HEART OF THE CONGO 365 



assisted the boys with the plank. Joe finally succeeded 

 in convincing the zealous patriot that we had no inten- 

 tion of cripphng the ferry service, nor of steahng the 

 government wharf I 



On the way to Fouroumbala we crossed numerous 

 rivers and decided that if the ferries became any smaller 

 we would pick one up and take it along with us. The 

 great Congo forest dwindled away and we entered an 

 open country dotted with small liills, finding Fouroum- 

 bala to be beautifully situated near a large river that 

 wound among grass-covered miniature mountains. 



On May twenty-seventh we reached Cliief Bamba's 

 village. We Avere now in a wild country of rolling 

 hills with dense woods of scrubby trees every few miles. 

 In the open spaces stood huge ant hills, about twenty 

 feet high, covered with soft green grass. 



The natives in this country were of a primitive type. 

 At one place disease was rampant. It was a district 

 of imbeciles, cripples, old men at twenty, and child 

 mothers. Nearly every man and woman was afflicted 

 with goiter, elephantiasis, or some other horrible 

 distortion. Old people stumbled along in pitiable 

 attitudes, their limbs warped out of shape by some 

 malady. These savages wear little or nothing, lie 

 about in the shade, and seem to have no occupation. 

 Their huts are odd, being shaped like inverted funnels 

 and are made of grass. 



For days the so-called road had been fined with 

 straggfing groves of rubber trees. These people manage 

 to eke out an existence from the smaU pittances received 

 for the crude rubber. In addition to what few suppfies 

 they purchase from the traders, their diet consists of 

 fowls, goats, and yams. 



