Africa^ its Past and Ftiture. 115 



"In January, 1882, we started from our camp, — 200 souls in 

 all, — following the road, sixty feet wide, to a region inhabited 

 by the Basonge, on the Sankuru and Lomami Rivers. The huts 

 were about twenty feet square, divided into two compartments, 

 the furniture consisting of cane and wooden stools ; floor, ceil- 

 ing, and walls covered with grass mats. Between the huts were 

 gardens, where tobacco, tomatoes, pine-apples, and bananas were 

 grown. The fields in the rear down to the river were cultivated 

 with sweet-potatoes, ground-nuts, sugar-cane, manioc, and millet. 

 Goats and sheep and fowls in abundance, homestead follows 

 homestead in never-ending succession. From half -past six in the 

 morning, we passed without a break through the street of the 

 town until eleven. When we left it, it then still extended far 

 away to the south-east. The finest specimens in my collection, 

 such as open-work battle-axes inlaid with copper, spears, and 

 neat utensils, I foi;nd in this village. 



" Four years had gone by, when I once more found myself 

 near this same village. With joy we beheld the broad savannas, 

 where we expected to recruit our strength and provisions. We en- 

 camped near the town, and in the morning approached its palm- 

 groves. The paths were no longer clean, no laughter was heard, 

 no sign of welcome greeted us. The silence of death breathes 

 from the palm-trees, tall grass covers every thing, and a few 

 charred poles are the only evidence that man once dwelt there. 

 Bleached skulls by the I'oadside, and the skeletons of human 

 hands attached to the poles, tell the siory. Many women had 

 been carried oif. All who resisted were killed. The whole tribe 

 had ceased to exist- The slave-dealer was Sayol, lieutenant of 

 TippoTip." 



Sir Samuel Baker was largely instrumental in the suppression 

 of the slave-trade, and, while the rule of the English and French 

 in Egypt was maintained, slavery was greatly diminished ; but, 

 since the defeat and death of Gen. Gordon, the slave-trade has 

 rapidly increased, and is now carried on more actively than at 

 any other time. The only obstacles to this traflUc are the pres- 

 ence of Emin Pacha at Wadelai, the English and American 

 missionaries, and English trading-stations on Lakes Victoria 

 Nyanza and Tanganyika. 



The slave-traders unite in efforts to destroy Emin Pacha, and 

 to expel the missionaries and all -European travelers and traders, 

 except the Portuguese, and for this purpose excite the hostility 



VOL. I. 10 



