22 A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO. 
CHAPTER II. 
THE LOWER CONGO—BANANA POINT TO VIVI. 
KIsANGE—THE Forest—Lissochilus giganteus—Tur Lagoons AND 
THEIR INHABITANTS—A VEGETABLE VENICE—Birps—A NATIVE 
VILLAGE—PETS—ANTELOPES—A CrocoDILE ADVENTURE—POoNTA 
pA LENHA—THE RIVER FORMING ITs DELTA—BomMA—UNDER- 
HILL—MvusvukA—HELu’s CauLpron—A VIsIT To STANLEY— 
BELGIQUE CREEK—VIVI—STANLEY AND THE NATIVES—THE 
DINNER PARTY— ONE OF STANLEY’S STATIONS—LIFE AT VIVI. 
EARLY in December 1882, I started to ascend the Congo 
on a Dutch steamer, the Moriaan, and made my first halt 
at Kisange, which is a small trading settlement some 
twenty-one miles from the sea on the south bank of the 
Congo, and admirably situated for a naturalist who wishes 
to study the rich swampy region of the Lower Congo with 
comparative ease and comfort. Here I spent three most 
pleasant weeks, enjoying the kind hospitality of Senhor 
Ribeiro at the Dutch factory. Indeed I have since re- 
eretted the shortness of my stay, as there was such 
abundant material for study, and at the same time so 
many facilities for working in the midst of one’s field of 
research without undergoing privations or unnecessary 
fatigue. Away from the temporary and feeble clearings 
that the few commercial houses have made is grand 
majestic forest towering up into the sky, and displaying 
the most splendid effects which a rich and fantastic foliage, 
a brilliant colouring of varied greens, and a weird archi- 
tecture of contorted and massive trunks can produce. 
Our adjectives are too puny to describe fitly the vegeta- 
tion of such places as Kisange. We want to express 
ourselves in the tongues of Central Africa, which have 
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