94. A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO. 
imposed on them as a war indemnity. Three months 
afterwards they were the best of friends with the white 
man, and were the first amongst the Congo tribes to 
furnish of their own free will hired porters to transport 
the goods of the expedition. Now Manyanga is so 
entrenched and fortified that probably none but a European — 
army could capture it, and its communications with the — 
Congo are so admirably arranged that the river acts as 
a continual basis of operations, whence supplies may 
always be obtained by steamer from Isangila. 
_ Manyanga is built on a narrow plateau surmounting a 
precipitous hill of perhaps four hundred feet in height. 
There is a slight bay, or inlet, of the Congo at its base 
where boats can be safely moored in a little backwater of 
the Congo. On either side of the hill is a deep ravine with 
nearly precipitous sides, so that it is nearly impregnable 
on three sides, and only the narrow neck of the level 
plateau which connects with the hills of the interior has to 
be defended. Through the ravine on the right hand of 
the station tumbles a little stream of clear water, much 
haunted by crocodiles in its lower course. On the further 
side of the stream, at a much lower level than the station, 
is situated the Baptist Mission, very bright and pretty in 
outward appearance, embowered in fine groves and close 
to a charming little creek of the river, but for all this 
unhealthy, I believe. It is one of the few places where 
I have heard of dysentery on the Congo, One of the. 
Baptist missionaries recently died from that disease, con- 
tracted at the mission station of Manyanga. On the 
other hand the sanitary reputation of the plateau is un- 
doubtedly good, and there is a freshness and breeziness 
in the air that you miss down below by the riverside. I 
am convinced Mr. Stanley has done wisely, apart from 
strategic reasons, in placing all his stations on the highest 
sround attainable.* 
* Tam afraid, both Mr. site and myself afterwards arrived at 
a different opinion. ‘he stations set on a hill all proved unhealthy, 
on account of their exposure to the cold night winds, and were nearly 
all abandoned after several years.—H. H. J. 
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