The pieces of iron in the shape of spearheads represent currency and, together with the dog and 
lumps of crude iron, constitute the man’s offering to the parents for his bride. 
The chief of the tribe, 
in public palaver, decides as to the justice of the bargain 
and now most of the men engaged look 
upon their more stable position with 
satisfaction. This alone does away with 
irresponsible actions and the increased 
comfort and security tends greatly to 
minimize the dangers of the dreaded 
Congo climate. Many of the local dis- 
turbances in administrating the native 
population have been due to the tempo- 
rary illness or general indisposition of 
European officers, who on this account 
were unable to show that high degree of 
patience and firmness which the success- 
ful handling of these natives requires. 
The latter express themselves as fairly 
content, comparing past times with the 
present. Only one blessing they still 
covet, “The remedy to avoid ultimate 
death.”” They have not the slightest 
tendency toward philosophic § specula- 
tion, nor are they capable of attaching 
themselves readily to purely spiritual 
beliefs. Their happiness or safety de- 
pends, according to their idea, upon all 
sorts of conditions or objects which, 
like a talisman, are supposed to possess 
powers of preventing mischief or disaster. 
So imbued are they with these supersti- 
tions that death, with all of them, is not 
the final and natural destruction of life 
but the result of witchcraft. 
Those who know the natives well 
never doubt that their faith is infinitely 
stronger than that of many Christians. 
Their superstitions are more than a 
belief. These superstitions often repre- 
sent stern laws the very cruelty of which 
frightens them away from wrong-doing. 
This is the rock of salvation for reform. 
These natives‘sometimes kill their 
fellow-men without what may be called a 
trial, but it is only a few hundred years 
since white men killed thousands of their 
brethren simply because they had a dif- 
385 
