342 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



great. The extraordinary number of tribes in the Congo, 

 many of which are fierce and intractable, like the Bangalas 

 and Ababuas, others of low civilisation like the Momvu and 

 Mombuttu made the first step of civihsation extremely diffi- 

 cult. Soldiers had to be recruited from the West Coast, 

 among them Hausas and natives from Sierra Leone, who 

 not being of the country, committed acts of cruelty and 

 pillage whenever they got the opportunity. Another source 

 of trouble has been the employment in official capacities 

 of men of different nationalities, with the result that there 

 has been friction with at least one other nation. 



The system of labour imposed upon the natives can 

 have none but a good effect. It brings them into closer 

 contact with the white man and civilisation, and imbues 

 them with a sense of responsibility. As long as the native is 

 left to himself, so long will he sit outside his hut and occupy 

 his time in staring into vacancy. In the forest regions the 

 soil is so rich, and the chances of loss by plague or storm so 

 few, that little husbandry is required of the native to grow 

 his crops. But since the white man levies so much food from 

 him it means he must increase his plantations, and so the 

 country becomes richer in cultivation year by year. In so 

 fertile a region it naturally follows that hving is extremely 

 cheap, and this must be borne in mind when we deal with the 

 question of the payment of the natives. But, in spite of this 

 consideration, it is my opinion that the rates are much too 

 low, and should be readjusted. This applies also to the pay 

 of the white official. On the other hand, in our own and the 

 German West African colonies things have been carried to 

 the other extreme. One shilling a day for a native soldier 



