230 FROM TANGANYIKA TO THE CONGO 



After crossing the Luama — a large tributary which 

 joins the Congo a little south of Kasongo — we 

 entered the Manyuema District, an immense country 

 over which the Belgians have at present a very 

 precarious hold. Most of the natives that we saw 

 were miserable, half-starved creatures, rotten with 

 disease, and it was difficult to believe that they 

 belonged to the race which was for so long a time 

 the terror of Central Africa. In two or three places 

 we crossed the telephone line which the Belgians 

 have established between Uvira and the Upper 

 Congo. More often than not, through the agency 

 of elephants, or storms, or of natives in need of 

 metal ornaments, it is out of gear, and it is hardly 

 likely that it would be of the least use for military 

 purposes in the event of a native rising. 



Many parts of the Manyuema country, particu- 

 larly the swamps and plains about the Luama River, 

 are well stocked with game, and we saw the tracks 

 of antelopes in many places ; but with the consistent 

 ill-luck which always dogged our footsteps, we 

 found ourselves there at the wrong time of the year : 

 it was the wet season, and the country was over- 

 grown with tall and impenetrable grass. Leopards 

 abound throughout the Manyuema District, and are 

 very much feared by the natives, whom they not 

 infrequently snatch out of their huts at night ; they 

 are particularly fond of lying in wait for the women 

 and children, when they go to fetch water in the 

 evening. I remember being waked one night by a 



