Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/579

THE FRENCH CONGO. 477 which the recent convention has restored to the Congo Free State. The great market of the whole country, also lying within the Free State, is the group of villages bearing the collective name of Irehu {Ilebu), on the emissary through which Lake Montumba sends its overflow to the Congo, nearly opposite the U-Banghi confluence. In the Upper Bunga and Likwalla basins, which flow eastwards to the U- Banghi, dwell the Jambi, the Okotas, the Okangas, the Ubetas, and the Ba-Mbu. But of these peoples little is known beyond their names, for Jacques de Brazza and Pecile, who have alone visited their territory, were not well received, and were unable to reside for any length of time amongst them. The lower course of these rivers, as w^ell as of the Alima, is comprised within the territory of the Bu- Banghi, who, however, here take the name of Ap-Furu, or Ba-Furu. Like the other members of the nation, they are mostly itinerant traders, whole family groups consisting of persons born afloat and destined to die in their canoes. The floating villages are in many places more numerous and more populous than those situated on the mainland. From the Ba-Teke of the Upper Alima, the Ap-Furu boatmen purchase manioc, which they grind to flour and sell to the populations lower down, the quantity of this article thus daily retailed being estimated at no less than ten tons. Thanks to this commercial movement, the Alima, of all the rivers in the French Congo territory, has acquired the greatest strategical importance. It possesses all the greater value that it rises in the same transverse valley as the Ogoway, and, conse- quently, continues the waterway formed by this river between the northern and southern sections of the Gaboon-Ogoway region. The road already constructed on the waterparting to the east of Franceville has its present terminus on a tributary of the Alima, and stations have here been founded at intervals to relieve the porters and further the transit of merchandise. Diele, the station lying nearest to the sources, is situated on a river of like name, while the Alima station itself stands at the point where the Diele and the Gombo mingle their waters to form the Alima proper. Beyond it follows Leketiy at another confluence of the main stream, and Pomho {Mhoahi) near the Alima-Congo confluence. Pombo has been founded chiefly for the purpose of supplying the "straw" and "bamboos," or raphia fibre, to the stations along the Congo. The Mboshi, who give an alternative name to this post on the Lower Alima, are one of the most savage peoples in the whole Congo region. Their defiant and dogged attitude renders them a thorn in the side of their more peaceful Ba-Teke and Ap-Furu neighbours, and the French themselves have had much trouble in maintaining the station of Pombo in their territory. Physically the Mboshi are a tall and stalwart race, but lack the graceful carriage of the Ba-Teke and the sculpturesque beauty of the Ap-Furus. They are probably of mixed origin, and interminglings still continue, for those dwelling on the banks of the river prefer to take wives from foreign tribes. From the fetishmen, who are at once wizards, judges, and executioners, they