The Eastern Congo 



the sultans of Ruanda, of the Great War and of pestilence 

 and famine after it, when fifty thousand natives perished, 

 of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, of Kirschstein the 

 German, and his attempt to scale Karisimbi, when thirty or 

 more of his carriers were killed in a hail-storm ; of elephants, 

 man-apes and lions and the mythical " muga " of the forest 

 dwarfs, resembling an enormous bear, of cattle and tsetse 

 flies and the three-homed chameleon and hairy frogs. 



These lava-plains by Njundo, which are dotted with 

 small extinct volcanoes, are covered with a shallow deposit 

 of very rich soil, producing the finest tobacco. From this 

 the Fathers make some really excellent cigars. The dried 

 leaves can be bought from the natives at a hundred for one 

 franc. This tobacco is very popular with the Watusi, who 

 will smoke nothing else. It has, moreover, been well re- 

 ported on in Europe as suitable for cigar wrappers. 



This same ground was disputed by the Germans and 

 Belgians in the first years of the war, and both German and 

 Belgian gun-positions may be frequently seen on the hills 

 and craters round about. 



After war had passed, came a bad famine through which 

 forty thousand natives lost their lives in this one district. 

 Then the Spanish influenza attacked these hapless wretches, 

 from which they were just recovering at the time of our 

 visit. 



In connection with the war, the Fathers have a tragic 

 but funny tale to tell. 



As may be guessed, iron is a valuable commodity amongst 

 these aborigines, and as might be expected after frequent 

 gun duels between the Germans and Belgians, there were 

 numberless pieces of broken shell to be found by ardent 



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