The Eastern Congo 



With my licence in my pocket, such a chance was the 

 very one I awaited, and my faithful Wanandi porters being 

 ready to follow me anywhere, no time was lost in getting 

 under way. We struck out due west from Serimani's, 

 literally pushing our way through the veritable tangle of 

 bamboo-like grass, wild bananas and thick forest that hide 

 the steep sides of the many affluents of the Itoa River which 

 have their source on this side of the watershed. 



On the third day, the forest becoming continuous and 

 even more dense than before, it was hard to give credence 

 to our guide's assurance that we would presently emerge 

 into open country again, but as he stuck to his contention 

 I had perforce to believe him. At midday we reached what 

 must have been the western edge of the plateau for it was 

 marked by a steep escarpment over which we gained an 

 extensive view of the central Ituri valley stretching away, 

 it seemed, almost into the brooding mists of the great Congo 

 River itself. On this eminence at an elevation of 4,700 

 feet I made camp, as Serimani stated that we were now 

 only a short walk away from the open elephant country, 

 about which I had heard so much and which by this time 

 I was most anxious to see. 



Being known as Ingelesi and not as " Bulamatari* in 

 search of taxes," in the afternoon we were visited by bodies 

 of the most barbaric Wambuba cut-throats that can well 

 be imagined. Hung with weird ornaments, some of them 

 capped with skin head-dresses and others wearing okapi 

 skin belts, and carrying bows and arrows, knives, spears, 



* Bulamatari or Bula-matadi means literally the stone-breaker, the name 

 given to Stanley by the natives and which has now become the designation 

 applied to the Belgians by all Congo natives. The name has its origin ia tlie 

 early road-making efforts of Stanley in the region of the cataracts. 



176 



