STANLEY'S GREAT CONGO EXPEDITION 359 



by inducing some of the warring natives to conclude a treaty of peace. 

 With many of the chiefs he went through the ceremony of blood- 

 brotherhood, even doing this with the chiefs of the Bangalas, who had 

 fought him furiously during his descent of the Congo in 1877. Iboko, 

 the country of these people, was one of the largest and most powerful 

 on the river. 



As the little fleet of steamers puffed its way higher and higher 

 up the mighty river, richer and richer grew the land. The soil was 

 black with vegetable matter, and its fertility was extreme. Miles and 

 miles of forest trees of great value lined the banks on either hand; 

 gum copal trees covered with the parasitic orchilla — containing the 

 germs of large fortunes — were seen for hours together. The many 

 islands in mid-stream continually assumed new shapes, but their 

 exuberance of vegetation was an enduring feature. The land was a 

 land of plenty. 



Passing slowly up river, exploring all important tributaries for 

 a considerable distance, undergoing the ceremony of "blood brother- 

 hood" countless times, making treaties with the great chiefs, this mis- 

 sion of commerce and civilization at length arrived at the foot of the 

 seventh and last cataract of Stanley Falls. This was the destination 

 of the expedition — the Ultima Thule of Stanley's "state building'* on 

 the Congo. The people who inhabited the islands and the mainland 

 west of the falls are the Wenyas, who are great fishermen and dex- 

 terous boatmen. With these Stanley opened a "shauri" for the pur- 

 chase of land on which to found a permanent settlement. After a 

 great deal of agitation on the part of the natives, to whom the idea 

 was entirely novel, and prolific outbursts of native oratory in many 

 phases — fearful, cautious, prophetic, indignant, abusive, shrewd, phil- 

 osophic, pacific, and finally friendly — Stanley bought for £160 worth 

 of beads, knives, cloth, wire, looking-glasses, caps, brass rods, and 

 other forms of an extensive currency, a considerable portion of a large 

 island for founding his settlement. The station was situated just 

 below the rapids, and possessed in a creek on the east side of the island 

 an excellent harbor. The powerful tribe of the Bakuma dwell in the 

 country east of the seventh fall, and of them Stanley made most cor- 

 dial friend <?. With both the Wenyas and the Bakumas he concluded 



