Down the Congo 



on the Congo River. Again passing from the north central 

 Congo back to its south centre, and after touching the copal- 

 digging industry,* we reach the Kasai diamond fields and still 

 another rubber-producing area. The Societe Internationale 

 Forestiere et Miniere du Congo or the Formiere Company work 

 the Kasai diamond area and now employ over one hundred 

 and forty whites and more than eleven thousand natives. 

 Again we find at Mayumbe, plantations of cocoa which in 

 1920 produced a million kilos of this commodity, and also 

 in the Kasai and Lomami districts the agents of a new firm, 

 styling itself the Compagnie Cotonniere Congolaise, are at work 

 on cotton planting and the fostering of the industry amongst 

 the natives : two ginning mills are in course of construction 

 and a supply of hand gins are being placed at various centres. 

 As a summary of the foregoing I give the export statistics 

 of the Belgian Congo for the years 1914 and 1920 in the order 

 of their value. 



Weight in kilos. Weight in kilos. 



Product. 19 14. 1920. 



Copper .. .. 10,343,436 30,000,000 



Palm Nuts . . 8,052,176 50,000,000 



Palm Oil . . 2,498,386 20,000,000 



Rubber . . . . 2,248,839 2,500,000 



Gold . . . . 930 3,800 



Ivory . . . . 295,496 400,000 



* Copal, which is used in Europe for making varnish and by the Congo 

 natives for glazing pottery, is a resinous gum obtained from a species of swamp 

 tree, the Copaifera demeusei. It is obtained from the living plant, but the best 

 quality is recovered from dead trees deep down in the marshes, where it is located 

 by means of long sticks. Similar resinous gums are used by the natives of 

 the eastern Congo for the making of torch-candles : the gum is smeared in 

 between small bundles of dry rushes and bums smokily with an aromatic smell. 

 I have never seen any other kind of indigenous illuminant used by natives in 

 the Congo. 



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