244 DOWN THE CONGO TO THE COAST 



Not only did he know that we were coming, but 

 he knew exactly how many loads we had and 

 how many ' boys.' The only mistake in his in- 

 formation was that we were Germans ; Englishmen 

 are unknown in those parts of the Congo, and 

 the European who is not a Belgian is a German. 

 The telegraphic apparatus is simple enough, and 

 consists only of a drum, very often a hollowed piece 

 of wood, the sound of which, when it is beaten, 

 carries for an immense distance over the water. 

 The interval between the last two villages above 

 Kibombo was between three and four miles, but 

 news was drummed from one to the other v/ithout 

 a mistake being made. After seeing a practical 

 illustration of the art, I began to be less sceptical 

 of the truth of the story, which the Belgians at 

 Rutchuru told us, of news having been sent from 

 Fort Beni in the Semliki Valley to Rutchuru in 

 the Mfumbiro volcanoes in a single night ; that 

 was a distance of about 150 miles, and probably 

 a good deal farther by the way that the news 

 travelled. 



Between Nyangwe and Kibombo the Congo 

 enters the Great Forest, which is as sharply defined 

 at its southern boundary as we had found it to 

 be at the east, and thenceforward, for 1,400 miles 

 without a break, the river runs through forest. 



In the Upper Congo every big village on the 

 river bank is required by the State to furnish a 

 certain number of paddlers in proportion to the 



