CHAPTER XIV 



A THOUSAND MILES DOWN THE CONGO 



" Shadow and sunshine, and plateau and plain, 

 Vacant horizons and silence supreme. 

 Mile upon mile of a heathen domain 

 Framing the scribbler's dream." 



" African Authors," Verse 5. By CuUen Gouldsbury. 



THE voyage down the mighty Congo on which we had 

 now embarked has so often been described in detail 

 by better pens than mine, that no doubt the long- 

 suffering reader who has been indulgent enough to follow 

 me thus far, would prefer that I give but a passing reference 

 to the incidents of the voyage or to the places at which we 

 touched en route ; rather would he prefer to gain an insight 

 into the economic welfare of so great a territory if he be a 

 speculator or financier, or into its social life if he be a mis- 

 sionary or student. To the scientists I have little more to 

 say, hoping they will have picked out from the foregoing 

 narrative what they can find of interest. 



What better place could be found for the purpose men- 

 tioned than the clean deck of the ss. Scmois, as she bears 

 us down on the bosom of this great artery of Africa ? I 

 will therefore attempt to place before my mixed audience 

 aforesaid the Belgian Congo as it is to-day. 



The colony progresses rapidly. Even between so short 

 a period as the time taken to commence and finish this book, 

 events have occurred of far-reaching importance, principal 

 among which is the discovery of coal to the south of Bukama 

 in the Katanga, which will revolutionise the copper smelting 



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