4ir, 



wliirh tin- I'lmmU'/.e, traced l>y Livingstone, in the 

 -t feeder, and into which also l\\\ minn-ruus 

 ms I'rmii tin- Lokinga Mountains on the Month, 

 i> tin- iv-i-rvoir from which this great rivi-r issues 

 mi'l'T the name of the Luapnlu. Flowing in a 

 northerly direction, it expands into Lake Mnero, on 

 taring which it is called, as far as Nyangwe, the 

 Liiiil.-ilui ; from Nyangwe to Stanley Falls (Arab 

 name for which is /ingatini) Stanley christened 

 it tin- l.i\ iiiusione ; iiinl from Stanley Falls to the 

 mouth it is known by tin; mum; of the Congo. 



h-^ length has been calculated at over 3000 

 milfs ; it drains an area of more than 1,300,000 

 .;.|. in. ; and it discharges a body of water into the 

 ocean second only to the Amazon. Such is the 

 power and force or this mighty stream that no delta 

 exists at its mouth. Vessels take in fresh water at 

 its entrance into the sea, and, during the rainy 

 season, when the river is at its highest, vessels 

 approaching the Congo enter discoloured water, 

 and pass through floating debris more than 300 

 miles from land. The two largest tributaries of 

 the Congo are the Kassai from the south, whose 

 waters were thoroughly explored (1885) by Lieu- 

 tenant Wissmann of the German army ; and the 

 Mobangi, from the north, explored ( 1884-8.')) by the 

 Rev. Mr Grenfell, who penetrated beyond the 4th 

 degree of N. lat., and whose explorations were after- 

 wards continued by Lieutenant Vangele of the Bel- 

 gian army. This officer reached 21 53' of E. long., 

 or within about 60 miles of Dr Junker's lowest 

 point on the Makua- Welle, thus proving that the 

 Welle of Schweinfurth is the same as the Mobangi 

 of Grenfell. Besides these two great affluents, the 

 Congo has many other tributaries. The most im- 

 portant of these are the Kwa or Kwango, the Jnapa 

 and Bosira, the Ikelemba, the Lulongo, and the 

 Lumami rivers on the south or left bank ; and the 

 Aruwimi, the Mbura, the Loika, the Ngala, the 

 Lokinga Nkundji, &c., on the north or right 

 bank. 



As regards commerce and navigation, the Congo 

 may be divided into three parts Lower, Middle, 

 and Upper. The lower region extends from 

 Banana at the mouth to the foot of the first rapids, 

 a distance of 110 miles. Ocean steamers, drawing 

 not more than 18 feet, can safely navigate this 

 portion. The middle or cataract region extends 

 from Vivi to Stanley Pool, a distance of about 235 

 miles a portion of this part of the river viz. from 

 Issangila to Manyanga, a distance of 70 miles, is 

 navigable for small steamers or iron whaleboats. 

 The upper region from Stanley Pool to Stanley 

 Falls has an extent of 1068 miles of navigable 

 water for steamers of a draught not exceeding four 

 feet. The length of navigable tributaries which 

 enter in this section of the river has been calculated 

 at over 3000 miles, forming a unique system of 

 waterways. 



These discoveries by Mr Stanley led, in 1878, 

 to the formation of the Association Internationale 

 under His Majesty the King of the Belgians, and 

 this subsequently expanded into the Congo Free 

 State, which, recognised by the European powers 

 assembled at the conference at Berlin in the year 

 1885, has the following Ixmndaries : The northern 

 bank from the mouth, with a strip of territory 

 averaging alxnit 60 miles in width, as far as 

 Manyanga, situated about 240 miles from Banana, 

 the entrance part of the river. At Manyanga 

 the French territory commences and continues 

 along the north bank, passing Stanley Pool as 

 far as the Mobangi. The territory of the Congo 

 Free State recommences at this river, and the 

 boundary line runs along the left bank as far as 

 the fourth parallel of N. latitude, which then be- 

 comes the northern boundary of the central portion 

 of the state. 



