170 



CONGO FREE STATE. 



especially his assumption of a monopoly of ivory, 

 drove the Wasanga, the original inhabitants of 

 the country, to revolt. The rebellion was put 

 down with great barbarity after nine months of 

 fighting. The country was known to contain 

 gold as well as copper, and was supposed to be 

 very rich in the noble metal and in quicksilver. 



The Katanga Company, organized in Belgium 

 to develop the resources of this country, received 

 a concession from the Congo Free State authoriz- 

 ing it to enjoy exclusive rights to the trade and 

 industry of Katanga, and full power to govern 

 the country. The company sent out an expedi- 

 tion under Lieut. Le Marinel, who, in July, 1891, 

 made a treaty by which Msiri recognized the 

 sovereignty of the Congo Free State. A. Del- 

 commune, at the head of a second expedition, ar- 

 rived at the capital of Msiri in October, 1891. 

 A third expedition, led by Capt. Stairs, consist- 

 ing of 10 whites and 336 porters, went by way 

 of Zanzibar and reached Katanga, after a jour- 

 ney of six months, on Dec. 14, 1891. Lieut. Le 

 Marinel had left two Belgian officers with a 

 small garrison to occupy a station near the 

 King's town when he departed six months before. 

 The King, who had received the Belgian expedi- 

 tions hospitably and had welcomed English mis- 

 sionaries, now showed hostility toward the whites 

 because they occupied this fortified post, from 

 which he could not dislodge them. He met 

 Capt. Stairs on Dec. 18, and told him that he 

 would not raise the flag of the Free State, deny- 

 ing that he had acknowledged its sovereignty. 

 When, at a second interview, Stairs said that the 

 flag would be raised with or without his author- 

 ity, he went away to a neighboring village, leav- 

 ing his capital in the possession of the whites, 

 with whom he refused to hold further inter- 

 course. On Dec. 20 Capt. Stairs sent Capt. Bod- 

 son and the Marquis de Bonchamps with 115 

 armed men to bring the King if they could. 

 Capt. Bodson boldly accompanied a messenger 

 of the King into the stockaded village without 

 an escort. He was led to the King, who was sur- 

 rounded by 300 armed men, and when he de- 

 manded that Msiri should go with him to Capt. 

 Stairs the despot drew his sword and advanced 

 menacingly, whereupon Capt. Bodson shot him 

 dead with his revolver, and was himself shot and 

 mortally wounded by one of the chiefs. The 

 Marquis de Bonchamps, on hearing the discharge 

 of firearms, attacked the palisades, and after a 

 short struggle captured the place. The people 

 rose against the whites, who intrenched them- 

 selves effectually. After a few days he had a 

 parley with Msiri's brothers, in consequence of 

 which the people, who were weary of Msiri's 

 despotism, quieted down and appeared willing to 

 accept the disposition of the Belgian commander, 

 who recognized Msiri's son, Mkanda Wantu. as 

 ruler, but only of Katanga and the district im- 

 mediately surrounding it. The chiefs of the 

 other districts had the limits of their territories 

 fixed by Capt. Stairs, who also freed a great many 

 slaves. On Jan. 30, 1892. Capt. Bia, who came 

 with a fourth expedition by way of the Congo, 

 reached Katanga, and Capt. Stairs turned over 

 the command to him, and with his own party 

 reached the coast by way of the Zambesi on 

 June 3, 1892. About* 190 natives died from pri- 

 vation and fever on the road, and before he could 



embark Capt. Stairs himself was attacked anew 

 with the fever, and died at Shinde on June 8. 

 For twenty-six days the expedition had no food 

 except white ants and locusts.. 



Arab Revolt on the Upper Congo. A 

 Katanga trading syndicate, distinct from the 

 Katanga Company, was formed in Belgium in 

 1891 for the purpose of establishing trading posts 

 in the populous region between the Congo and 

 the Lomami. extending from Stanley Falls to 

 Kasongo, where large quantities of ivory were 

 expected to be found in the hands of the natives. 

 Arthur Hodister, who had been an efficient agent 

 of the Free State in the negotiations with Tippoo 

 Tib and an advocate of harmony and co-opera- 

 tion with the Arab traders, led the principal ex- 

 pedition, which reached Bena Kamba, the head 

 of navigation on the Lomami, on April 6, 1891, 

 where a station was established, as well as at 

 Yanga and at Riba Riba and Nyangwe on the 

 Congo. Parties were sent farther up both rivers 

 to establish posts at Faki and at Kasongo, a 

 town of 9,000 inhabitants founded by Tippoo Tib, 

 the largest Arab settlement in Central Africa. 

 In this whole region the Arab dealers in slaves 

 and ivory have enjoyed hitherto a complete mo- 

 nopoly of trade. Five of the proposed stations 

 were established and garrisoned, and thus the 

 band of 19 white men and the black soldiery 

 taken up on board the steamboat "Auguste 

 Beernaert " were divided between posts that 

 were separated by wide distances. Each of these 

 posts was attacked by overwhelming Arab bands, 

 who killed the garrisons, destroyed the stations, 

 and carried off the trade goods as plunder. 

 Hodister, who had lived on friendly terms with 

 the Arab chiefs and knew every one of them 

 from the mouth of the Lomami as far up as 

 Nyangwe, had remained at Bena Kamba. After 

 he fell into the hands of the Arabs he was tor- 

 tured for three days before he was beheaded. 

 Page and Dore, the only white survivors of the 

 expedition, escaped from' Bena Kamba to Stanley 

 Falls. A supposed reason for the rising was the 

 course taken by the commercial agents in enter- 

 ing into direct trading relations with the negroes. 

 The Arabs, who consider themselves the natural 

 masters of the blacks, will not allow the latter 

 to sell ivory except through their instrumental- 

 ity, and mercilessly put to death every one who 

 is caught doing so. They claim a monopoly of 

 the ivory, and exact a large profit for their serv- 

 ices as middlemen. 



As soon as the news of the Hodister disaster 

 was brought by steamer to Leopoldville, the 

 Congo State authorities sent all the native troops 

 that could be spared from that place and Ban- 

 gala to the upper Congo. A large force was al- 

 ready garrisoned at Basoko, at the mouth of the 

 Aruwimi. This and others of the garrisons of 

 the Congo State were largely composed of the 

 Basoko natives, the ferocious cannibal tribe that 

 attacked Stanley. A part of the re-enforcements 

 were added to the garrison at Basoko, and a large 

 force was posted at the mouth of the Lomami 

 to observe the movements of Rachid, who was 

 suspected of a design to join the rebellion. 

 There were grave fears of an uprising of the 

 Arabs of Isangi and Stanley Falls, who might 

 have seized those stations and raided the posts 

 established by the Congo State farther down on 



