The Eastern Congo 



expect a prospector to die in) seven years ago. The relatives 

 had arranged to have his body exhumed and had suppUed 

 three special nested coffins for the purpose, which were to 

 accompany the Belgian official on his weird quest. 



There was, before the drop in the price of rubber, a brisk 

 trade in this product at Avakubi and throughout the Stanley- 

 ville district. It was collected principally from the Funtumia 

 rubber trees which grow to a gigantic size in the Ituri forest, 

 but also from the Landolphia vines. The " green " rubber 

 is brought in for sale sometimes in big blocks or more usually 

 in thick coils, which have to be cut up into sections and dried 

 on frames to prevent decay. If this drying process is delayed 

 too long, fermentation sets in : the smell thus engendered 

 being some ten times worse than a tannery. For this reason 

 the neighbourhood of one of these drying houses is very 

 much to be avoided. The usual price paid by the trader 

 to the natives for the rubber is one franc per kilo and for 

 ivory, three to five francs.* A licence for buying rubber 

 costs twenty-five francs, and for ivory and general trading 

 five hundred francs, but if a plot is rented from the Govern- 

 ment and buildings put up, no licence is required for buying 

 ivory. The export duty on ivory is two francs ten centimes 

 per kilo. 



On the northern bank of another great river, the Lindi, 

 which runs down to the Congo on a roughly parallel course 

 to that of the Aruwimi, is Bafwasende, to which we now 

 turned our steps. The distance is about fifty miles, forest 

 and palms all the way. This strip of country between the 

 two big rivers is the haunt of a fair abundance of game for 



* Palm oil can be bought at 50 centimes a pint, other nut oils — ground nut 

 melon seed, kola, and castor oil — at i franc per pint. 



194 



