214 FROM KIVU TO TANGANYIKA 



butterfly-net, and the blade is now a very service- 

 able paper-knife. 



Unlike the Uganda porters, who always carry 

 their loads upon their heads, in the Congo, and more 

 particularly in the mountainous districts, the porters 

 carry loads upon their backs suspended by a rope, 

 which passes across the forehead. It does not 

 matter if your supply of rope fails, as it is sure to 

 do, for the porters very soon manufacture some 

 more. Tear up an armful of coarse grass, not so 

 long as barley straw, and try and twist it into a 

 rope that will not fall to pieces at a touch. I have 

 tried it and have failed ignominiously, and I doubt 

 if one white man in a hundred can do it ; but a 

 Congo porter will make in a couple of minutes a 

 rope which will support the heaviest load and will 

 never break. 



The usual scale of payment of the porters in 

 the Congo is one ' brasse ' (two metres) of cloth 

 for a journey of three or four days, or a ^ doti^ 

 (two brasses) of cloth for a journey of a week, 

 and so on in proportion to the length of the journey. 

 The value of one brasse is calculated in the Upper 

 Congo to be one franc fifty centimes, so that the 

 payment of three francs a week compares favourably 

 with the average payment of four rupees (equal 

 to about six and a half francs) which the Uganda 

 porter receives a month. In addition to this the 

 Congo porter is paid a daily ' posho ' (ration) of 

 beads to the value of fifteen centimes ; the usual 



