded 10 miles farther north by a German house.
Above the delta one of the first permanent European stations on the Ogoway is Lambaréné, situated at the converging point of the natural highways leading
South of Cape St. Catherine over fifty factories follow along the coast to the
mouth of the Congo. The most important north of Loango is Ma-Yumba, lying on a strip of sand between the sea and the Banya lagoon, and chief depot for the gums collected in the neighbouring forests by the surrounding Ba-Vili, Ba-Lumbo and Ba-Yaka tribes. Here every river mouth or estuary has its factory, that of the Kwilu being situated on the island of Reis. A group of sheds on the left bank of this river is already dignified with the name of town, being destined by the International African Association as the starting-point of the route laid down from the coast to the Congo along a line of stations which, if they do not yet exist, are at least indicated on the maps. The three chief ports founded by the French on taking possession of this valley are Niari-Babwende, on the upper course of the Kwilu, Niari Lu-Dima, at the confluence of the river of like name, and Ngotu, standing on a prominent bluff in the region of the cataracts. Doubtless this route must one day acquire great commercial importance, but this cannot be till a carriage road has been constructed, the Kwilu itself not being navigable.
Recently M. Cholet made the journey in twenty-five days from the coast to Brazzaville.
At present all the traffic of this region is carried on through the port of Loango (Buala), an old city till recently claimed by Portugal, but now assigned to France. In the days of its prosperity, when it was capital of a province of the Congo empire, Loango was said to have a population of fifteen thousand; at present it is less a town than a group of factories surrounded by chimbeques, that. is, hovels constructed of raphia stems and "Loango grass," or papyrus. At this point the shore-line curves round to the west, thus sheltering the roadstead from the prevailing winds. Goods can accordingly be landed here more easily than at any other place, and on this protected beach have been founded a number of English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, and German factories. In the neighbouring village of Loangiri is seen the necropolis of the old kings of Loango, which was formerly enclosed by a barrier of elephants' tusks. The royal burial-place at Labu is indicated by fetishes carved in wood, and those who are destined one day to be deposited in this shrine must not penetrate within its precincts during their lifetime, as such a visit would be the herald of approaching death.
Ponta Negra ("Black Point,") about 18 miles farther south, occupies a position
analogous to that of Loango, for here also the strand develops a semicircle round a tranquil bay, on which several factories have likewise been established. Beyond this point follow the factories of Massabi, the first within Portuguese territory, and a little farther on the station of Shinshosho, former headquarters of the German explorers connected with the Loango expedition. In order to protect their warehouses from plunderers, the traders have proclaimed them "fetish," giving the natives to understand that the terrible god of the whites lies concealed behind the brandy casks and bales of cotton.
The port of Landana, more than a mile to the south of the Shi-Loango, or "Little Loango" river, is comprised within the Portuguese enclave, which is limited on one side by the French possessions, on the other by the new Congo State. It is one of the pleasantest places on the whole coast, embowered in the graceful foliage of the palms, above which rise the red sandstone cliffs of the
seaboard. Round the Catholic mission stretch magnificent gardens and the finest orange groves in equatorial Africa; but the climate is unfortunately rendered malarious by a lagoon fringed with a border of eucalyptus introduced from Australia. The trade of Landana and of its neighbour, Malemba (Molembo), consists chiefly in palm-oil and nuts. At a time when ivory was more abundant than at present, the natives of this district displayed remarkable artistic skill and taste in embellishing the tusks with sculptures disposed in spirals, like the bas-relief of Trajan's column, and representing processions, battles, and treaties of
peace. Some of the figures are very curious, reproducing whites of various nationalities with singular fidelity and a delicate touch of humour.
Cabinda, no less picturesque than Landana, stands on a more capacious bay, where vessels can ride at anchor under shelter from the south and south-west winds. Thanks to the industry of its enterprising inhabitants, Cabinda has become a very busy seaport, and although lying some 86 miles north of the mouth of the Congo, it is already one of the entrepôts for the commerce of that basin. Its chief factory is the centre for all the British trade between the Gaboon estuary and Loanda. Povo Grande, the largest village in Portuguese territory, is dispersed among the bananas and gardens stretching along the coast south of Cabinda. One of its hamlets was capital of the former kingdom of Ngoyo. A part of the local trade is in the hands of the Ma-Vumbus, a people of grave and solemn aspect, with intelligent eyes, straight or even aquiline nose, whose pronounced Semitic type has earned for them the Portuguese designation of Judeos pretos, or "Black Jews." They may certainly be regarded as of Jewish origin, if the statement be true that they are strict observers of the sabbath, abstaining even from all conversation on that day. According to the natives, the Ma-Vumbus were expressly created by God to punish other mortals by reducing them to poverty.
According to the provisional administration recently bestowed on them, the Portuguese possessions lying north of the Congo are attached to the province of Angola, constituting a special district with the territories beyond the Congo as far as Ambriz. Cabinda is the capital of this district, which is divided into the two northern circumscriptions of Cabinda and Landana.