North-east it extend* to the watershed of the 

 Congo basin, eastwards to 'Mi K. long, and Lake 

 Tanganyika, south-east to Lake Bangweolo and 

 tin- southern watershed of the Congo basin as far 

 as Lake Dilolo, south- west to the Kassai river, to 

 7 8. lat., the Kwilu, the Kwango, and the parallel 

 of Nokki. These boundaries were only finally 

 settled by the neutrality declarations of 1894 and 

 1895, after a series of treaties. The area is stated 

 at 900,000 sq. m., the pop. at 30,000,000. 



The Congo Free State is governed by an admin- 

 istrative bureau at Brussels, consisting of three 

 secretariats Control, Finance, and Foreign Aflairs, 

 under the direct supervision of His Majesty the 

 King of the Belgians ; also by an administrator on 

 the Congo who has his headquarters at Boma, 60 

 miles from the sea, on the rigiit bank of the river. 

 The state has stations at Banana, Vivi, Boma, and 

 Matadi on the Lower Congo ; at Lukungu, Issangila, 

 Manyanga, Lutete on the Middle Congo; and at 

 Leopoldville, Kinshassa, Kwamouth, Lukolela, 

 Equator, Bangala, and Stanley Falls on the Upper 

 Congo. Besides these the state has erected two 

 stations on the Kasai, Luebo, and Luluaberg. All 

 imports are free, and only such export duties are 

 levied as are necessary to carry on the work of 

 administration. It has a coinage and postal 

 service, and has entered into the Postal Lnion. 

 A road has been surveyed between Matadi and 

 Leopoldville, and by the introduction of ox-wagons 

 the facilities for transport will be largely increased. 

 It is intended to follow this up by a railway. Its 

 present income is derived from an endowment of 

 40,0K) a year bestowed upon it by His Majesty 

 the King of the Belgians, and such other sums as 

 are produced by its export dues. 



The inhabitants of the Congo basin belong to 

 what has been termed the Bantu race. They are 

 a happy, inoffensive people, not so dark as the Fan 

 or Ethiopian. Split up into numberless tribal com- 

 munities, they can offer but slight resistance to the 

 advance of civilisation ; and as they are born traders, 

 they take very readily to commerce. The dialects 

 throughout the country are very numerous, but 

 many of them would appear to have a common 

 origin ( see BANTU ). Even the Swaheli language, 

 spoken by the natives of Zanzibar (who come as 

 porters, &c. into this region ), has much in common 

 with the Kishi Congo, or language spoken on the 

 west coast. Of this typical member of the Bantu 

 family, the Rev. W. Holman Bentley has furnished 

 an excellent Dictionary and Grammar ( Lond. 1888 ). 

 The religion is mainly fetichism ; and domestic 

 slavery exists everywhere. The name of French 

 Congo is now given to what was known as the 

 Gaboon (q.v.) territory; and Portuguese Congo is 

 the coast country to the south of the independent 

 state. 



The climate of the Congo State is tropical, the 

 average temperature ranging between 78" and vj . 

 Malarial fevers, especially on the coast, are not 

 infrequent ; but with care and attention to diet- 

 Europeans can remain in the country for several 

 years without change. The interior is more healthy 

 than on the coast. The principal products are 

 ivory, palm-oil, palm-kernels, india-rubber, various 

 gum's, ground-nuts, camwood, beeswax, orchilla; 

 also conee, tobacco, hill rice, maize, and sorghum. 

 Tropical fruits, such as bananas, pine-apples, and 

 mangos, abound. The total value of the special ex- 

 ports of the independent state proper vary in value 

 from 5,000,000 to 8,000,000 francs ; the general ex- 

 ports from 8,000,000 to about 15,000,000 francs. 

 About 50 miles of the railway, past the rapids to 

 Leopoldville (250 miles), are open. In 1889 the 

 king of Belgium bequeathed his righto in the state 

 to Belgium ; and in 1890 Belgium reserved the right 

 of annexing the state. 



